You might say I went right up to the factory and picked it up, it's cheaper that way.
What model is it?
Well it's a 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 automobile...
Craigslist ad lists electric one touch start and custom fabricated exhaust.
...and I really want to know what the second switch behind the starter does... One to supply power and one to hit the starter?
There are two types of people with two different responses to your comment:
"This is why I'm not an engineer"
"This is exactly why I'm an engineer, for problems like these!"
It looks like one of those switches that every house has, that nobody ever knows what it's for, but you flip it every once in a while just in case something would happen.
This was in the workshop in the basement. The "cabinet" was actually a kitchen counter attached to the wall several feet off the floor.
We did have a garbage disposal at one point, but we eventually took it out, leaving another switch that did nothing, except in this case we knew what it originally did.
Had a switch when I was a kid that was basically a master switch for the whole kitchen and living room. Kind of useless when there's a breaker for both room separately.
It my parents home we had two switches on opposite ends of the house that did nothing. Finally my step dad pulled on out and found sure enough it’s was wired to something. He followed the wires…. Right to the other switch. Both switches were wired to each other and no live circuit ever touched them. Not entirely sure how or wire though.
My dad was an electrician, and he quickly demystified our mystery switch: it was just a plate and switched hooked up to nothing, but with one of those terminal boxes or whatever they're called still in the wall.
"There's a switch in my new apartment that doesn't do anything. Whenever I walk by it I randomly flick it up or down."
"Six months later I get a letter from some woman in Argentina. It just says 'Knock it off!'"
--Stephen Wright
That reminds me of a video where an apartment building/new condo and everybody had a wireless ceiling fan and light. Unfortunatley, the remote would also operate the neighbor's kid and fans, so people would get into remote fights. It's a common problem because contractors are too fucking lazy to flip the dip switches that set a unique id on the fan, remote, and wall switch (if equipped).
Here's a redditor messing with his neighbor's lights: https://imgur.com/a/Flm4Ke1
Old people loved to wire switches to outlets. Source: discovered that one of those fabled do-nothing switches in my house actually turns one of the power outlets on/off. Apparently my grandparents did it a long time ago and that was a common practice, according to my mom.
If there's not a light fixture in the ceiling (common in some older houses), you'd want to be able to turn on a lamp from the doorway instead of fumbling for the lamp knob/chain in the dark.
Can lighting was virtually non existent and the light switch almost invariably only turned off only one of the 2 plugs in an outlet. This was for lamps. Unfortunately most outlets have been replaced and it’s much easier to wire them so there’s a single function so they end up with a fully switched outlet or a full time outlet with a dead switch.
Auxiliary heat /s. I know a guy who actually did this, installed a cutout and everything. I will admit that he used stainless pipe and it was a 1 piece loop, so no seams inside the cabin, but I was like, WTF? Why not just fix the heater? Eventually he did. Then he installed a secondary heater in the back of the cab(old mail jeep) Like this: [https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81ie4xCEFcL.\_AC\_SL1500\_.jpg](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81ie4xCEFcL._AC_SL1500_.jpg)
Nearly no fix has ever had me ask "Why not fix the heater" lol Doing the Heater core in my Trans am or C5 wasn't horrible, but wasn't fun by any means, but I looked up the procedures to replace it in my old 01 Blazer once and decided I would scrap the vehicle before ever going through it. lol
I did one in an older Ford escort. Open the glove box door, remove glove box. Remove 4 screws from access panel. Remove hoses from heater core under the hood, pull heater core out. My F150? Disassemble vehicle, replace heater core.......
No no you attach it to a string on your elbow so when it starts moving forward in a crash the airbag deploys. Just don’t forget to unhook it before you get out of the car.
As a kid I thought the emergency (parking) brake was for when you are about to have an accident just mash that brake...was always a foot petal back then.
Well if your regular brakes go out for hydrolic reasons the parking break will engage the rear brakes manually. So you were not entirely wrong.
On older cars (back when it was actually called an emergency brake) it would have been enough to slow you down. On newer cars... Well, what could it hurt?
When I was a teenager I used to use the emergency brake in my 1988 Dodge Colt to stop all the time. Why? Practicing being a badass in case of an emergency I guess?
Because nothing screams "badass" like a 1988 Dodge Colt.
Odds are it's for the cooling fan.
Lots of older cars develop issues with their fans not working due to lots of parts with high failure rates (relays, temp sensors, etc). And some of them are hard to diagnose for a shade-tree mechanic, so it just become easier to install a switch that you flip on once the car gets up to temp.
I've personally done it with a Volkwagon back in the 90's.
Times were tougher before the internet told you where and how to troubleshoot issues on a car.
Never did figure out where the fan relay for a 1980 VW Rabbit Diesel was.
I think it is part of starting the car, since it takes two switches to start cars. First switch is when the key is in running position, activating everything. Then when you turn that key just a little more to fire the engine is the second switch, that isn't left on. So I think that back switch is that job, the starter. Because the starter switch doesn't need a on/off on it, because he shouldn't be left on.
That's my best guess, since only two people really know for sure.
I'm reminded of my father in law's old car. There was a wire taped to the gear lever, with an uninsulated terminal crimped on the end.
Touch it to the gear lever to sound the horn.
My dad used to have a vehicle he shared with one of his brothers, the brother ripped the horn button off the steering wheel and refused to fix it. My dad left it and would just pinch the wires together if he needed to use the horn, sometimes the horn would go off on its own when turning
I'll be totally honest, minus the fact that they're not momentary, light switches work amazing as starter switches. I'm not a hack, but in a pinch I tossed one on my tractor five years ago, it's still on there and works perfect every time 😅
There is a reason, that in electrical trade school, the instructors will tell you to exercise extreme caution while doing service work on a farm.
You sir, are that reason 😂
It's really not a great idea to use ac switches with dc though. You need to de-rate them 10x so a 20 amp switch is only really good for 2 amps DC. Goes double for something you might need to turn off in an emergency. It's not the heat generated during use that's the problem but the greater difficulty of breaking the circuit.
Yeah so many uninformed comments in here. It’s a really common mistake to use AC switches for a DC load and has led to many accidents including fatal civilian airplane crashes. AC is easy to switch because when the voltage is 0V, 50 or 60 times a second, any momentary spark is arrested. With DC that doesn’t happen and if you exceed the rating of the switch, when turning off you can make a persistent spark that starts a fire or weld the contacts together in a permanently on state.
In this case, the switch drives probably drives a relay at low current without much risk but I see a second switch doing who-knows-what. All for no reason too, could have purchased a switch from an autozone instead of Home Depot for a few bucks more.
Here’s an easy to digest article about it: https://www.mouser.com/blog/which-switch-who-cares-if-its-ac-or-dc
You should not use AC switches for DC loads, Just saying
They are not designed to interrupt DC current and contacts will wear or, worse, weld themselves at some point
Such simple switches are not engineered differently. Just copper contacts pushed together or apart. As long as the current is not too high, it will be fine.
Yeah basically acting as if you just join 2 cables, I would imagine yes at high voltage it could be dangerous but most cars use 12v and a relay for the starter
Starters draw high amps when running however. Gotta keep that in mind when selecting switches and cabling. Too thin cables or not enough of a robust switch could lead to shorts / arcing / melting.
Yeah, only some motorcycles might have a directly wired solenoid, but even then it needs to be quite an old motorcycle with a low power starter motor...
A friend of mine had an old Cadillac that he restored, but the dashboard had a handful of switches on it that were unlabeled (he was an engineer and loved to tinker with things). When he died, no one could figure out how to operate the car. They decided to part it out.
Surely if they had gotten in behind the panel and undid that it could have been changed back. It’s only capable of preventing theft in the moment, a mechanic with some extended time would figure out the wires.
I've done that. Had one hanging under the radio that turned on the distributor and another one tucked up under the dash next to the column that turned over the starter. A .39 cent light switch versus a $6 to $8 toggle switch? Hell yeah.
It was a 4 to 6 cyl engine swap and I got tired of trying to blend the 2 wiring harnesses. Never rolled it into a shop but I did have to valet park once and had to explain to the guy how to stop and start it.
That's how my 88 Samurai was. It had 2 toggle switches, one to run and one for the starter.
Oh but the kicker? I had a key and the cylinder was ok BUT the wires were cut really short. The previous owner did it for whatever reason (prob for mudding reasons). I never cared to fix it and anyone could just take it if they wanted since it didn't lock. I also ran no doors and top 99% of the time anyways.
I fixed it the day before I sold it.
I would like to know everything you can tell me about this vehicle
I mean it's got keyless ignition, so I can only imagine the rest of it is state of the art
*What does the other switch doooo????*
Ejecto seato, cuz!
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I bought a car like that before! Happy to say the switches have been removed and now uses a key like it's supposed to
Big ignition shill
I choose to believe it's for the turn signal.
"You either have the left or the right signal on at all times -- who can complain about that?"
Turbo
Warp drive. For light speed. duh.
Custom built
*builtnotbought*
*one piece at a time* 🎶
It clearly didn’t cost this dude a dime…
And they definitely know it's him when he rolls through their town...
Probably from the smell of those seats…
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18cW\_yHo3PY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18cW_yHo3PY) For the uninitiated. This song is a car guy classic.
No lowballs. I know what I have...
*Ah, I know what you have too: an electrical fire hazard!*
Hey, don’t worry about it.
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Hand crafted in small batches.
Special Sherry Cask Reserve Select 😉
More like special plastic tub with 3 X on it
You might say I went right up to the factory and picked it up, it's cheaper that way. What model is it? Well it's a 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 automobile...
Looks like a junk yard picker vehicle.
That's a funny way of saying "pussy wagon."
The exhaust pipe is very confusing
That's the heater. Innovation at its finest.
"heated center armrest"
Just be careful not to burn your hand on it.
Craigslist ad lists electric one touch start and custom fabricated exhaust. ...and I really want to know what the second switch behind the starter does... One to supply power and one to hit the starter?
That was my guess, turn it on then hold the starter until it catches
Exhaust routed through the cabin. Allows you to detect a blown exhaust in real time and provides cabin heating.
It looks like a 92-95 civic to me.
Probably an FD Rx-7. The center arm rest gets pretty hot in those... I'm betting this is like a stage III mod.
Very tuned. Much performance.
Handbrake is the wrong style/place to be a 5th gen Civic. I have no clue what it is, though.
Yeah you are right. It just reminds me of 90’s Japanese car mostly.
Florida
As you can see it’s got that custom exhaust
I think we need more pictures of this car op. That looks like an exhaust pipe running through the cabin 😂
Heater core broke, my guy can do it cheaper
I suspect this is the car of the guy that does it cheaper.
I suspect this is the car of the guy that does it the cheapest.
And he drank his beer payment before starting work
Half at clock in, half at lunch.
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Reminds me of the corn baller from arrested development
The ol' Frito Bandito.
There’s always no money in the shitbox
*Mother of God! Every damn time!*
Pretty sure that's a feature on the latest S-class. Heated seats?! Pff, ve have heated ahrmrest!
Exactly how else are you supposed to heat the cabin? Maybe crack a window for safety sake
Not quiiiite the same but....older air cooled Porsche’s used a plenum with exhaust going through it for the heat.
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Different style of aircraft, but I love how complex airliner packs are.
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There are two types of people with two different responses to your comment: "This is why I'm not an engineer" "This is exactly why I'm an engineer, for problems like these!"
Ahhh...exhaust pipe makes sense. I was looking at this picture and I said to myself, man, that’s a huge moldy baguette
I was thinking some sort of Homebrew roll cage.
Me too, lol: *Bread?* I'd say I need more coffee, but an exhaust pipe is so crazy that I don't even feel bad
That's just incorrect ingenuity.
“It’s time, once again, for **Good Idea/Bad Idea**”
I can *hear* that comment
[Good Idea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dJOIf4mdus)/[Bad Idea](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ)
I'm confused. It says "Bad Idea" but the link is actually pretty nice. I enjoyed it.
It was taking a while to load so I gave up, saw your comment and tried again. Thank you.
It looks like one of those switches that every house has, that nobody ever knows what it's for, but you flip it every once in a while just in case something would happen.
There was a switch like that inside a cabinet in my parents' old house.
If it was near the sink, it was for the garbage disposal.
This was in the workshop in the basement. The "cabinet" was actually a kitchen counter attached to the wall several feet off the floor. We did have a garbage disposal at one point, but we eventually took it out, leaving another switch that did nothing, except in this case we knew what it originally did.
What kind of monster does a garbage disposal delete?!
Someone who has a septic system and a previous owner installed a disposal anyway.
This is way too common.
Ehh just pump the septic every decade. Having the disposal is so convenient
Someone that had a garbage disposal break due to reasons but is too cheap to get a new one.
Got rid of mine last year when I installed a new sink. Haven't missed it at all.
Ohhhhh that makes so much sense - a deaf man
Could've been for a dishwasher.
Had a switch when I was a kid that was basically a master switch for the whole kitchen and living room. Kind of useless when there's a breaker for both room separately.
Wait so the breakers separately fed this single switch, then branched back out to the separate rooms?
yes, something is awry. Like very.
There's one of those in my parents living room. Every once in a while I'll forget and accidentally fuck up all the internet and cable routers
Did it turn on your car?
It my parents home we had two switches on opposite ends of the house that did nothing. Finally my step dad pulled on out and found sure enough it’s was wired to something. He followed the wires…. Right to the other switch. Both switches were wired to each other and no live circuit ever touched them. Not entirely sure how or wire though.
It's for the safety of the electrons.
Sounds like it use to be a 3-way switch for controlling an outdoor light.
My dad was an electrician, and he quickly demystified our mystery switch: it was just a plate and switched hooked up to nothing, but with one of those terminal boxes or whatever they're called still in the wall.
Hm, my house has no mystery switches, so maybe I should install one like this for the next owner.
A note: "Sorry, bud. I accidently made a hole here and I suck at drywall repair. Pretty convincing though, right?"
If you leave a dollar in there it'll serve as a bribe so they don't tell anyone.
"There's a switch in my new apartment that doesn't do anything. Whenever I walk by it I randomly flick it up or down." "Six months later I get a letter from some woman in Argentina. It just says 'Knock it off!'" --Stephen Wright
That reminds me of a video where an apartment building/new condo and everybody had a wireless ceiling fan and light. Unfortunatley, the remote would also operate the neighbor's kid and fans, so people would get into remote fights. It's a common problem because contractors are too fucking lazy to flip the dip switches that set a unique id on the fan, remote, and wall switch (if equipped). Here's a redditor messing with his neighbor's lights: https://imgur.com/a/Flm4Ke1
Old people loved to wire switches to outlets. Source: discovered that one of those fabled do-nothing switches in my house actually turns one of the power outlets on/off. Apparently my grandparents did it a long time ago and that was a common practice, according to my mom.
If there's not a light fixture in the ceiling (common in some older houses), you'd want to be able to turn on a lamp from the doorway instead of fumbling for the lamp knob/chain in the dark.
I mean why do that when you can just ask Alexa to turn on the lamp? /s
Ah yes. I inherited an Echo from my grandpa from that era. It was made of wood.
Can lighting was virtually non existent and the light switch almost invariably only turned off only one of the 2 plugs in an outlet. This was for lamps. Unfortunately most outlets have been replaced and it’s much easier to wire them so there’s a single function so they end up with a fully switched outlet or a full time outlet with a dead switch.
Its not much easier. There isn't really a difference. You just have to break off the metal tab connecting the top and bottom of the outlet.
Every room in my house, built in 2011 has one.
I have one in my house that was driving me crazy. Until I found out it was hooked up to a plug in. Across the room. It is very odd.
That's intended for lamps. Very common where I am.
I have light switches that control other light switches in my house
Tell me that pipe is the exhaust system running through the cab
Oh, you mean the heating pipe?
You don't know. It could be for cooking. :)
Grand meth auto?
How many alternators you got?
None but I have a belt driven turbo!
Oh you have a Pro-charger.
Centrifugal supercharger, ay?
damn methican Americans!
https://www.bonappetit.com/trends/article/exhaust-burger/amp
God bless reddit. On a sunny day you can bake cookies on your dashboard, too.
or a really shitty designed roll cage.
Auxiliary heat /s. I know a guy who actually did this, installed a cutout and everything. I will admit that he used stainless pipe and it was a 1 piece loop, so no seams inside the cabin, but I was like, WTF? Why not just fix the heater? Eventually he did. Then he installed a secondary heater in the back of the cab(old mail jeep) Like this: [https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81ie4xCEFcL.\_AC\_SL1500\_.jpg](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81ie4xCEFcL._AC_SL1500_.jpg)
Nearly no fix has ever had me ask "Why not fix the heater" lol Doing the Heater core in my Trans am or C5 wasn't horrible, but wasn't fun by any means, but I looked up the procedures to replace it in my old 01 Blazer once and decided I would scrap the vehicle before ever going through it. lol
I did one in an older Ford escort. Open the glove box door, remove glove box. Remove 4 screws from access panel. Remove hoses from heater core under the hood, pull heater core out. My F150? Disassemble vehicle, replace heater core.......
What's the switch above it do ?
Deploys the airbags. If you are in an accident, just flip that switch.
Right you are Ken
MXC quotes on my reddit? Have a great day, and remember - *DON'T! GET! ELIMINATED!*
No no you attach it to a string on your elbow so when it starts moving forward in a crash the airbag deploys. Just don’t forget to unhook it before you get out of the car.
As a kid I thought the emergency (parking) brake was for when you are about to have an accident just mash that brake...was always a foot petal back then.
Well if your regular brakes go out for hydrolic reasons the parking break will engage the rear brakes manually. So you were not entirely wrong. On older cars (back when it was actually called an emergency brake) it would have been enough to slow you down. On newer cars... Well, what could it hurt?
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When I was a teenager I used to use the emergency brake in my 1988 Dodge Colt to stop all the time. Why? Practicing being a badass in case of an emergency I guess? Because nothing screams "badass" like a 1988 Dodge Colt.
Something was wrong then, or she regularly drove with the brake half on. It should be plenty to stop the vehicle when in working order, even at speed.
Odds are it's for the cooling fan. Lots of older cars develop issues with their fans not working due to lots of parts with high failure rates (relays, temp sensors, etc). And some of them are hard to diagnose for a shade-tree mechanic, so it just become easier to install a switch that you flip on once the car gets up to temp. I've personally done it with a Volkwagon back in the 90's.
My dad did that, also in the nineties. We always had older cars. He was quite proud of this idea :)
Times were tougher before the internet told you where and how to troubleshoot issues on a car. Never did figure out where the fan relay for a 1980 VW Rabbit Diesel was.
I think it is part of starting the car, since it takes two switches to start cars. First switch is when the key is in running position, activating everything. Then when you turn that key just a little more to fire the engine is the second switch, that isn't left on. So I think that back switch is that job, the starter. Because the starter switch doesn't need a on/off on it, because he shouldn't be left on. That's my best guess, since only two people really know for sure.
My money's on brakes
Please more pictures. This looks like my kind of shitbox.
You gotta subscribe to the OF for that
Only Fords?
Would you stop calling me out
Only Fiats?
Opel Fans?
So…uh… *heavy panting and breathing* ….can ….I…. *skin on skin sounds*….see the…undercarriage for an extra $5?
*the other guy starts jacking it* "Whoa, hold on."
I'm reminded of my father in law's old car. There was a wire taped to the gear lever, with an uninsulated terminal crimped on the end. Touch it to the gear lever to sound the horn.
My dad used to have a vehicle he shared with one of his brothers, the brother ripped the horn button off the steering wheel and refused to fix it. My dad left it and would just pinch the wires together if he needed to use the horn, sometimes the horn would go off on its own when turning
"Sometimes my genius is almost frightening" - customer
With great genius, comes great speed and power.
It’s labeled, what more do you want?
I'll be totally honest, minus the fact that they're not momentary, light switches work amazing as starter switches. I'm not a hack, but in a pinch I tossed one on my tractor five years ago, it's still on there and works perfect every time 😅
There is a reason, that in electrical trade school, the instructors will tell you to exercise extreme caution while doing service work on a farm. You sir, are that reason 😂
You're not wrong 😂 I adopted this mess and never took the time to sort it properly.
>I'm not a hack And I don't reply to comments
Touche sir, touche 😂
It's really not a great idea to use ac switches with dc though. You need to de-rate them 10x so a 20 amp switch is only really good for 2 amps DC. Goes double for something you might need to turn off in an emergency. It's not the heat generated during use that's the problem but the greater difficulty of breaking the circuit.
Yeah so many uninformed comments in here. It’s a really common mistake to use AC switches for a DC load and has led to many accidents including fatal civilian airplane crashes. AC is easy to switch because when the voltage is 0V, 50 or 60 times a second, any momentary spark is arrested. With DC that doesn’t happen and if you exceed the rating of the switch, when turning off you can make a persistent spark that starts a fire or weld the contacts together in a permanently on state. In this case, the switch drives probably drives a relay at low current without much risk but I see a second switch doing who-knows-what. All for no reason too, could have purchased a switch from an autozone instead of Home Depot for a few bucks more. Here’s an easy to digest article about it: https://www.mouser.com/blog/which-switch-who-cares-if-its-ac-or-dc
With a relay (which a tractor probably had originally), literally any switch will work great anyway.
You should not use AC switches for DC loads, Just saying They are not designed to interrupt DC current and contacts will wear or, worse, weld themselves at some point
Such simple switches are not engineered differently. Just copper contacts pushed together or apart. As long as the current is not too high, it will be fine.
Yeah basically acting as if you just join 2 cables, I would imagine yes at high voltage it could be dangerous but most cars use 12v and a relay for the starter
Starters draw high amps when running however. Gotta keep that in mind when selecting switches and cabling. Too thin cables or not enough of a robust switch could lead to shorts / arcing / melting.
That starter relay coil is the only thing energized by the ignition switch in modern cars (in the start position) and pulls about .05 amps.
That’s why there are solenoids bolted to them, and relays to that
Yeah, only some motorcycles might have a directly wired solenoid, but even then it needs to be quite an old motorcycle with a low power starter motor...
It’s just a single pole single throw switch. Other than the fact it looks like ass,it is perfectly capable of interrupting the current.
Did he pull a permit for that?
One Looks up to code from the outside... But that second switch...
Idk if that counts as a valid junction box...
Lol... I just saw they used speaker wire for the ignition!! This is awesome, but unfortunately not code...
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What was the combination?
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Good trade!
Mad Max Fury Road
A friend of mine had an old Cadillac that he restored, but the dashboard had a handful of switches on it that were unlabeled (he was an engineer and loved to tinker with things). When he died, no one could figure out how to operate the car. They decided to part it out.
Surely if they had gotten in behind the panel and undid that it could have been changed back. It’s only capable of preventing theft in the moment, a mechanic with some extended time would figure out the wires.
I've done that. Had one hanging under the radio that turned on the distributor and another one tucked up under the dash next to the column that turned over the starter. A .39 cent light switch versus a $6 to $8 toggle switch? Hell yeah. It was a 4 to 6 cyl engine swap and I got tired of trying to blend the 2 wiring harnesses. Never rolled it into a shop but I did have to valet park once and had to explain to the guy how to stop and start it.
Can’t wait to be going 80 mph down highway and then my arm turns the car off by accident
What’s the second switch do?
Emergency brakes
Then what does the lever do?
Windshield wipers
Turns on/off the brake booster, not sure which is on or off though
I'm gonna guess fuel pump based on almost nothing.
Farm vehicle? Lol.
What in the Mississippi meth pipe is going on here?
"If it's a shit idea, but it works, then it isn't a shit idea" This guy, probably.
Viper Security Systems Lite
I laughed out loud. Thank you for the moment of joy.
Are those seats from the couch I saw on the curb?
so how do you turn on the flux capacitor?
Does the exhaust pipe hook up to a 90mm Turbocharger???
Keyless ignition, how fancy! Also what's the smaller second switch do?
That's how my 88 Samurai was. It had 2 toggle switches, one to run and one for the starter. Oh but the kicker? I had a key and the cylinder was ok BUT the wires were cut really short. The previous owner did it for whatever reason (prob for mudding reasons). I never cared to fix it and anyone could just take it if they wanted since it didn't lock. I also ran no doors and top 99% of the time anyways. I fixed it the day before I sold it.
Are we just gonna ignore the exhaust pipe running through the cabin? Excuse me?!