okay 5 speed swappers...

Topic: okay 5 speed swappers... (Read 2719 times) previous topic - next topic

okay 5 speed swappers...

November 28, 2004, 11:03:45 AM

i was lead to belive that the neutral/clutch safety harness should be taped up in the dash somewhere. the switch is on the pedals but i dont realy see anything that looks like it would fit. the car is an 88 sport 302. if you used it...where was yours and what dit it look like...color anyway?

if i dont connect a switch is this thing going to start or is it going to just laugh at me?

id really rather have it working...

thanks in advance for any help guys....john

Re: okay 5 speed swappers...

Reply #1 – November 28, 2004, 11:12:31 AM

To get mine to start I had to simply short the wires going to the neutral safety switch at the tranny. I eventually got a neutral safety switch for the Tremec and rewired the neutral safety back in. I never did anything involving the clutch switch since the one on the tranny keeps you from starting the car in gear which is all the IHRA/NHRA cares about (drag racing). There may or may not be any wiring for the clutch switch under the dash - I never found it. The switch on the tranny works fine for me.

Re: okay 5 speed swappers...

Reply #2 – November 28, 2004, 11:31:15 AM

yeah..i dont see it. it. when you shorted it out at the tranny (eliminating the clutches wire loop and switch?) did it turn over with the clutch out?

Re: okay 5 speed swappers...

Reply #3 – November 28, 2004, 05:08:27 PM

Quote from: shame302

yeah..i dont see it. it. when you shorted it out at the tranny (eliminating the clutches wire loop and switch?) did it turn over with the clutch out?

Yeah, it will turn over with the clutch out. The way to have the safety in this case is to wire the neutral safety on the 5-speed into the same wiring as the old automatic tranny neutral safety switch. Basically the wire completes the circuit to the starter solenoid. If the wire is not connected, no power gets to the starter solenoid and the car (obviously) won't start.

Re: okay 5 speed swappers...

Reply #4 – November 28, 2004, 06:41:37 PM

Yes I searched indefinatley for the mystery harness that is "rumoured" to be under the dash as well. I had no luck finding it so I ended up just interupting the "trigger wire" from the ignition switch to the solenoid with the pedal switch.

Re: okay 5 speed swappers...

Reply #5 – November 29, 2004, 12:56:15 AM

I'd leave the clutch switch out altogether. It's better for your crankshaft thrust bearing to start the engine in neutral with the clutch out.

Re: okay 5 speed swappers...

Reply #6 – November 29, 2004, 11:37:17 AM

There are no harnesses under the dash to hook the clutch switch up. The only car that has this is the Mustang. There is a bunch of rewiring that you need to do, and I will touch on it briefly.
The clutch safety switch gets wired to the pink(I believe) wires that used to be the neutral safety switch on your automatic. This harness goes through the floor board around the radio. You need to cut and splice these wires to the clutch switch on the pedals. There are three switches on the pedals. One is the brake light switch. One is the starter interrupt switch, and the other one sends a signal to the computer when the car is in neutral. Most people do not hook up the last switch, although I did. It is wired parallel with another switch on the transmission, that many people mistakenly use as a neutral safety switch.

You could bypass the starter interrupt, but I don't think it is a good idea, for safety reasons.

That harness that goes to the trans also has the backup light wires in it that you need to hook up to the trans. Get a t5 harness to make hooking up the backup lights easier.

Get yourself a TBIRD EVTM and Mustang EVTM. It will make your life easier. Then you can just compare the wiring for the 2 cars and figure out what goes where.

Re: okay 5 speed swappers...

Reply #7 – November 29, 2004, 06:52:13 PM

Quote from: 88lx50

..."One is the brake light switch. One is the starter interrupt switch, and the other one sends a signal to the computer when the car is in neutral. Most people do not hook up the last switch, although I did. It is wired parallel with another switch on the transmission, that many people mistakenly use as a neutral safety switch."

...

http://www.keislerauto.com/gm/transmissions/overview.html

..."Integrated neutral safety switch makes conversion from automatic to manual even easier"...

I love having a neutral safety instead of having to push in the clutch. I found out that some T5's also have the Neutral Safety Switch, but I think you are correct that it was not designed for this use as the Tremec 3550/TKO/500/600 trannies are. Too bad because I always know for sure that I am in neutral when I start the car.