Thanks to Fred Thomas and Randall Young who replied with some ideas about
my "catchy" ignition switch. Here's what's transpired:
Today when I left work, I couldn't get the key over to the START position.
I fiddled with it for a half hour but couldn't get it to roll over. I
called the locksmith that made the key copies for advice... I was very
frustrated by this time. He told me that he had the ability to create an
ORIGINAL SPEC key from my "copy"... he calls this a "code key." Very
interesting... I had no idea they had this capability. Basically, they
make a new key that "erases" 25 years of wear that shows up, of course, on
the copy. He has a chart that tells him which key blank to use, which
cutter, and then he refers to a chart for each cut's position and depth.
He uses the old key as a reference to guess the depth of each cut... he
only has a few choices from the chart on depth for each position, so he
measures the depth on the old key and whichever depth spec it is closest to
is the correct, ORIGINAL depth. He made me three different keys to try out
and sure enough, one of them ended up working. What did all this cost me?
Just five bucks. (And I am now running 2 hours late in the day's activities!!)
The locksmith DID, however, recommend that I plan on replacing the lock
cylinder soon. He quoted me $80 for the part. He also had a price for the
entire steering lock assembly and it was close to $200. I don't need the
latter... I'll do the lock cylinder sometime this year, though.
Pete Chadwell
1973 TR6
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