How to rebuild 71-82 aussie ignition switch

[Dave999]

well this might be useful to a couple of you

Aussie Cars from pre valiant era and then from 61- 70 used US style ignition switches and locks
after 71 they used 3 switches which are mostly all the same but are a, unique to Chrysler Australia, switch. made by a long-bankrupt company in sydney
as such when they break you have 2 choices, find another or set your car up with switches like a race car.

finding another usually involves spending upwards of $200 on a lock/switch that may well fail in exactly the same ways as your current one, and introduces a mis matched key, that doesn't fit your door locks.
Or
$250-300 for a reconditioned switch only,
Or more money for a NOS one, that i have found can fail just as quickly....

2 switches
3 styles of application in respect to wires
2 different housing/locks 1 for each type of switch

early VH 71 until mid 72
flat face ignition lock with switch held into housing using only a grub screw d shaped 4 pin bullet connector, 1 brown, 3 white with coloured trace wires.

both lock housing and connector are date stamped

late 72
same switch same lock housing different wire colors and modular spade connector

VJ on wards
3 wing mounts on switch
the steering lock has lumps either side of key and 3 screw holes in the base for the wing mount switch
different small bore to top of switch case due to no collar around the lock output cam in the housing,
modular spade connector red blue yellow and black wires.

i have converted my car to this connector, it is still available from UK suppliers as a 4 pin spade connector male female pair exact copy

Failures
1) bottom of switch falls out and you lose all the parts. It is lightly crimped into a pot metal housing
2) Bottom of switch partially falls out and all of the metal parts short to the case starting a fire
3) connector gets corroded, gets hot and starts a fire
4) springs collapse and short out and burn out
5) Bottom of switch starts to fall out allowing internals to move about and the main plastic carrier then gets smashed up, the spring mount cracks off or the main cam onto the bottom of the steering lock cracks in half.

Solution is to rebuild the switch.

switch parts
case includes 2 ball bearings and 2 springs, neither should come out easily leave them alone, one of mine was missing hence first picture shows ebay purchases to put it right.
Plastic cam/contact carrier,
plastic cam/contact carrier return spring
3 contact "float" springs
contact (copper)
base with wires.

The aim is to put it back together

tools
1) 0.5- 0.8mm drill
2) hot plastic glue gun
3) paper clip
4) small ball pein hammer

Method
clean case
use ball pein to gently hammer out the crimp sections
make sure 2 springs and 2 balls do not fall out...
check base fits easily. it has a key the means it only fits 1 way

1) put case open side up
2) put in plastic cam/contact support so that it rests on the balls with them in the middle flute
3) put in the 3 "float" Springs
4) put the contact on and hold it down flat
5) carefully establish a position in the wall of the case to drill a hole that will allow you to pin the contact in this position with your drill bit.
6) Dismantle and drill the hole.

Ready to start

1) Put steering lock on edge of bench with key removed but lock in the the Lock position, steering lock plunger out.... it will balance
2) put case into steering lock
3) check balls and springs
4) put reaction spring into spring holder on cam/contact support (see pics)
5) Put cam/contact support into case and mount onto the end of the steering lock poking up through case (see direction in pics, it can go 2 ways and 1 way is wrong)
6) hold it in place, pick up lock put in key and very carefully check that there is no "SPRING" action until you are moving from IGN to START, any spring action before and you have the cam on the wrong way and you will Bananarama! by going further
7) turn key back to LOCK and remove, place lock back on edge of bench (see pics)
8) pull out cam again
9) check balls and springs in case and put the cam back in, the same way.
10 put in the 3 "float" springs
11) put on the contact, it only goes on 1 way, its obvious which way as its too narrow ot be supported by 2 springs at one end
12) press it down onto the drive cam and pin it in place with your drill bit
13 check orientation of base in respect to its key and the gap in the case
14) place it on to the case making sure the n1pp1e on the bottom of the cam/support goes into the hole in the base
15) press it down quite hard and pull out your drill bit
16) keep it compressed and use the ball pein to pein over the thin bits to hold the case together.

Options
use hot glue gun to really seal it up so it won't fall apart
OR
if there is nothing left to bash over with the ball pein hammer go back to your drill..

check positions of wires on the switch base
choose the 3 areas furthest away from the wires and drill through the case into the base 2-3mm. you do not want to do this near the wire entry points as you will drill into a contact and short it out to the case. Do this with the base properly in
cut 3 small sections of paperclip and stick them into the holes. make them 4mm long and bend the ends over.
make sure they don't come out by using hot glue.

Options 2
Make a late 3 wing switch fit an early housing
dismantle switch
cut off wings
linish to make smooth
bore top of case to make it fit over the collar in the flat ignition lock housing or you could just smash off the collar if you don't want to dismantle the switch...
rebuild switch
it has the dent in it for the grub screw mount. it may need attention from drill.

the switch i rebuilt was scrap retrieved from my bin, it was rebuilt to prove the new cam/contact carriers i have made work. I have 4 to sell and can get more made.

pic show general technique and positioning of parts
couple show switch used in running car

Dave

[Dave999]

PS anyone wants a plastic middle bit

£20

plastic printed at 100% fill from a fibrous plastic similar to that used for plastic road signs

plastic printing meant it had to be done in 2 halves and aligned
this is done with nylon screws

whole lot glued together and the heads of the screws ground off

it is used in compression all of its life so it aint coming apart

spring mount was thickened slightly
n1pp1e on the bottom is over long and will need trimming to fit your specific case and base or drill out your base



Dave

[MattH]

I think you need to consider writing a manual to sell to all Aussie Chrysler owners worldwide on how to make your Valiant survive in the 21st century. This is absolutely priceless information for when things fall apart.

[Dave999]

many thanks...

worth checking switch..... saving them before they fall apart is better than having to chase the bits around the foot well

but considering the life expectancy of the car was probably 5 years max they have done pretty well


its such a vital part to have working granted you can hot wire the car but This bit just needs to work... Theft/loss of my spare prompted a bit of switch repair action, and i was lucky to find a fella at work who using his normal camera a telephoto lens and his photography lighting. took about 100 photos of the part, close up but from a long way away??!! which he printed to scale and then drew arcs and angles all over them, logged it all in a spreadsheet and used that and a bunch of macros to put coordinates into a CAD program...
awkward manual way of doing it but neither of us own a decent enough scanner

i owe him something for a weekend of his time hence they are a little more expensive than i hoped they would be but still in comparison with what hemi performance want...... you can be up and running with a decent switch...how nice it looks is then up to you.... no messing with core charges and postage to aus etc


Dave