The thief who observes you leave the car will know what you've done(taken rotor). He just walks to the nearest Autozone & buys one or waits until next time he sees your car and he's be ready to drive your car home. With an immobilizer, he'd have to know it was installed, what circuit it breaks, and where; in order to defeat it. You could make it so that the power to the ditributor AND the power to the fuel pump are disconnected with separate immobilizers (redundancy)

well if he's that determined your buggered either way. at the end of the day no switch will stop him hard wiring fuel pump/dizzy/coil to the battery. or towing the bloody thing.

at least if he is missing a vital component of the car it will take more time.

at the end of the day if someone wants your car badly enough then its theirs for the taking. its a good thing for us Z's arent massivly desirable like some makes.

over a one week period driving a family members series 6 RX7 i was followed twice and a mate caught 3 guys sussing it out in a car park. its unbelievable the disrespect some people have for others property.

The removable steering wheels and removing an engine part are great ideas IF you do it every time. Will you do it every time you get out of your car? Maybe for the first twenty times then you say to yourself "I'm only going in the store for a gallon of milk, five minutes" then BAM your precious is gone.

Your system has to be something that is always active. Five minutes or all night your system has to protect.

We all spend thousands of dollars rebuilding and restoring our cars. And the first thing we neglect is the security system. We keep those 30 year old locks hoping they are enough. Like Victor told us there was a piece of a knife in his ignition. How many of us know that our ignition is so worn out that you could turn it with a big screwdriver. You have got to admit our locks are junk. 30 years old and worn out.

A visual deterent is always good, blinking lights or large bars on the steering wheel. But are they practical?

My ideal security system is something that works and is practical. How about connecting the coil wire to your seat belt? Your car won't start until you buckle up? A hidden switch is always good but you have to remember to turn it every time. Carl's immobilizer is a great idea as long as you cut the right circuit. Putting a break in the appropriate circuit is crucial. Any thief that knows anything about cars will first try to jimmy the lock, why because it looks natural. Second if he has the time is to pop open the hood and hot wire the engine. Power to the coil and jump the starter. Gone. If you have an electric fuel pump then that is a great place for the hidden switch. Some of us don't have electric fuel pumps so we have to find something else.

Me? I'm putting a push button that needs to be pressed in order for the starter to turn over (accesable only to my left hand). And a cut off switch to the distruibutor for overnight or extended parking. AND I will have the hood latch locked.

There's a whole bunch of good ideas posted here. It's too bad that we live in a world where we need to have this conversation at all. As for me, after all this talk about car thefts I think I'm going to start sleeping in my car with a good baseball bat.:classic:

Originally posted by craigcully

As for me, after all this talk about car thefts I think I'm going to start sleeping in my car with a good baseball bat.:classic:

Get a good model. Smith and Wesson makes a good one. Ruger has another fine model also.......and Beretta, Glock, Dan Wesson, etc, etc

An immobilizer is ideal only if it actually does just that. Can the car be started with a simple cross connect of the ignition switch wires?

If it delays the start of the car for any length of time then it has helped dissuade the individual or make him more determined.

If you were to disable the brake system in such a way as to lock up the car, and additionally made it difficult to tow, that would be additional deterrents.

Sadly, the more complex you make the system, the more than likely that you will bypass it yourself.

All of these systems should be painfully hidden while working with the knowledge that they'll be looking for them. Even better if they arm passively, meaning without action on your part.

If some of the additional features were to activate some of the de-activated electronic alarm system, it would play havoc on his attempts.

Food for thought.

Enrique

Hi Sean,

I´ve had a quick look at the handbrake on my 260Z. If the 240Z unit is similar I could modify it to a fly off handbrake. If your interested let me have an old unit & I´ll sort it out for you. In addition I´ll take a few photos for the members so that they can do it themselves.

Colt also has a few models. Unfortunately, those suggestions aren't viable options for our owners down under. I like my 29-2 with the 8 3/8". As I don't have a mechanical fuel pump on my 240 I opted to hide a switch for the electric pump. It is hidden and not anywhere near any of the other switches. Easy access but I have forgotten to turn it on too. :stupid:

You could rig up a beeper to the ignition, starter or the seatbelt circuit. Something that will get your attention and remind you to turn things on. zeven though the engine won't start, turning the key should cause beeping, which only you would know why.

Originally posted by TomoHawk

You could rig up a beeper to the ignition, starter or the seatbelt circuit. Something that will get your attention and remind you to turn things on. zeven though the engine won't start, turning the key should cause beeping, which only you would know why.

A beeper that sounds like "In 5 seconds this car will self destruct"LOL

You could easily make a digital sound player with parts from Radio Junk (oops, Shack). Ignition/starter juice turns it on and plays the message.

I'm not sure they have that chip any more.

This is a rather crude solution, but it just might discourage the classier type of theives.

From the looks of that vehicle, I'd rather have the lock & chain, rather than the whole dam car.