Poll: Car Anti-Theft solutions

Django i have a kill switch mounted under the dash on the firewall of my 36 convert. It has three postiions, on , off and take the key out and carry it with you.

If you tried you could jump it but then you would have to open the hood and find it first.

I also hear you can run a toggle switch to the negative side of the coil and with that in the off pos. the motor would spin, but not fire.

Would also work as a oil prime as well I guess.

 

Back in high school, I used to pull my coil wire and carry it with me all day...low tech again!

 

i did the ol' cigarette lighter kill switch bit. worked great, cept every now and again, i'd be cruising down the road hit a bump and the lighter would shoot out of the dash and roll under the seat. not alot of fun to get a power steering and braking 62 olds to the side of the road when the motor dies.

oh, and if you ever sell the car, make sure you tell the person buying the car of this little security measure.

i sold the olds a few months ago and neglected to tell the folks about the lighter. just plain slipped my mind. well, i get a call a few days later. "car hasn't started in 2 days, been through everything. changed points, rotor, set timing, blah blah blah." "what kind of lemon did you sell me?"

turns out when they got it home, they were just sitting in it figuring things out, pushing ****ons, pulling knobs, etc. they pulled the lighter and put it back in like anybody would who didn't want it to get hot.

we had a good laugh, and i bought some beers to make up for it.

 

You guys doing the lighter thing... how does that work without the thing working as a lighter, ie getting hot, car burning to the ground, etc...

 

I wrap a big *** steel cable around the rear end & around the nearest lamp post, stops them gettin away but sure fooks my car up!

Seriously though i never leave it parked & the workshop is double bolted & alarmed through my house alarm.

 

I welded a quarter inch plate bracket to the floor and Padalocked the shifter in "Park", plus I had a kill switch under the drivers seat as well as an electric fuel pump shut-off switch!

This not only acted as a theft deterant..., but also doubled as a "Sobriety" tester..., If I couldn't get the thing runnin after a few hours I'd call a cab...!!

Mark

 

My system seems to work well, I just keep hauling rusty **** home and never finish anything. No engine, no wheels & tires = hard to steal.

Seriously if a thief wants your car he is gonna get it. Park it where a wrecker cant get to it. Any of the above mentioned things that will slow thief down will help. I'm more worried about having good carb, ignition, wheels etc stolen on car with no hood when parked while away from home. If you are running a GM column the cover repoman mentioned is excellent.

 

when it is parked in my drive......
an electric fence charger,clipped to the front bumper(or anything steel) When they get ZAPPED,they usually scream loud enough to wake up Mr. Browning....
When it is parked out and about.....
A hidden kill switch,a baby monitor,and a very good friend that helps keep things under control.....Mr.Ruger.

 

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Back in high school, I used to pull my coil wire and carry it with me all day...low tech again!


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I did that one too and told my dad about it. he was like you know an 8 can still run on 7 cylinders.

I haven't done this yet but plan on doing it. i won't use a switch or anything but the mechanism for the gas tank selector. you just wire it to open for fuel when the car is turned off, that way when the ignition is off it won't allow fuel to flow. but making sure the fuel lines are in the right holes. this is because they operate on having no power or power. that fuel selector switch would just cut the power to the solenoid so that even if it was switched to tank two when there was no power it flips to tank one. but then when there is power back on it switches back to tank two and you can go. basically the same as a cutoff for the electric pump but seems like you could hide the wires easier. just need a place to mount it and disguise wire spliced into the ignition harness.

 

a loaded .45 caliber pistol, a can of gas and some matches

 

jonizzle,

If you pull the actual COIL wire off, the distributer can't get voltage to fire any of the spark plugs. And the v8s will defenatly run on only 7 cyls. Had that happen more than once.

 

A piece of steel cut so it fits between the florr and the pedals with a simple flip over piece and a padlock
You cant push any of the pedals down and it is too confined to cut the padlock off simple and low buck you could even use 1" plywood if you can't cut steel out and a simple steel flat piece over the top

 

I lost 2 stereos years ago REALLY pissed Me off.So the next one I installed, I soldered tri barbed fish hooks on each side of it with the hooks facing up.Figured if some ***hole went to get that one Ide catch Him cause Hed be (hooked).Then I could beat him with a shovel till he tore his hand loose.Never got to do it nobody tried stealin it.So solder tribarbed hooks under youre ignition switch to the bottom of yer dash hooks up remember and around yer radio.Then all ya need is a shovel leanin next to the door you can grab on yer way out.---Feder

 

I always ponder what a piece of chain going to two tires would do to a robbers brain... i can roll it half a turn in either direction...

 

Rocknrod,

That is the best idea yet!

 

Actually, a well tuned engine can run on HALF of it's cylinders!

I had the header off of my Chevelle on one side, and put it back on without plugging those four wires back in. Fired the car up and tried to drive it...thinking, "Man, is it ever doggin' today!". Then, I thought of it, and shut it off...to go hook up the four plug wires!

Did it again on my two cyliner Honda chopper...left one plug wire off and took for a ride...bogging and really slow till it dawned on me...d'oh!!

 

Django, the lighter receiver gut is taken out, put in a push on switch, so when the lighter is pushed in, it pushes on the ****on completing the circuit when you want to disable pull lighter out and the ****on is released therebybreaking the circuit

 

I have a master disconnect for the battery, if they turn that on, the keay has to be turned on for the electric fuel pump or ignition to come on, I have a hidden kill switch wired in for the MSD ignition, and then I have an oil pressure cutoff switch, so the ignition dies (or just never gets hot) if the oil pressure is below 15 psi, and I wired in a toggle switch for that, as you have to byp*** it to get the car started. On top of that, it's a 10 second small block car with 3" dual flowmasters, so if it does somehow start, me and my firearms are going to have a talk with the "bad guy"
As far as **** gettin stolen, I just don't keep anything important in it, and leave the door unlocked so they don't bother breaking the windows to find out it's empty.

 

my car is protected with the "Ruger Security System". I went with the deluxe .44 Model, but they make lesser versions such as the .41 and the .357, all good systems.
I also have a fuel shut off, power shut off and a very tempermental shifter...

 

Tempremental Shifter - yeah, forgot about that one. A lot of my cars have been Chevys with a straight six and three on the tree. Once those bushings go out on the shifter, it can be a devil to get it in gear!

 

Like Nzsimon's except a plate over and around the side of the pedals, heavy gauge.
A padlock attaches the plate to a loop on the steering column. A piece of square tubing on the plate that the padlock fits into. The padlock is inside the tube completely except for the area for the key.

 

The tuff guy thing is fine but have any of you EVER got to confront a theif? A buddy did, he happens to be 6'3" 300 lbs throws the Caber and Hammer in the Scottish games. He has a Rot that is a good 140 pounds. He heard a noise outside one night, him and dog went out to find two guys in the middle of removing the front clip of his Chevelle. The dog grabbed one guys crotch, Mark cornered the other. All he did was let them know he knows who they are. Told them to get the **** out. If ANYTHING is ever stolen from his yard, THEY will be seeing him, regardless of guilt. This was 10 years ago, it is funny to watch them avoid him at the swap meet each year!! Yeah, they were "car" guys.

 

Makes me wonder how many thiefs are takin' notes, now...
I haven't been daily driving my truck, lately, so I often disconnect the relay lead from the starter (at the relay, on the firewall). Thief won't even get as far turning the starter over (and draining the battery).
My '57 has a power/tilt steering column from a '76 Caddilac. The cab is wired to stock dash ignition, but to keep the steering wheel from locking up, you need a key for that, which always stays there.
When friends tell me, "Hey, you left the key in the ignition?", I ask 'em WHICH ignition." Reminds of how I need to figure out a way to byp*** that key-lock. Heck, I once had an Elko that didn't need a key to unlock it. Just grip 'n twist to fire it up.
Planning on getting a battery cut-off switch soon.

 

an aquaintance of mine back in arkansas had a repo business before he got into drugs, the thing was truly amazing to see in action, all you had to do was pull up to the rear of the car (if RWD) or front if FWD, the thing went down to the ground, slid UNDER the vehicle, then these "arms" folded out, via hydraulic power, then the whole shabang goes up, you pull away, never heard....

scary actually, the guy used to sell parts that were of the kind you didnt ask of their origins, I slept with the '56 beside my bedroom window, and a 4.5" bbl SAA in .45lc with the hammer on an empty slot in the cylinder in a western holster attatched to the bed...nothin can stop a theif unless he CANNOT MOVE THE VEHICLE...

the two types would be this: the kind that get in it and try to drive it away, I have thought of all kinds of things to keep that from happening, such as a steel plate made to hold about 16 12 guage rds of buckshot sitting business end UP under the drivers side seat, with some sort of mechanism to fire all 16 at once should someone attempt to take my pride and joy, but common sense told me NO, firstly because my little boy likes my car, and likes to get in it...secondly, because I am a forgetful type, and dont exactly want a leaded enema...

second would be the type that pulls it away with another vehicle, these are the *******s I am most cautious of...some sort of anchored attatchment points, heavy HEAVY steel, concreted in the ground, with LOG CHAIN attatched via some sort of heavy locks should prevent your vehicle from being pulled away, this, combined with the electric fence unit mentioned in an earlier reply, should prevent ANY person from getting away with it...

if anyone uses my shotgun shell idea, I placed it here for entertainment purposes only, I shall not be libel for any damages related to it's further development and/or usage...

but...if you do use it, take pics of the sorry punk that was unfortunate enough to get all that lead in his ***...would be a good photo to put in a window warning potential theives what happened to the LAST guy who tried to steal a car

 

Legal update...If you shoot and kill a guy who is stealing your car you will be arrested and charged with Homicide. Please don't get on my **** about this, I don't write the laws.

 

its my understanding the only acceptable way of killing/shooting someone is if they sucessfully enter your home, then you have a right to defend yourself. If you blast away at someone outside for "stealing" your hubcaps etc, yea the cops will charge you with attempted murder or... aint worth it thats why they have 911, no need to go to jail for a piece of metal IMO

 

Yeah, but if you have a CCW, and confront him, and he comes at you with ANYTHING that could be considered a weapon, WASTE HIS ***!

 

Cripes I've heard of thieves sueing home owners because their dog bit them while trying to break in...! and some "B-***-turds" win!

I guess we should insure heavily and call 911 as our rights are diminished less than the criminals!

Mark

 

My dog kept going NUTS last night, a few times, like someone was outside. Unfortunately, all of our outside lights are useless because the previous owners hired Mickey Mouse himself to do all the wiring. I couldn't see anything from inside the house so I kept having to go outside and look. I brought a hammer with me, being reminded of the way they dealt with the theives in the movie "Casino."
Of course, nothing was there, and I know my dog is crazy, but every now and then he is warranted.

 

Speaking of Guard dogs..., there's a guy in central Texas with about 10-20 acres of cars in his yard and he hasn't had any problems with thieves..., since most of his gaurd dogs slither and rattle..., (tons of them)!