Anti-Theft Suggestions.

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seabee

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Hi All,

Just wanted some opinions on some anti-theft options for my car. I was thinking a steering wheel "Club" type lock, kill switch, or rabid opossum.
 
Big posinous snakes, I like the hidden kill switch just be sure and use one with the correct amperage and correct size wire. Buglar alarms help with the flashing light and some single edged razor blade taped or screwed to the radio casing if its an custom one.
 
If you have an electric pump, a hidden switch in the relay ground

You can ground your tach lead, and I believe if MSD, there's a trick you can use there, too, or put a hidden switch to break the trigger (small red) wire

If you don't have a tach, run a wire out to the coil neg. and put a hidden ground switch on it.

Some guys use their cigarette lighter as a switch.

If you have a Line Loc/ roll control, you can rig it so if someone figures out how to hot wire the car, the Line Loc is active and locs the brakes at the first stop

Simple things like remove the coil wire.

On my old 63 Chev, you used to be able to put a plastic covered chain/ cable through the hood latch mount, but I haven't figured out how on an A body yet. I'd lift the hood 3-4" and unlock the padlock.

But remember this: Nothing beats a thief with a rollback/ wrecker/ etc

I have not kept up, there ARE cellphone systems you can use, and you've probably heard of "Lojack" but this is a REGIONAL service, and there is NONE around my area for hundreds of miles, so forget that.
 
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDrzMGdYWZc"]South African Car Flamethrower - YouTube[/ame]
 
Grant makes a quick disconnect unit for the steering wheel. Take it with you or lock it in the trunk.
 
I got a club but seen on TV how easy it is the get past. one cut the wheel, other was drill the lock out.

A kill switch is a good idea, but if you ever go to sell it (like at an auction PLEASE write instructions on how to start the car/turn the alarm off ) There has been so many cars that we have to hunt all over for the kill switch or an alarm go off and try and figure out how to disarm

I have agreed value insurance. No I don't want it stolen and it is never left outside at night, keep the garage /barn doors closed so they are not seen at home by too many ( seen a garage door open yesterday at a house I always look at every time I go by, a red 69 GTO & some kind of 57 Ford in primer plus something else I didn't get good enough look at to tell, 1st time I have ever seen the door open )

If a thief wants it they will get it. The ones you will stop are joy ride punks. Car thiefs are able to get around some of the most expensive car alarms
 
The cigarette lighter ground switch is my favorite. No thief will ever think to make sure the lighter is pushed all the way in to start the car. It's as stealth as it gets.
 
I actually like this device:
[ame="http://youtu.be/Ee3L9BQQ4Gs"]302 Found[/ame]
 
Kill switch is a great idea, also cant drive without a steering wheel. Do you have a 66 Cuda? Send me a pm and I will tell you how I modified my hood latch to keep people from getting to my 340 in my 66 Valiant. But, if a thief wants your car, he will get it. But these topics mentioned earlier will stall the thieves and take them longer to figure out what is wrong.
 
I believe that grounding the white wire on MSD's systems will do the trick.

I've always wondered, with GPS being in most phones now, if there was an easy way to add a family phone to my plan, enabling tracking on the phone, hardwiring the charger to the battery (through a relay, although my car stays on a charger at home anyways), and tossing the phone behind a kick panel or in a window well on the car, so I could always track that phone by the GPS if the thieving sonsabitches rolled off with the whole car via rollback.

That would be a lot more comprehensive and cheaper than Lojack. I think an extra line can be had for $20 a month.
 
I believe that grounding the white wire on MSD's systems will do the trick.

I've always wondered, with GPS being in most phones now, if there was an easy way to add a family phone to my plan, enabling tracking on the phone, hardwiring the charger to the battery (through a relay, although my car stays on a charger at home anyways), and tossing the phone behind a kick panel or in a window well on the car, so I could always track that phone by the GPS if the thieving sonsabitches rolled off with the whole car via rollback.

That would be a lot more comprehensive and cheaper than Lojack. I think an extra line can be had for $20 a month.

This is exactly what I was referring to. I have not kept up, tho, on what is involved. The old Motorola analog bag and mobile modules had a built in alarm feature, but you had to dig into the menu to activate it.
 
I disconnect the battery cable and chain the hood shut for peace of mind in some areas-time of day. I used to use the secondary latch but now I have more $ under the hood I feed the thick chain through some holes in the hood beam and to the bumper strut.

I worry more about it being strip of both carbs, my msd box, the msd dist and the hood being closed again. Sure I hate for it to be stolen but smart thieves know its easier to sell car parts on ebay vs a whole car
 
I install gps trackers on car lot cars all the time. Some are simple and only require a power and ground where as some i do actually go into the ignition wire. So that when people dont pay the car lot can get online log in and either see where the car is or just flat out shut it down. Their called imitek trackers or something like that. They cost under $200 and you have the ability to shut it down without the middle man
 
my kill switch is in the trunk below the luggage rack .

if I ever get thrown in the truck, I can shut my ride down, lol..that is if I don't get shot before they shut the hood
 
Does anyone know how to wire the cigarette lighter to act as a kill switch?

Just remove the lighter if necessary, and clean it out really good. CHECK with an ohmeter that it makes good contact when pushed in. That is, the hot terminal to the shell should show nearly a short.

Reinstall it, and do one of two things. If you have a tack run off points, or Mopar ECU, or GM HEI, just tie into the tach wire so that when you push in the lighter, it's grounded

If you have MSD, this won't work.

Another route is to use the lighter to ground one coil terminal of a relay, IE the relay must be active to start the car.
 
If a thief wants your car, the thief will get your car. Make your car less attractive and someone else's car more attractive to the thief. Club, flashing red LED on dashboard, no valuable-looking stereo or other stuff clearly visible, park it next to a more theftworthy vehicle (and under a streetlight), hidden kill switch(es)...

...or, y'know, drive a '56-'64 Chrysler product with automatic transmission. They might get it started, but they won't know how to shift into Drive!
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Get yourself a really good insurance policy with a guaranteed minimum loss value. This might not be an optimal solution, but it covers more than just theft which is added peace of mind.

Try not to worry about theft too much....the rabid opossum idea is pretty good though too, just don't forget to crack the windows a little so he doesn't die.
 
The cigarette lighter ground switch is my favorite. No thief will ever think to make sure the lighter is pushed all the way in to start the car. It's as stealth as it gets.
my 'rear air' switch is the power switch for my electric fuel pump. I turn it off to run the carb out of gas when I shut the car off, and leave it off until I want to start the car again.



....wait everyone forget they read that:-k
 
put pins on your antenna ball!!

wire a cow fence shocker into the car, so that when anybody touches it there will be a nice jolt. the driver must wear rubber gloves
 
When I go somewhere temporarily i always leave my cell phone under the carpet so if it does get stolen --instant gps -And I get away from the stupid thing for a hour or so!!!--Steve
 
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