[Spridgets] Kill Switches

[mdrowe]

I have been doing a lot of reading on kill switches.  My mechanic/tutor 
(who is never, ever, ever, wrong) insists that they should be on the 
ground wire, which is how they are done on race cars.  This may be OK if 
there is no alternator, but will not kill a running engine with 
alternator.  It just runs on, finding a ground for the alternator output 
somewhere else.  More important, disconnecting the battery ground on a 
running engine can cause a voltage spike that apparently can fry the 
alternator.  A properly-wired kill switch is on the positive terminal 
and has a 3 ohm/11 watt resistor to ground to prevent this.  Pegasus 
Racing has detailed instructions.  I may already have damaged mine 
before I learned the proper way to wire it.  Time will tell.

This brings up another question:  People put the green-knob battery 
switch on the negative terminal.  This not only has the same run-on, 
fried alternator problem, but also leaves the entire positive system of 
the car hot.  Since there are grounds all over the car body,  I think 
that means we can get arching to the body pretty much anywhere.  If the 
positive terminal is disconnected, there is no power anywhere, as 
nothing will come out of the ground side, regardless.

What say you all?

BTW, after two years of struggling to start the new engine put together 
by my mechanic/tutor (yes, the same one), it developed that the cam was 
installed 18 degrees advanced.  It started right up when corrected to 
five degrees advance, as specified.  Of course, after sitting for two 
years without running, every gasket on the engine leaked.  It has been a 
long two years.

Michael Rowe
The Holy Sprite
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