DeTomaso Mailing List: March 98, Message #66
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When you buy Halls Wilwood kit, he gives you a normally closed swicth that fits in this location. The hole is slightly undersized in the bracket for his choosen switch though. I just drilled it out a little larger and installed the switch with no other problems. Cary > ---------- > From: Ted A. Mitchell[SMTP:tmitch@gte.net] > Reply To: Ted A. Mitchell > Sent: Monday, March 02, 1998 8:32 AM > To: Multiple recipients of list > Subject: Re: Brake light switch; was Need to know sometime in > 1999! > > In answering a question from someone else about their brake pedal > coming too > far back, I discovered that the Pantera has (or at least was suppose > to > have) a brake pedal stop bracket. This stop bracket appears to be > redundant > in that the brake pedal height is controlled by the push rod > adjustment and > the stop bracket is to be adjusted with 3/32 to 1/8 inch CLEARANCE. > It > would seem that this is a natural for a mechanical brake light switch > with > the possibility of merely removing the stop adjustment bolt, and > screwing in > a metric stop light switch. > > Anybody try this? > > Ted (Vader) Mitchell > http://home1.gte.net/tmitch/pe.htm > http://home1.gte.net/tmitch/chpie.htm > http://home1.gte.net/tmitch/index.htm > > -----Original Message----- > From: Thomas Padula <tjpadula@netcom.com> > To: Multiple recipients of list <detomaso@realbig.com> > Date: Monday, March 02, 1998 1:17 PM > Subject: Re: Need to know sometime in 1999! > > > >Ted wrote: > >> Pressure type brake light switches are bad news. They can leak, > >> catastrophically fail causing brake failure, and also require a > certain > >> pressure before activating giving the motorist behind you less > warning > >> (sometimes a very light brake application won't even turn on the > brake > >> lights). > > > >Exactly the situation on my car when I bought it. The brakes worked > fine, > but > >I discovered that the brake lights took a firm push before they would > light. > > > >When I got the car home the evening that I bought it, I pulled into > my > >driveway, and slowing for a sharp turn, I noticed that I didn't > notice > >the usual red reflection off the next-door neighbor's house that I > >ordinarily saw with my daily driver. (The way things are arranged, > the > >brake lights can reflect to cast a reddish hue on my house wall, as > the > >headlights of the car point around the side of the house and the wall > is > >in darkness.) > > > >Anyway, a few simple tests showed that I did indeed have to be > executing > >a rather strong stop before the brake lights would come on. This > would not > do. > > > >The first mod I made to the car was the installation of a > brake-pedal- > >lever actuated brake light switch. I made a simple bracket and set a > >normally-closed switch in it where it is held pressed when the pedal > is > >all the way up. I ran the wires through a grommet into the front > trunk > >and tapped the stock brake light wiring there. A bit of adjustment to > the > >bracket, and the lights came on when applying enough pressure to move > >the pedal but not quite engage the brakes. > > > >I hate it when I'm behind a car with no brake lights, and people > tailgate > >me enough (in traffic, anyway) trying to figure out what make the car > is. > >I'd prefer to give as much stoplight warning time as I can. So, check > out > >how much pressure it takes for your brakelights, you might be > unpleasantly > >surprised, too. > > > >-tom > >'73 euro GTS #6382 > > > >