Aux Starter Button

The terminal pins on my Starter button are not the strongest... Very flimsy 1/4 inch type, and on a run-out, after meeting up with other Cobra owners at a cafe for breakfast, the inevitable happened... All strapped in, all ready for the off... Pressed the starter button... nothing!.

Luckily, I suspected what the issue was as the starter button was totally dead... Or to state the obvious analogy: 🤣

The Norwegian Blue Debate

Monty Python Complaint Scene:

  • Mr. Praline: "Ello, I wish to register a complaint."
  • Owner: "E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker!" 
  • Mr. Praline: "I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. It's dead, that's what's wrong with it!" 
  • Owner: "No, no, 'e's 'ah,... he's resting!" 
    • Owner: "Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!"
    • Mr. Praline: "The plumage don't enter into it. It's stone dead."
    • Owner: "No, no, he's not dead! He's restin'!"
    • Mr. Praline: "All right, then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up. (Stinks cage and shouts) 'Ello, Polly! Testing! Testing! 1, 2, 3... Testing! Testing! (Throws the bird against the counter)"
    • Mr. Praline: "He's not pinin'! He's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! He's bereft of life, he rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed him to the perch, he'd be pushing up the daisies! His metabolic processes are now 'history'! He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!"

    But I digress... so back to the plot!

    My starter button (from Pilgrim V8) doubles up as an additional ignition warning light; i.e., it lights up when the ignition is on and goes off when the engine starts.

    So, the theory for resolving the problem was to 'hot-wire' the button's input and output wires. 30 mins later,  the car started first time, and we were off.  And during our conversation 'mid-resolution' this is where I was made aware of the benefit of an auxiliary Starter button.  The other GD builder in the convoy had one on his, exactly for this scenario.

    A twist to this story is, I tried to order a new button from Pilgrim V8, but they were out of stock, so I decided to try to fix the one I had... 10 minutes later, the cover was off, and the offending pin (or half of it) was visible. So, I drilled a hole and replaced the contact area with a soldered and sculpted piece of cable ... And to secure and to porotect all tge exposed terminals, ll,and keep this from happening again, I resined the whole end of the button. No way is this going to happen again. 

    Did a continuity test and, to my surprise, all was well. Fixed everything back together and it worked first time... 🥳

    Wired in the new Aux starter button and fixed it to the undertray, and job done... 

    Then, as per usual, another project popped into my head, that being to modify the way I fix the dashboard in. Currently it's fixed in with CBS Big Head bolts and wingnuts... So, I'll lose the wingnuts and use those as locator pins for some Neodymium Magnets as fixings...

    ...But that's a story for another day.