Ideas to stop theft

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MoparBrit

HillingdonDart
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Location
Rio Rancho, NM
Apart from the usual precautions and putting rabbid dogs (or any variation there of) in the car all the time, anyone have any tips for anti theft things that can be done to help protect the Dart?

We love the car, drive it as transport so not just a show car type thing, just want to make sure it has a good chance of being there when we come back out of the mall or similar.

Car is stock slant six 71 model.

Obviously, is someone really wants the car not much will stop them, but.....

The Club I've heard is a waste. Suppose it would slow down the casual joy rider though.

Let me know your ideas.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers
 
The club can be defeated with a hacksaw right through the steering wheel, takes less than a minute.

I knew one guy who used vacuum tube to make a fake coil wire. His car was never stolen, but that wouldn't stop someone with a flatbed/towtruck.

I would say a good alarm along with a hidden switch for the ignition is about the best you could do other than an expensive Lojack system.

I have also heard of people stashing a deactivated cell phone in their car and charging the battery once a week. They keep a record of the SIM card # and if the car gets stolen, the police can track the car through the cell phone carrier using GPS. I've just heard of this, never done it myself so I can't verify this story.
 
Thanks for the post.

I'd heard the same thing about the Club.

I thought of putting an alarm on, but then everything is so basic and exposed on the car they could easily pop the hood (external release on the '71) and dicker with it.

Thought of wiring in a hidden kill switch. Wish it had an electric fuel pump as I've done that trick before with the power wire to it on another car we had. Of course, we've driven off a time or two and had the car sputter to a halt. Had to hop out and flip the switch.

Anyone else have ideas? That way I could maybe do a combo of them.

Thanks again for the post.

Cheers
 
Imaginative ways to prvent the car from starting. I've got a tiny switch that interupts the ignition (power to coil) unless the button is pushed. I wont say where its hidden. If they break into the car and try to take it, the malls security camera will have plenty of time to get a good at them while they kill my battery. LOL
A tiny LED blinking on the dash suggests aftermarket alarm installed. This can deter most thieves. The fake security system LED can be bought for coins (ebay) You can remove a screw in the instrument panel rather than drill a new hole.
 
My Duster is so jury rigged, Han Solo and Chewbacca would have trouble starting it.

I have to have a special ignition sequence to start the thing, so that's my anti theft.

For my other car, I have a series of kill switches that bypass electrical relays, and a hidden starter switch, with the ignition switch no longer able to start the car, but the key must be turned to provide power to the kill switches.
 
I once had an old Datsun with the column wiring fried and melted together. The only way to shut off the engine was to pull the coil wire and I had to pull the battery terminal to shut off the electrical drain. When I got tired of that routine, I fixed the wiring but installed a pull chain switch from a ceiling fan in the ground lead from the coil, and left the chain dangling out of a dash vent. It was parked on the street for 2 years in New Orleans and was always there. Wouldn't start if you didn't yank its chain. :bootysha:
Of course you realize that all the really good ideas will be useless after this post 'cause everybody will know about it.
 
Ha, great ideas. Looks like I'll give some a go this weekend maybe. Thanks for all the great ideas.

Cheers
 
I had an alarm system installed in my Dart since I drive it every day around town. Drove it to high school and everywhere else. it has a switch mounted in the truck, under the hood, and both doors, also has shock sensor. I've forgot to disarm it a few times and I get caught sometimes opening my doors with the alarm on haha. People sure look to see whats going on especially with a car like mine lol. Someone tried getting into it one night infront of my house and they hit the shock sensor, I ran out there but they had already left. Also if they do manage to break in they can't start it for the ingnition will shut off to keep anyone from attempting to start the car up and drive off.
 
I've got a viper system that's interactive. If the alarm is tripped my keychain pages me that it went off.
 
In my Aspen I have a hidden neutral safety switch cutout that has to be flipped. I also found and I can't remember were a switch that fits behind a door panel that deactivates the battery(In the trunk), but I haven't decided if I want to use it yet.
 
MVRCorp said:
I've got a viper system that's interactive. If the alarm is tripped my keychain pages me that it went off.
Click to expand...
From "The door is ajar" to "There goes your car"
what will they think of next ? :)
 
Get one of those shock guns that shoot out the probes and mount it under the column about crotch height, you will hear the thief yell and he will probably still be there (in serious pain) when you show up. Just don't forget about when you get in LOL
 
Just mount on air bag under the upholstery in the driver seat cushion and wire it into thru a bypass switch. If they try to start it with out by-passing the proper switch, they get an instant ride to the roof.
 
Ha, ha, ha...... some good ones there.

Hmmm, alarm system wise how are they installed, for the ones that have them? I'd think it would be tough to hide away the speaker part and they could at least disable that part fairly quickly. Guess it would diable the car still though. Just would seem not a lot to hide things in on our cars.

The consensus (is that spelled right?) seems to be some sort of hidden switches. Will probably do something along that line.

Alarm wise not sure. Still seems to be something that would be pretty exposed to tampering????

Stun gun wise reminds me of years ago when I used to work at a dealer. We had to check over all the new cars that came in. Look for any problems, check all systems, make sure everything was functioning and tight. You get the idea. Anyway, for a bit of mischief one day I hooked a piece of vac hose to the windscreen washer outlet and ran it up and through the bulkhead under the dash and taped it under the column on the car one of my mates was working on. He hopped in and cranked the car up to bring it to temp. There he was testing all the stuff inside, radio, a/c, etc. until he got to the wipers and washer. He hit the button and then leapt up out of the seat banging his head on the roof of the car. Looked like he hadn't made it to the bathroom in time, lol.

Used to run jumper wires from the headlamps over to the horn. Turn on the lamps and the horn would blast. Also used to get cling film, take the battery cable off, put the cling film on the post and then put the cable back on. Then get an exacto knife and trim off the top ring of cling film so it could not be seen. The guy would come back from lunch and all of a sudden the car would not start or do anything. Fun days. Guess we would not have gotten away with so much larking about if we were not the top of the stack customer satisfaction wise. Oh, got a long way off topic there eh?

Cheers
 
So, DartThis74 how much would an alarm system like that cost. I would definitely consider a viper alarm. I would rather try to make a secure using alarms and lock lugs. I hate it because my house is next to the on-ramp for the highway so people can always see through the woods into my driveway...I am afraid of vandalism, nothing to detour that.
 
I always figure no one will try and steal my 73 Dart. Pretty obvious.
And why would they go for that and not the expensive new car?
At any rate.

Is this just for occasional use? Or every time you shut the car off?
Is the object for them not to even try? A visual deterent too?
If not.
Take the rotor out.
Or.
Most crooks won't stop to trouble shoot once the car has moved from where you parked it. (They will assume mechanical failure.)
Put a little valve in the fuel line. (manual)
They will be able to start the car with ease, but it will strand them without going very far. They will likely abandon the car.
 
My car wont go anywhere unless its Towed. They do make manual line-locks you can lockup the front or rear wheels with, that would make it tougher to tow, but that is also a lot of brake line work. A good alarm with a mercury/tilt switch would help too. (if you have an alarm and someone tows your car, it'll never go off. If you have a mercury/tilt switch, once the car reaches a certain angle it goes off).

Fuel supply cutoff is good. Because if someone hops in it, itll start right up....get down the road...and die. Usually the guy wont hop out and diagnose his freshly stolen car on the side of the road and just hightail it.
 
I'm still giving thought to investing in a GPS locator like the one I found at www.zoombak.com

I figure if someone is motivated enough they'll be able to steal my car, I'd like to be able to lead the police to the scumbags door if it happens.
 
i have a line lock that cannot bee seen and a hidden switch for that. anything gets powered up and the linelock closes. first time the brakes are applied, thats all she wrote
 
sweatybetty said:
i have a line lock that cannot bee seen and a hidden switch for that. anything gets powered up and the linelock closes. first time the brakes are applied, thats all she wrote
Click to expand...

Thats not too bad of an idea. Wont help if its towed, sure would be hell though if you forgot to turn it off! Hmmm..
 
i take the coil wire with me...not too many folks carry one around
an ignition ground swith would work too
 
I think the first thing I would do is get rid of the outside hood latch and install a 73-76 inside latch. I had my grill and aircleaner taken off a 73 camaro while it was parked outside the grocery store. I was inside the store for about 20 mins, I come outside my hood is open, grill is gone (it was a nice noncracked one) and my chrome aircleaner is gone.
im sure that if they had more time (like parked overnite outside) they would have yanked off the carb as well. After I got a new grill and aircleaner I installed a inside olny latch.

I like the Viper alarm that pages you. I want one for Nikkis 72 when it's done.
 
Im curiouse about the mercury/tilt switch system. What if your parked on a hill, will it go off or will it adjust its self?
 
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