A guy that works in the office next to where I work has a 71 Twister. He is the original owner with all the original documentation in a binder. It has the full rally package with hood scoops, rally mirrors, three on the floor, etc. Pretty cool car.

Anyway, I am trying to get him to come to the Redding race in Oct, but it is not running. He has never been very interested in doing his own work on the car, and he says he is ready to just mothball the car. And he absolutely will not sell it.

The problem right now is, he had intermittent starting, and now won’t start at all. I offered to come over and try to fix it in a couple of weeks. When he turns the key, he gets nothing, no clicking, nothing. However, he say the accessories come on with the key on the on position. He swears it is not the battery, but who knows.

I am thinking maybe the neutral safety switch or ground, or maybe the starter relay? I have a spare starter relay, so I can test that easy enough. I can bypass the neutral safety switch ground to see if that is the problem. One thing though, my car is an automatic. Does the manual trans have a neutral safety switch integrated into the clutch? Would a bad coil be intermittent then stop working? It still has points, which I personally haven’t used in a million years. If the ballast resistor is bad, wouldn’t the engine still crank?

Any suggestions would be helpful. I am not much of a problem diagnoser.

(1) ballast resistor

(2) starter relay

(3) neutral start switch

A bad coil would not stop the motor from cranking.

Try to move shifter around (in P or N) while key is in start position. If that does it, then it's neutral safety.

Lou

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It is a manual trans, and I was wondering if the manual has a neutral safety switch activated by the clutch.

It can also be a bad starter.

You can arc the posts on the starter or starter relay and it should crank.
If it does not crank when arced, either the started is bad or current is not getting to the starter. (dirty / corroded battery post(s) or bad cables?
DD

I'd put money on the neutral safety switch. You'll need a shop manual to find out where it is....I don't know manual transmissions.

No. If it were the ballast resistor, the car would crank and fire, but quit running as soon as the key is released from "start" to "run". The ballast resistor does not (cannot) cause a no-crank condition.
Yes, could be.
Yes, could be.

Could also be the same thing that prevented my own '71 cranking from time to time: a loose wire on the interior side of the firewall disconnect. Grabbing the wire bundle and moving it around while holding the key in "start" caused the starter to crank. Could also be a faulty ignition switch. Could also be faulty wiring between the ignition switch and starter relay, or between the starter relay and the starter, or between the starter relay and the clutch safety switch (if this car is so equipped).

Diagnostic procedures:
Put the transmission in neutral, the ignition switched off, then jump the large stud/nut terminal to the small stud/nut terminal on the starter motor (use a screwdriver). If the starter cranks, move on to the next test: ignition key in the "run" (normal driving) position, transmission in neutral. Use your screwdriver to jump the two largest terminals on the starter relay (on fenderwell next to battery). If the engine cranks and runs, get out your voltmeter, remove the one small push-on wire (if no clutch safety switch) or two small push-on wires (if equipped with clutch safety switch from the starter relay, and check for battery voltage across the two wires (or across the one wire and ground) when the key is held in the "Start" position. If voltage is there, replace the starter relay. If no voltage there, check for voltage across the the + small relay wire and battery negative. If voltage there, the clutch safety switch is faulty or out of adjustment, or on a vehicle with no such switch, the starter relay has lost its ground. If no voltage there, the ignition keyswitch or its wiring are suspect.

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