Clutch safety switch

[terry_208]

Has anyone retrofitted a safety switch to the clutch?  I'm trying to find out what switch was used and how it was installed.  I may simply bypass it it it is too difficult to install.  I am still trying to install the Ron Francis Express wire kit.

Thanks for any help or comments. 

[gasman826]

My Tremec transmission (TKO600) has a neutral safety switch built in.  Many OEM systems used a plunger switch hanging off the clutch pedal much like many brake light switches.

[Ford Blue blood]

What Gary said.  Any brake light switch will work.  There is plenty of space to mount one to the clutch side of the pedal bracket.

[terry_208]

Thanks, that's what I was wondering about.  I have seen the brake light switches mounted near the pedal but never one on the clutch pedal.

[rmk57]

  Maybe it's just me, going to be 65 this year and driving for close to 50 , but I cant see why you would ever need one. There are a couple times whem I'm glad I didn't have one.

[RICH MUISE]

This was the first I had ever heard of one, but I guess it makes sense.....keeps you from starting the car if tranny might be engaged........not too much different than a neutral safety switch on an automatic.

[59meteor]

Like Randy said, I have never felt the "need" for a modern nanny device to keep me safe. In almost 50 years of driving manual transmission vehicles, I pretty much always start a stick car in Neutral anyhow, and have most of my facilities still intact so I have no need for such things.

[gasman826]

many sanctioning bodies require a neutral or clutch safety switch.  the only reason I wired one in.

[Ford Blue blood]

I can tell a tale about not having one.  Friend of mine had a 57 500, had it on his four post lift.  Working under the dash he hit something and engaged the starter.  As the car rolled back he started to exit and ended up trapped between the door and one of the post.  He spent four hours there, suffered many internal injuries that piled up on injuries he suffered while in Nam.  Didn't kill him but put him down for close to six months.

We all have brain farts from time to time.  As simple as this safety device is to install it just don't make sense not to do it.  Add to that it is a personal choice, he simply asked for ideas to accomplish the task.

[rmk57]

  My Boss Mustang can sometimes sit for years without turning a tire. What happens from sitting for so long is the clutch disc sticks to the flywheel, so even if the car is in neutral it can lurch forward when you twist the key to start. Nothing bad has ever happened thankfully. Now that I'm aware it could happen I jam my foot on the brake, then turn the key. I usually pops loose after a couple of on/offs with the starter.
 
 I have a neutral safety switch in my 57, but it's a floor shift automatic and has been checked by the nhra tech crew. But I have never heard of one being needed for a manual trans for at least in drag racing. Could be something new?

[59meteor]

I have been drag racing at mostly NHRA dragstrips for almost 50 years now, both at the local bracket level, and at divisional and National events, and although neutral safety switches are required, and have been factory installed by the manufacturers since the 50s, a clutch pedal switch was not installed, at least by Ford, until to 1980s. I have never had an NHRA Tech guy tell me that any of my stickshift cars were required to have such a device.

[mustang6984]

I'm not a lover of them. And don't care a hoot about any sanctioning bodies...I will be driving mine...have never felt the need for a nanny device either. They are annoying.