Technical Neutral Saftey Switch

I was talking to a friend that had attended a small car show at a local Church this past Saturday and he said there was a few cars there that were my style,some muscle cars and a few rodent rods.

He informed me one of our acquaintances was there in his nice 63 split window corvette when a guy in a RR cranked his car and it slammed into the Corvette, the car took off in gear, it seems the guy that had been boasting earlier that he built the car in record time but hadn't taken the time to install a neutral safety switch for his or anyone else's safety.

If your car is a automatic make sure the car will not start in gear, fortunately no one was standing in front or walking by ether car when the accident happened. HRP

 

Man , I hate to say it but Safety First is the only way to fly !

 

Noted...and that is something I truly should make a effort to get rectified...as an aging man I admit to starting the Hotrod in gear and it gets the reflexes going in a hurry...

The odd time when I shut it off it runs on a bit and sometimes I shut it off in gear to eliminate that BUT you have to remember to Stick it in Park after...

I believe the switch is there but it is not working for whatever reason...uhhh wiring maybe...

Thanks for the Nudge Nudge Wink Wink conversation and WHY it is important...

 

Stick car's also. 3:11 first gear and 4:56's out back will light off. I don't know how I know this.

 

Nothing will make you say "oops I crapped my pants" more than a car starting in gear!

 

Just imagine you are working under the hood of your car. Your buddy reaches through the window to turn the key to start it up-hard to explain to your insurance co how you just run yourself over..
neutral Safety switches are not difficult to wire up or adjust for that matter. If you don't have one-put one in and take the time to get it working properly please!

 

After the "toolbox incident" I wired in a NSS...

 

I have my left foot on the clutch pedal before I try to start the wagon. HRP

 

Since that day (in a hurry to move my car) I double check my shifter and use clutch pedal when starting. I was lucky that day. I didn't climb up the fast back of my friends car.

 

Thanks HRP for the reminder and eyewitnesses testimony

 

My Beast likes to start right away so my Eyewitnessing and near shitting my pants begins quite quickly...
what's that saying......My Bad...I suspect it is hugely common on the never done aspect of many a Garage build...not justifying it just stating the obvious...

 

I get to see plenty of cars here without a functioning NSS. I never let one leave that way.
They say what’s seen can’t be unseen, so once you see some serious damage done from lack of a NSS it changes you. A few of them “ooooh man that was close” deals doesn’t do it.

 

It's good to test the switch and make sure it's working . Years ago I went to a show and the NSRA was there doing safety inspections and asked if I wanted my car inspected so I said sure , it passed everything except the safety switch when I checked it out one wire came off and I never knew. It pays to check .

 

I'm sure the wiring harness being a modern one has that provision...I have been forewarned...Thank you and fortunately the worst has not happened and one reason is I've owned quirky Cars my whole life...In the circle of garage Hoodlums I've hung around most of my Hotrod years I've hopped into several rides with this issue. That's not a positive excuse it's just an amateur reality...

 

There is always that guy at a rod trot that has to reach in his ride and hit the key and bust it off for show and tell when he has his buddies or a group of mouthbreathers around. One of those did some serious damage to another rig up here a few years ago when it took off on him while he was standing beside it.
If those rodent rods are like the majority around here they have no license or registration and no insurance on them.
Even on a clutch car it isn't hard to put in a push button starter button to make it a two hand process to start the rig to keep it from being started when you don't want it to be.

 

...it's not just Rodent Rods either, it is a clear example of home based shoddiness or last minute details that get backburnered...that happens at all types of garage built finickiting...I wouldn't expect a Shop where mechanical is a specialty that that would be an issue at least it shouldn't be...

 

I had one of those close calls when working on the OT car the boss had bought for his kid, and reached in thru the driver's window to turn on the ignition switch and turned it too far and the damned thing started in first gear and barely got it shut off about 1 foot before it would have run thru the wall heading into the office area! Yes, the defective NSS that some jackass had wired around was replaced before any other repairs were done to that POS.

 

NSS, yes, and it's always a good idea to park your ass in the seat so you can shut it down if things get away from you. Too lazy to get in it? Then don't start it up where it could hit someone or something. There's two kinds of people running without a NSS, those who have scared the crap out of themselves, and those who haven't... yet. The same thing goes for a clutch pedal interlock.

 

The mention of someone working on the engine while another reaches through the window to start it triggered a memory of just theat.
The car fired right up, and drove the mechanic into a steel work bench. Was a big mess - off work for well over a year, and lots of surgery to sort the damage to legs and hips. Limited mobility meant he could no longer work as a mechanic..
Safety is something we just have to get right.
Garpo

 

I showed your post to my mechanic friend, Sum Ting Wong, and he said he thought with a wire disconnected from the NSS it never should have started at all. The starter solenoid current from the switch has to go through the NSS to be effective. Sounds like that one had an alternate circuit path.....


Ray

 

This is exactly why a Mechanic with electrical experience will be setting My system up...I know in a basic way what it does and you just gave another twist in it's complexity. Important it all is. Some horrible incidents described here...Yipes...

 

First driving lesson (at 6 years old), was first push the clutch in, then turn the key !
Do it automatically every time I get in a vehicle.
Automatics I drive won’t start unless your foot is on the brake or in park.
So can’t happen to me ?
Last week I am rewiring ground/earth starter button lying upside down on front seat and must have nudged gear lever into something other than neutral and .........no damage fortunately, but reminded me to disconnect battery when playing with wiring !
Still learning, sometimes the hard way.

 

Tell me what this Monty python gif and my Following NSS statement have in common ??


It’s just the Neutral Safety Switch.

If you’ve seen the movie then you know it stays on the same course. Putting a NSS on the back burner and ignoring till later belongs in the same category as the black night. It Doesn’t matter what you tell them, what they see, what they know, the pain they may feel or any excuses they make. The body parts are clearly severed yet it’s just a scratch and it’s just a neutral safety switch.

Rationalizing the mentality is amusing like the movie is entertaining. The problem is it’s not a movie filmed in a controlled environment it’s an out of control vehicle capable of irreparable bodily harm and uncalled for financial damages. It would be fine if the only risks were to this black night running without a NSS but that’s not the case.

 

that's a good thing about going drag racing regularly...they actually check your NSS every now and then in tech inspection, to make sure the car meets the rules. There is also a rule in the book about having a licensed driver in the seat before starting the engine, anywhere on the premises. Following that one would have helped a guy I knew who drove his car into himself in the staging lanes, while starting the engine so he could check ignition timing.

 

I omitted the fact that I also make sure the transmission is in neutral, it's just how I was taught. HRP

 

When I was in the Army, I borrowed a Buick powered Oldsmobile from a buddy to go to town. He didn't tell me, so I didn't know. when I started the car in gear, and it leaped forward, it scared the shit out of me. I was very aware of how to start the car after that. Luckily no damage to anyone, or anything.

 

I only built one car with an automatic. Yes it had a safety switch. Easy thing to do, so why not. Better yet build a standard shift car.

 

I don't like the neutral safety switches that only work in park. The OEM ones work in both park and neutral so I always try to go with them. Just hate it when the car stalls in traffic and you have to stop and get it into park.

Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I didn't build the Hotrod I shamelessly admit and I 'F' around with minor tinkering myself but I will have a looksy into the switch situation mechanically this fall and then have one knowledgable like yourself do the function and connection electronically.

Just to be clear these vintage rides have many shortcomings and I understand the safety issue and to date I have not killed or harmed anyone...this is not Black Knight justification just a reality at this point in time that yes I should and will address...

Again when a ride is constructed in a Amateur manner as opposed to a factory sometimes things get left undone for countless reasons...I think it was as many Hotrods here thrashed together and sold before all issues were addressed...in no way am I saying it was a malicious decision...

I am making change to this Hotrod slowly but there are many things to address and that's fine but it is one thing at a time...

The Switch function may be actually quite straight forward and I have seen the switch...it's there so there is hope.

 

I have a nns on my coupe.