OK, with all the post about stolen cars on here, I think it's a good time to post this. Most stolen cars are driven away, if they can't be started, they can't be driven. I do this with all my cars, I install a kill switch. I use a simple toggle switch, put it somewhere that's hidden, but easy to reach. Put it in the hot wire to the starter, or in the neutral safety switch circuit. If you want to get real fancy, use a 3 way toggle switch. Wire it to a 12 volt flashing LED http://shop2.outpost.com/{wPvEHMQ4l...pyBOBa3xg**.node3?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG one side of the switch is wired to the LED, the other side is wired to the starter, or neutral safety switch circuit. When you park it, flip the switch so the LED flashes, looks like an alarm, and the starter is interrupted. Park it in your garage, flip it to the center, LED won't flash, car won't start, flip the switch to the last position, the car will start. I've never had a failure with this setup. Most car thieves won't take the time to figure it out. Hope this will help someone from getting their car stolen. Dean
good write up. my brother had a Honda CRX back when they were popular and he wired up a kill switch inside the rear ashtray. who would have thought to look there? worked great too. you can also run them through a cigarette lighter.
you still can jump the starter and start it that way. i run a wire to the neg side of the coil through a toggle switch to ground. use a black wire and it blends in with the stock wires. you can crank till the battery dies but it won't start....even if they run a hot wire to the coil .
Yea I know, if they want it bad enough, they will get it, but how many dirt bags in a Target parking lot are going to do that?
My father had 77 datsun pickup piece if **** shop truck it even had a tire mounted on the front bumper just in case someone had to be pushed off the road anyways, my dad had a electric fuel pump on the truck so he decided to put a cut off switch to that the switch was on the heater switch since he did not use the heater ,for some reason a guy tried three times to steal this truck first time we found the truck down the street,second time same thing but this time the guy left an extra battery ,third time same thing down the street but the guy through a hot wire to the switch and even left a empty gas can.To this day we dont know why this guy wanted the truck so bad.So if you have a electric pump run a cut off switch to that and run the car until fuel runs out .
I think you are refering to my incident? I did leave out that my car had a well hidden kill switch. It went to the electric fuel pump. A local shop here that specializes in Buick Grand National's never knew of it until I told him today. We believe the crook just got lucky.
DPDT switch. One to the coil/ignition, one to the fuel pump where so equipped. The problem with a really well hidden switch is if you have to reach around to find it, all a guy's gotta do is be watching when you park the car and he's going to know what you're up to when you reach up under the dashboard or something before you get out of the car. I would think about something like a magnetic reed switch hidden someplace that you can either carry a magnet with you, or hide one in like an extra dash knob. Put it like under the console top or someplace it would be normal to put your hand on going in and out of the car. And by using a dash knob or something to hide the magnet, if you leave it in the glovebox or something, it looks like just an extra part. Plus it would look trick when it's in place going down the road.
I live in a neighborhood near downtown here in Cincy and the instances of car theft around here are staggering, but from talking to the cops and my neighbors, it's mostly kids joy-riding and they often trash/torch the cars when they run em out of gas or can't get em started. This unnerves me since the ghetto kids around here know our car as the 'ol school' (their words, not mine) and I tend to think that kids stealing something for joy-riding try to steal something they like, so I got to thinking about this awhile back. I have two worries. One - that they'll steal it. Two - that they'll get frustrated if it doesn't start or runs ****ty for a few minutes while it warms up and torch it in the driveway/garage, setting my house/garage on fire. So, I had a couple ideas for a kill switch. First, location. I was thinking I'd just run the hot coil wire through an extra dimmer switch above the stock one in the floor that I'll install when I patch a few holes. That way, it's clean, I don't have some ugly toggle messing up the look of my dash/firewall, it's close to the coil to minimize the chance of being noticed in the circuit by someone looking under the hood, and noone's gonna notice you reaching for it. The other idea was to wire it so that if the power's not going to the coil, it's going to the horn relay. That way, they crank it over and the horn instantly starts blaring. That way, they won't stick around to torch it or take hard-to-find chrome souveniers from my dash. It might mean coming home to a dead battery if they do try to steal it, but it's better than coming home to no car or a burned out house/garage.
I like the "keyed" battery disconnect switches. Hide it in the trunk or interior so nobody sees you pop the hood. Take the key with you and no battery power.
i think theres lots of places to hide a switch, one i have been thinking of is if the e-brake is on it wont start, second dimmer switch on the floor, on and on, but what i realy am thinking of doing is getting a GPS pet tracker, even if your car gets stolen you could find it.
years ago my ex wife bought a new 1989 rs camaro at the same time i bought a 1990 saleen convert. even though my car cost twice what her's did her insurance was twice what mine cost. we questioned the agent and he said in 6 months the camaro will be stolen so that's why.well she had some shop install just a momentary contact switch very flat and unnoticeable under the carpet between the seat and the door on the door sill area. eventhough the broke in 2x they never did get the car. even had a bet with a police officer he could find it but he never did
oh by the way that red & black plastic switch works great only problem was the stupid kid didnt see it sticking out of the fender mounted right by the bumper so he just smashed all the windows on my 86 ford ltd wagon
That only works if your car's outdoors with a clear view of the sky. They rely on having line of sight to 2 satellites, which is somtimes harder than you'd think. I occasionally use GPS for backpacking and in mountain valleys it can be useless. So, if they park your car in a garage/building or under a tarp to keep it out of sight, the GPS is useless...
you would think that at some point your car or a part of your car would be taken outside, but also i think that some of the pet trackers use cell phones as well and they do work inside, all just food for thought, at some point someone will come up with a system directed at tracking stolen autos.
I have an electric fuel pump and on the wire going back to the pump I installed a key switch. The switch is on the side by the seat where a panel would have to be removed to jump the switch but who would think to look there while trying to steal the car. Too many places to look.
Or just pull the coil wire, AND slip off the wire sending juce to the coil. I've got an open ended connector on the wire sending juice to my coil and when I'm pulling the coil wire I slipp this off the coil post, there is still two wires going between the coil posts and the Dizzy...some smart thieves carry a coil wire, but most won't figure this out...even though its really not that sneeky. It is still kind of a PIA though. I should put a switch in there some time.
If it was well hidden... then I'd bet the thief is someone who knows you, has seen the car at a club event or watched you start the car. s.
some may think its stupid but a good car alarm installed is usualy around 350 installed here at my shop and does scare away alot of thiefs... motion sensing, gl*** break, shock and door pins....
had a 62 olds that i wired a kill switch throught the lighter. just took a relay and a few feet of black wire. push the lighter in and she fired right up, pull it out, and crank all ya want, no juice to the coil. clean, stock looking. to make it even harder to steal, i just put the lighter in my pocket when i parked it places... only problem was i sold the car to a buddy and forgot to tell him about this. he called me 3 days after i sold it to him....said he'd spent time and money trying to figure out why the damned thing wouldn't start!!! hahaha,,,sorry keith!
In addition to a kill switch, these may keep the car from being moved at all A manual valve ***embly installed in the hard line to the rear brakes, once the brake pedal was pushed in a key (like in the vending machines) was turned on the valve and it locked the line pressure to rear brakes. Most of our stuff is so low, I can't believe a thief would be able to slide under and cut the brake lines. A cheaper alternative for my 52 might be to fab up tabs on the rod of the parking brake pull mounted under the dash and drill holes in the tabs for a paddle lock. Once the parking brake was pulled the tabs line up and drop in the paddle lock. Kinda tough getting bolt cutters under the dash into that space. Again most of our stuff is so low, I can't believe a thief would be able to slide under and cut the brake cable. s.
I installed a rocker switch in the ceiling of the ashtray housing, close the ashtray and that trips the switch cutting off power to the electric fuel pump. To reset, open the ashtray and flip the switch with your finger.
Back in shop cl***. We used to swap the coil wire out with vacuum hose! Damn that was funny untile they got even with you.
here i got one for ya..its not really a theft deterrent..its more like revenge for stealin my ****!..rig up a 12 guage shot gun in the trunk loadded with buck shot in both barrels tie a string around both triggers and rig it to the trunk latch..when the **** head opens up the trunk after steelin your ride..boom off with his head..if enough of us did this there wouldnt be any more car theifs left..i know I know it isnt reality..and dont anyone get bent and say "yeah good idea until your kid opens the trunk up or sumptin'" huhhuhhuh duh!
Am i wrong or does it seem like there is alot of car theft going on out in the west? almost once a week or month on here alone i hear about how someone got their hot rod stolen or their daily driver ripped off..what the F is going on?
It seems as if I recall my Dad telling a story years ago about when he was in college.....they would take an old Model T or Model A coil (it had power stored in it) and wire it to the metal door knob of their dorm room. Whoever grabbed the knob next would get a shock. So, could you wire enough current from the battery to the springs in the drivers seat to produce a hefty continuous shock to the person sitting in the seat trying to start the car? I'm not a good electrician.....but hopefully you get the idea. Would need an on/off switch hidden to activate it. Or, have the entire body electrified for when they try to open the door. Just a thought. I have a battery cutoff switch mounted on the firewall.....have to reach under the dash to turn the knob. Maybe not foolproof, but they might not find it quickly. The other built in anti theft measure on my old Plymouth is the fact you have to turn the key, then press the starter ****on on the left end of the dash. A younger fellow the other day damn near broke off the key trying to turn the ignition switch to start it. Was real surprised to learn about that starter ****on when I showed him.
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