Starter relay clutch ground

[pschlosser]

When I married my wife, at the time, she drove a Honda Civic 5-speed, and I drove a 280ZX 5-speed.  Neither one had a clutch depressed safety switch.  

She was in the habit of leaving her Civic in neutral, using the parking brake, and giving it some throttle to start the carbureted engine.  

I had the habit of leaving the 280Z in gear, (to hold the car in place) not using the parking brake, and my car was fuel injected, no throttle when starting.

Sure enough, within the first year of our marriage, when she went to drive my car, she started it giving it some throttle, but it was in gear and rear ended the car in front of her, buckling the long hood and making a costly repair.

The E-body clutch-in safety switch may be a pain in the butt, but it saves the car from incurring damage.  

Don't bypass it. I vote, fix it.

[moonshine_mike]

Definitely agree. In my case I would absolutely fix it for risk reduction. Bypass would only be temp for test at most.

[70_440-6Cuda]

upvote for fixing it - I dont have experience with the clutch pedal switch, but I assume it is a simple N.O. / N.C. design. If it is grounded through the switch housing itself, make sure the housing has a good ground, and when the pedal is depressed ground is provided on the wire to the relay.  Internally it cant be very complicated and I would guess rebuilding would be fairly easy, BUT that is a guess

Anyone have a photo of the inside of the switch?

[RJChallenger]

Heres a 74 switch