neutral safety switch

[Bradley Johnson]

Is anyone running a neutral safety switch at the transmission? I am putting a car together from a rolling chassis I purchased several years back and noticed the wiring for the neutral switch is at the transmission. Upon further inspection, the shifter, which is a very old winters sidewinder has no provisions for the switch kit they sell. This brings up another question. I can fabricate a bracket and ball type switch to trigger off the shift lever but it will only function in park. Is there some advantage or necessity to shutting off the car and coasting to the pits aside from heat? I have seen many doing this with various transmissions,(mine is a powerglide) but in my case, I would have to fully stop and shift into park to re fire the car.

Thanks!

[Tom Goldman]

There are a number of universal Neutral switches on the market that mount on the trans .

Glides are very easy to make your own switch for .
A split collar that fits the transmission selector shaft can be found at most good hardware stores.
By putting flat spots at the park and neutral positions on the collar ,a simple bracket can be made to mount a miniature lever style microswitch to line up with the collar.
You can find many different styles of lever microswitches on Amazon at very low prices , I'd stay with one made by Omron .

[63corvette]

Not trying to be a smart a-- but it is called a neutral safety switch not a park safety switch for a reason.
I was checked in tech at the Tuscon Division race the end of February and was asked to put the shifter in any gear and try to start it, then shift to neutral and start the engine and then the inspector at the back of the car killed the power from the back to see if that killed the engine. It has been several years since I have been checked like this this but it does happen every once and awhile.
The one inspector watched each shift closely to be sure I did what he asked.
I would think if you were ever checked in tech and you did not have the neutral safety switch working they may fail you.
I do know that there are some cars racing that do not have the safety switch operational and will start in any gear and have not been caught in Tech. I notice it in the staging lanes every once and awhile.
Just My Experience
Rick Cates
Canyon, TX

[Jeff Stout]

Originally Posted by 63corvette

Not trying to be a smart a-- but it is called a neutral safety switch not a park safety switch for a reason.
I was checked in tech at the Tuscon Division race the end of February and was asked to put the shifter in any gear and try to start it, then shift to neutral and start the engine and then the inspector at the back of the car killed the power from the back to see if that killed the engine. It has been several years since I have been checked like this this but it does happen every once and awhile.
The one inspector watched each shift closely to be sure I did what he asked.
I would think if you were ever checked in tech and you did not have the neutral safety switch working they may fail you.
I do know that there are some cars racing that do not have the safety switch operational and will start in any gear and have not been caught in Tech. I notice it in the staging lanes every once and awhile.
Just My Experience
Rick Cates
Canyon, TX

Tech pushed main power to make sure car did not keep running. He may have asked to put in neutral, but putting in park and perfoming same procedure accomplishes the same result. Both of my cars are wired to only start in park and teched numerous times at Tucson and other tracks. Wildhorse in Chandler is about the toughest tech and no problems.

[Bradley Johnson]

Originally Posted by Tom Goldman

There are a number of universal Neutral switches on the market that mount on the trans .

Glides are very easy to make your own switch for .
A split collar that fits the transmission selector shaft can be found at most good hardware stores.
By putting flat spots at the park and neutral positions on the collar ,a simple bracket can be made to mount a miniature lever style microswitch to line up with the collar.
You can find many different styles of lever microswitches on Amazon at very low prices , I'd stay with one made by Omron .

Thank you for the tip. Your way is much simpler and probably less prone to failure than what I was thinking.

[SGSST109E]

Never thought much about it because my hurst quarter stick came with a switch built in.

[Bradley Johnson]

Originally Posted by SGSST109E

Never thought much about it because my hurst quarter stick came with a switch built in.

For the cost of the Winters shifter you would think it would also come with the switch built in.

[Rory McNeil]

I sed that you have a Mustang, are you using a Ford transmission or a Powerglide? When I used to race my Fairmont with a Ford C6 in Super Street many years ago, I retained the factory neutral safety that bolted on the side of the transmission case. Worked great in Park and Neutral, and even the back up lights still worked.