kill switch wiring question

[lateracer]

I'm wiring up a kill switch and in looking around this site as well as a few others, I have a few questions.

I bought a four pole switch that I'm planning on using. At this site, I read about using it to interrupt the thicker power cable from the battery as well as the smaller gauge wire that runs from the + terminal on the battery to the distribution block on the firewall.

The problem with that setup is that I've pulled my connections off of the + terminal with the car running before, and it keeps running (sometimes), so that's not going to work.

So here are my questions:

If I put the large poles of the switch between the power supply and the distribution block and the small poles as an interruptor for the hot side of the coil, will that take care of things or will I mess something up (i.e. blow the alternator)?

Also, I need the switch to kill everything when thrown. Is it OK to disconnect the smaller wire at the battery and have the remainder of its circuit pull power from the distribution block (after the switch)?

[jlevie]

If you interrupt both the large primary wire and the smaller DME supply wire the engine should shut off. If it doesn't something has been altered w/respect to the factory power distribution.

It is best to use a six pole kill switch (two normally open and one normally closed switches). The normally closed switch is used to connect a load resistor across the alternator output to absorb any spikes at operation of the switch to protect the car's electronics.

[Dominic49]

you have to remember to connect all power sources on one side and all you draws on the other side. IE battery and alternernado on one side

[lateracer]

I kind of suspected that the factory wiring had been "alternatively configured". There are some screws and wire fittings that are connected to the power block that are clearly newer than the 24 year old distribution block itself and with more connections than a factory would have made at one place (wires kinda stacked on top of each other).

So, I think we've answered my question about jumping the DME wire to the rest of the power block. Looks like that's the way things are running right now.

New Questions :D

Where can I get a six pole switch? Google doesn't point me directly to one and my intra-web search skills aren't what they used to be before google made it all too easy.

Resistor. If I don't wind up with a 6 pole switch, would there be problems if i wired in the resistor in such a way that it always drew current from the alternator side of the switch?

Seems like the alternator would be able to handle the additional load with the car running, especially since I'll no longer have the draw of most of the factory equipment (removed interior electronics for the most part).

[SkinnyVT]

Pegasus
OG Racing

There will be quite a bit of heat produced by constantly running power through a resistor if you don't get the 6-pole. I'm a MechE so anything electrical is just magic white smoke to me and I accept no responsibility if you fry your wiring, but I wouldn't suggest just adding a resistor to the draw side of the switch on a 4-pole.