Replacing VMC Ignition Switch

The first switch you bought didn't have to be used with a start button. If you had pushed in on the key and continued turning the key not would have traveled to the start position.

IF you wanted to use it with a start button you would have turned the key to the first position and stopped when you couldn't turn the key anymore then pressed the start button. Push in and turn the key some more and the car would start then return to the first position.

https://sierramadrecollection....tch-with-keys-p17103

I’m not so sure.  Could be, but it didn’t feel like that.  It was three positions.  Accessory, off and on.  It didn’t have the fourth position of starter.  The SMC guy I talked to said they didn’t have the 4 position one.  I guess it doesn’t matter anymore because I installed the other.

I would have always been wanting a Porsche key too, and the Bosch key looks similar but isn’t actually the same as the Porsche key blanks.

@Teammccalla posted:

Then there is the puzzle of how to solder the (dumb) Porsche bullet connectors.  It is very difficult to solder into the hole in the end of the bullet connector.  I tinned the wire, and then coiled super thin stranded fluxed solder around the tinned wire, with as much solder as I could put and still fit it dry into the Porsche bullet.  Then I put the tip of the iron (as hot as mine goes) into the little hole at the small end of the bullet.  Once I could feel the wire start to get moveable, I knew the solder was melted and could release.  I found that a couple came loose as I was installing and had to be redone.  

Tin the lead. Fill the bullet with solder. Put the bullet into something to hold it (I use a pair of forceps) heat it until the solder is molten, then put the tinned lead in. Hold it until the solder sets.  Any other way you’ll probably get a cold solder joint, even if it does “stick.”

That sounds promising.  I do have a couple Porsche ones left, so maybe I’ll try.  I don’t have a lot of wire length to work on when under the dash.  I suspect the gold ones will still work better because the hole will allow something more textured for the solder to flow around.

Is there not enough length on the wire to pull it out the gauge hole and work on it sitting in the seat?

Sounds like a job that requires a “third hand.”

I can’t see the picture, but you must mean one of those little devices that holds the wire and the socket allowing you to hold the iron and the solder?  I have one, and I do use it.  It might be difficult to use under the dash, but, where there’s a will there’s a way.  I am moving my combo gauge from the right side of the tach to the left side, so some wires will have to be longer.  There is not adequate slack to just pull them.  As such, for some of the wires, I may just put in a new wire, or an extension.  That would allow me to solder the bullet out of the car and only to the joining fitting under the dash.  I’d prefer not to have the patch in the middle of the wire, but if it’s super clean and well protected, it should be OK.

Check to see if there isn’t a zip tie somewhere holding your wires.  Maybe you could get a few inches of play out of removing that.

Alternatively, you could make a small terminal block between your gauges and the wiring, giving you a bit of  “service loop.”

If you do just extend the wires, check out the solder butt splices discussed elsewhere.