Entry into motorsport

[spookypt]

Originally Posted by Towmaster

In a WOT situation you have no time and your automatic reaction is life preservation which means both feet on clutch & brake and steering the car if possible. Unless it's happened to you a couple of times then you are generally not prepared and would not automatically hit a kill switch before something happened. If you do hit something and the engine is still running and maybe you are unconscious then you're in trouble if you don't have an inertia switch. Most modern computers have an inertia switch built into them so a lot of vehicles here are ok in that respect. So if your vehicle runs a factory LS or Ford computer then you should be right, your computer will shut down the engine & fuel pumps upon impact. There is a reason manufacturers build these things into computers. You will then need to reset that switch before it starts again ( I think). Nothing wrong with an extra oil pressure switch to save your engine but you can't be 100% confident that in a split second you will have the ability to hit that kill switch.

Just my 20c worth.

PS thank god I haven't had a WOT situation but have had 2 cars I was driving spear off the track on oil and I probably had 1 or 2 seconds to react and my hands were firmly on the wheel trying to avoid a crash.

According to online GM tech (Believe what you will) and to further add interest... on stock GM ECU's the inertia switch current "bypasses" the relay through the oil pressure switch once the OP switch closes. Once the OP switch closes it becomes the fuel pumps primary source of power and the ECM uses that power going to the fuel pump to monitor the presence of oil pressure. The fuel pump through the ECU was designed to shut down if it loses it's oil pressure. (Ie a crash) Its a brain so it also sends an action for start up to run fuel when no OP exists.

So, if running a carb the oil pressure sensor inline to electric fuel pump is doing the same thing in a generic sense. It senses low pressure and in turn turns off the fuel pump.

Everyone's car is different so don't think generally or think he did or didn't do it so I can or cant. Do your research, get expert advice and be confident in your process.

[dallas_]

Interesting discussion. Seems to be two related but separate functions. My primary concern was the possibility of being upside down and the car on fire. I thought perhaps I would prefer the fuel pump to immediately cut off in that case.