Re: 18 hp fastwin "shorting switch"
I've had several of these, but not this particular year, On mine, the hole was in the belly pan part of the cowl, was about 1.5 inches or so, and had a push button kill switch. Which was often disconnected, and as long as the wires coming out from under the mag plate was not grounding out, the engine ran fine. I ended up on one of them, adding a modern kill switch with a tether. much safer in my opinion. So ya don't need one, but the 18's are fast motors and you'll be safer if you put one in and use it.