[gtobird]

Thought I would write this up in case anyone is interested.

The neutral safety switch on my 68 dual gate shifter would no longer work in park, but it did work in neutral and the backup lights would light up when in reverse. I bought an aftermarket replacement switch which required the connection tabs to be bent in order to make it work.

While I figured the replacement switch would work fine, I was curious as to what was wrong with the original switch, so I removed the back of it. The first two pictures are of the components inside (prior to cleaning). None of them appeared to be damaged so I simply cleaned them with some WD 40 and then alcohol to remove the WD40. I soaked the slightly rusty back piece in Evaporust overnight and painted the backside of it so it wouldn't rust anymore. The inside of the back metal plate, I coated with Super-lube dielectric grease and also used it on the internal contacts and movable nylon parts.

To put the switch back together, I had to find a way to keep the spring loaded copper and brass contact bars in place while I assembled the switch. A person with steady hands could do this likely without further aid, but for me it wasn't possible. I ended up putting a small piece of paper on the face of the contact bars and wrapped Scotch tape over the paper and onto the back part of the milky colored contact holder. That allowed me to easily place it into the housing and secure it with the cable ties in the last picture. The paper and tape were then slid out from under the contact bars. When I was ready to put the back plate on, I simply held the switch against the workbench by the bottom tang on the nylon slider and cut the ties. That kept everything in place while I attached the back plate.

After assembling it, I mounted it on the shifter that I had cleaned and greased (on my workbench). I put a meter on the contacts and adjusted the switch. It worked as it should and continues to do so on the car.

I figure this repair was about a buck as it was just the cost of a couple squirts of WD40, dab of grease, couple of ounces of alchol and couple ounces of reusable Evaporust.

Old Joe

[Scott Thelander]

very well done ....

thank you