Ignition switch safety cover

[Terry Kennedy]

As I mentioned offhand in another post, with my Atom and the Microdash, other people (notably Tom Smurzynski) have had the ignition switch be flipped off by the cable from the Microdash on the steering wheel getting caught on the switch handle. This seems to be due to the way they install the steering wheel, as it hasn't happened to me, except when I got the car back from Tom with the wheel on as he left it.

This may or may not affect cars with the shift light steering wheel option. And some might be interested in my solution for the coolness factor alone

I located a retrofit safety switch cover:



The difficulty was in locating one that didn't flip the switch back to "off" when the cover was closed. The most common covers either flip the switch down or to the center position when the cover is closed.

This particular part is mil spec MS27752-1, and one of the manufacturers that makes this part is Eaton (yes, the same Eaton that makes the M62 supercharger for the LSJ). The Eaton part number is 8498K6. There is loads of additional data here (PDF). It is seriously overpriced at around $25 (here or here), but that's because of the mil spec nature of the part.

I have confirmed that this part is a perfect fit for the ignition switch used by Brammo (which is a no-name Taiwanese part). The cover mounting plate is keyed and lines up with the notch in the Brammo switch. Installation is a snap (no pun intended) - just unscrew the collar nut from the front of the panel, put the cover on, and re-install the nut. Depending on how the instrument panel was assembled, you may find that the extra thickness of the cover mounting plate doesn't leave enough threads of the switch exposed. In that case, go around to the back of the panel and back the inside nut off a couple turns.

Note that I installed this on my oversized dashboard:



For cars with the U-shaped surround on the standard instrument cluster, the cover mounting plate may be too large. I'm attaching two photos showing the switch cover and a genuine Brammo ignition switch on a grid. The thinner lines are 1/4" scale, the wider lines are 1" scale:

[benyeats]

As you say it adds significant coolness factor.  I am going to get one for this alone.  If not from a UK source then I can see a lot of orders pre Atom X !

[Bruce Fielding]

I have tried two or three solutions to this on mine. There are two drawbacks on the standard dash.

One, as Terry says most switches are designed to turn off when the cover is shut, so you just wire it in the wrong way. But this means the cover is up when it's off, not cool.

Two, and more importantly, on a normal dash, the addition of this cover adds to the height that the switch sticks out and can catch your fingers quite painfully when steering.

Ben, I think I have the two different switches that I tried somewhere in the bowels of my office. If I do still have them, you can give it a try...

[Terry Kennedy]

[quote="Bruce Fielding"]
Two, and more importantly, on a normal dash, the addition of this cover adds to the height that the switch sticks out and can catch your fingers quite painfully when steering.[/quote]

This cover adds about 5/16" to the height of the stock Brammo switch. [I'm not sure what switch is used in the UK, so I can't be certain the same is true for them].

As you can see in the first photo of the cover, when it is closed it is resting on the collar nut of the switch. You could carefully grind or sandpaper the bottom tabs on the cover which will get it down to under 1/4" without much difficulty.

[quote="benyeats"]
As you say it adds significant coolness factor.  I am going to get one for this alone.  If not from a UK source then I can see a lot of orders pre Atom X !
[/quote]

If someone is going to get a bunch of orders together it might be possible to get a custom legend on the cover (if everyone can agree on one). There's no way this would meet Eaton's minimum order for custom legends, but there are 3rd parties that can do a thermal transfer from Mylar film.