ignition grief

[Misfit Danzig]

Hey all, been a long time since ive posted on here but the last one was very helpful so im back again I put a very nice (in my humble opinion) rebuilt 390 motor in a 1978 F250. We just started the engine this last sunday and it sounds fantatsic. However... i can only start it by jumping the selenoid. I did switch from an auto to a NP 435. And the original engine was a 400. Im a little stumped. I was thinking that since it was an auto before that maybe the neutral safety switch is the cause? I took the steering sector i have now out of a 76 f250 and it plugged right in to the existing plug so not sure if thats the issue or not. Any help greatly aprreciated.

[fordman]

the neutral safety switch is on some of the transmissions after 1975 i think. but if your is still on the column make sure it is in gear pull up on the shift handle when you turn the key. or the neutral safety switch is bad. or broken during the swap. i am almost sure the nss is on the transmission in 1978. i am unsure about 76 77. they do make a plug for the manual transmission to plug in and by pass the nss for a manual transmission only. i have several of them.