DeTomaso Mailing List: November 2000, Message #49

kill switch is excellent advise.....and your comment about fear being a good
motivator is right on..........I was right behind Jim "Crash" Saxton at
Willow Springs when he flipped his race Pantera on turn 5 (the hill).....I
never saw a BIG man get out of a window opening quicker. :-)
BTW, Jim was pretty lucky because when he was sunny-side-down his Monza
quick fill cap was leaking fuel under the car. . .Luckily the car didn't
catch on fire.... but then as Dave Doddek likes to remind us, "I'm the only
one that happens to!" <grin> 
MD
> -----Original Message-----
> From:	H.P. Brelsford [SMTP:bford44@swbell.net]
> Sent:	Wednesday, November 01, 2000 3:06 PM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	FW: What I learned in school today/Electrical Kill Switch
> 
> Along this line, all cars competing in SCCA track events are required to
> have the ungrounded terminal and connector on the battery fully covered
> with
> insulating material as well as having a kill switch.
> 
> I learned the reason for that rule when I turned a race car over and
> smelled
> gasoline fumes before I was able to unbuckle my seat belts and get clear
> of
> the wreck. (Do not ever let anybody try to tell you that fear does not
> motivate.)
> 
> I know the odds of you turning your Pantera over are very small, but those
> of you who run Silver State or track events could consider an insulated
> battery terminal as very cheap insurance.
> 
> HPB
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: detomaso@realbig.com [mailto:detomaso@realbig.com]On Behalf Of
> Fasola, Tony
> Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 11:00 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: RE: What I learned in school today...:<(
> 
> 
> Interesting experiments....FYI: The "kill" switch (probably Merit or
> Autolec)is installed on race cars for one(maybe two) purpose's only: To
> cut
> power to electric fuel pumps and/or eliminate a possibility of spark(both
> fire related)
> Cars without fuel will discontinue running(and hopefully, burning)
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charles F Engles Jr. [mailto:engles@qns.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2000 8:42 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: Re: What I learned in school today...:<(
> 
> 
> Dear Mike,
> 
>         Let me console you.  In my experience, if you drive your "club
> car"
> these things will happen.  You just have to look upon it as an opportunity
> to meet new people, learn new things about your car, develop the
> conversational skills of tow truck drivers  and eliminate those marginally
> weak parts and systems that need upgrading.  Why, I've had to rebuild an
> engine or two myself.  :-)
> 
>                 "The engine was running perfectly until it stopped
> running",
> Chuck Engles
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <MikeLDrew@aol.com>
> To: Multiple recipients of list <detomaso@realbig.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2000 6:10 PM
> Subject: What I learned in school today...:<(
> 
> 
> > Hi guys,
> >
> > In keeping with my whole "drive your club car" philosophy, today I
> elected
> to
> > take the Cobra to Travis AFB where I had a number of errands to run.
> >
> > It was a beautiful day up here--the leaves are turning, the air is
> crisp,
> the
> > skies are clear--great Cobra weather.
> >
> > As I pulled into a parking space, I was suddenly struck with a
> thought--years
> > ago I'd had a super-duper electrical engineer guy install a key-style
> battery
> > cut-off switch.  I'd demonstrated repeatedly that the car will NOT start
> when
> > the switch is in the "off" position (i.e., sitting back in the house!),
> but
> > I'd never checked to see if turning the switch off with the engine
> running
> > would kill the engine.
> >
> > The answer is, why no, it won't.  I sat there for 5 or 10 seconds or so
> with
> > the cut-off switch key in my hand, then shut off the ignition at which
> point
> > the car promptly quit, as you'd expect.
> >
> > When I came back out a half-hour later, with both keys energized the car
> > started right up.  I pulled into the street, drove 100 feet and was
> instantly
> > enveloped in electrical smoke pouring out from under the dash. :<( :<(
> :<(
> >
> > I managed to shut off both keys (one with each hand) and steer to the
> side
> of
> > the road (third hand?) to assess the situation.
> >
> > The smoke was still thick, but diminishing when I hopped out and peered
> under
> > the dash, and I saw the source of the smoke was my MSD tach adapter.
> > Apparently, when the alternator is producing 1.21 gigawatts of energy
> and
> you
> > remove the path to the battery, that power takes the path of least
> > resistance, which in this case appears to have been DIRECTLY to the tach
> > adapter. :<(
> >
> > Not having any wiring diagram for the ignition circuit, I began just
> tracing
> > the wires with my fingers.  Two of them went from the tach adapter into
> the
> > MSD box, while the third went to the ignition switch.  A-ha!  That must
> be
> > the power source.  Remove that, and perhaps things would be okay?
> >
> > Well, yes, except that the car now wouldn't fire at all.
> >
> > At this point, I'd gathered a small crowd of helpers, strangers all.
> One
> > older fellow in a mint, beautiful '67 Mustang GT fastback which is his
> daily
> > driver (drive your club cars!) was especially helpful.  Ford guys stick
> > together!
> >
> > Hopefully, I attempted to start the car with everything connected,
> hoping
> > that the smoke was just a fluke.  Nope--more smoke came out, and of
> course
> > the tach no longer worked.
> >
> > (A side note--As Shane first revealed, most people don't know that the
> single
> > root source of power in electrical applications is SMOKE.  You can take
> all
> > your EE degrees and pile them to the rafters, but I'm here to tell ya,
> the
> > minute you remove the smoke from ANY electrical component, that
> component
> no
> > longer works.  Ergo, the component is powered by smoke!)
> >
> > Another peek revealed that the single wire from the ignition switch had
> been
> > butchered and turned into two wires, one of which went to the MSD box
> itself.
> >  So now I was faced with a dilemma--do I cut the short wire leading to
> the
> > tach adapter and hope for the best?  Will the car run?
> >
> > It felt a little like those movies where James Bond has to cut one wire
> to
> > prevent the nuclear bomb from detonating, but if he cuts the wrong wire,
> > BOOM!  But then I figured that my options were either (1) cut the wire,
> the
> > car doesn't run and you go home on a tow truck, or (2) don't cut the
> wire,
> > the car continues to burn merrily, and (if you're lucky) you go home on
> a
> tow
> > truck.  So what did I have to lose?
> >
> > As fate would have it, cutting the wire had the desired result.  The
> tach
> > adapter is now unpowered (not that it worked anymore anyway) and the car
> runs
> > fine.  A quick call to Summit has a new one on the way for $51.
> >
> > Now I need to figure out why my kill switch, doesn't.  And in the
> meantime, I
> > won't be shutting off the kill switch with the engine still running
> anytime
> > soon!
> >
> > Mike
> 
> 
>