So my new to me VS had a strange little bit about the ignition. When the transporter gent was unloading I noticed that he would crank the engine but no start. But... When he released the key after a long crank the engine would catch just in time and start. It happened three times as he maneuvered it off the transport. So once it was in my hands I had to look into this further. 1st thing I did was suspect the dash mounted ignition switch. I played with it a bit and noticed the same condition the transport driver had. I also noticed that when the engine was running I could switch over to accessory and the engine would continue to run! I was just going to replace the switch (assuming that was the fault) from Kurt at VS but - then I thought "take a look 1st". So I did. I got out my voltage tester and checked the 5 poles on the ignition switch to see what they do. I found two rather large red wires to two poles with constant power. Fair enough. Then I twisted the key to start and found a pole that had power only when I was up against the spring loaded return for the starter. Fair enough again. Then I switched over to accessory and found that the radio was connected to that energized pole. Then there was a lone pole with nothing on it. It had power during cranking and when the key was on towards RUN as well - but not when turned to accessory. Just as an experiment I unplugged the radio wire to the accessory pole and swapped it over to this empty pole. Then I cranked the engine again. Volia the engine fired off as I was cranking and puttered to life (like it should). The radio still worked, but not when the key is on accessory (obviously) any longer. When I have more time later I will get to the bottom o this, but now the car (and ignition switch) works like it should.
It all looks like new under the dash. A pleasure to tinker with.
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