Z Security

[eob]

In Ireland, there was a guy with a restored Lotus Cortina who's garage was always being broken into where someone was trying to steal his car. His solution was to get a piece of wood, drive six 9" nails through it, leave it on the passenger seat pointy end up, and leave a hanky over it so he'd remember it was there, and leave the door unlocked.

He went down to the garage the next day and the entire seat was covered in blood, which was all over the ground outside the car aswell.

His car was never touched again.

I know that might be a bit extreme for most of you... but...

A kill switch is handy but it helps to have more than one deterrant. If anyone is seriously determined to take your car, they will, the secret is to deter the casual thief/joyrider with a bit of smart arse engineering.

Removable steering wheels are a great idea, as are cut-off switches, but another great one is to make a blanking plate for the air-intake that is slammed shut with a hidden switch on a solenoid. The thief will hear the car ticking over but not firing, and presume it's an ignition problem, confusing the wires going to the intake trumpet with a traditional intake temp/mass flow meter sensor.

As they sit there trying to get the car started, they get clammy and nervous as the minutes tick by trying to get it started, and yet no messing with the ignition seems to work ;D

I say if you're really paranoid, go with all three. Cut the fuel, spark, and intake with a variety of methods and let them try to figure it out.

And tell NO-ONE what you've done. We like to imagine people who rob our stuff as mystery strangers, but usually it's someone local.

[datsun260z]

Could you connect a solenoid to the fuel line. That way if you have a mechanical fuel pump you can still cut off the fuel. A 30yo car that will turn over but not fire would be considered a piece of old junk and be left alone fore something newer and more reliable.

Also I am sure I once saw a electronic distributor that had a key pad so you could not start it without the pin code.

[eob]

Anyone that does LPG conversion kits can sell you a 12v fuel/gas solenoid suitable for shutting off the flow of petrol to a car, strong enough even to work against a fuel pump that's been hotwired!

[hls30.com]

At a location where I was more worried about the car than its contents, I made a blindingly Bright red "U" out of 4", thick wall rounded-corner square tubing. It went under the car with the rear tires inside the arms of the U. I closed the open end off with "The Club" and ran and locked a rubber-coated heavy chain through one of the rear suspension members and holes in both sides of the "U". The car can't be jacked or pulled out of this contraption because of the chain, Starting it will do no good-the wheels will spin on the tubing. The only ways out without the key are a cutting torch or a cutoff wheel. Several cars in the area were stolen-some more than once; but, I believe having a massive bright red steel sign that screamed "More time than you want to spend" kept it from being messed with. Yes, it was a pain to use, but the extra 5 minutes going and coming was more than worth knowing without a doubt the car would be there.

[hls30.com]

The chain and the lock reminds me of the Britcoms-Some one has been watching too much Mr. Bean!

[texasz]

hls30.com, have you got a pic of that? I'd be interested to see it on a car to see just how it worked, and how big of a sign it is. Not planning on doing it, just sounds quite interesting.

[beandip]

I have a question here , I have been reading all the posts on this. What is wrong with electric fuel pumps ? Even the '70z was wired for one. I know OEM pumps are spendy but you can buy a RX-7 pump at a bone yard for $15.00 . Put a switch in the line and you are there . Connect the wires to the rear window defogger switch , almost all of us have cars that they don't work any way. That or mount a switch under the ash tray, there are plenty of places to hide one that is easy to access for daily use. If you want a push button switch to start the car , mount one in the cigar lighter so when you push in the lighter it inturn pushes the button and the engine turns over. You still will need the key switch but it will only activate the ignition and not activate the starter. Removing the rotor or coil wire works but this is not a practical solution for me. Every time I get out of the car to go into the store I don't want to go through the trouble. I am sure we all knew of this option but how many are bothering to do it. Mearly disabeling the power to the ignition is easy to get by . All that is need is 4ft of wire with clips on each end and a screwdriver to short the starter and you are on the way down the road. Just connect a wire to the hot side of a head light and turn it on and bridge the starter and the engine will rum , any 12v source connected to the hot side of the coil . If a manual trans just bump start it. No fuel the engine wont run, simple.

[my_mad_z]

I haven't read all of the posts, so I don't know if anyone has suggested the following. I did this in my 260z and it never got stolen..... Keep in mind I had $5,500 worth of stereo in it, so there was plenty of reason for a thief to attempt it......

I installed a hornet car alarm with immobilizer; I disconnected and removed all of the locking mechanisms and used central locking.... only problem with this was if I got a flat battery, I wouldn't be able to get into the car without breaking a window......luckily never happened! I suppose someone could have broken a window to get in but that would have set off the alarm. I installed the siren close to the exhaust so that if they tried to snip the wires from underneath the car, they would have trouble accessing the wires or they would get burnt!

Another thing that I was going to do was put dead lock in but I never got around to doing it. Very easy and effective method. I think there is something on zhome.com on how to install it. It's done by using central locking actuators and attaching a rod to it that when activated it will drive the rod through the door into the pillar; so if they did break a window, they still couldnt open the door.

I also attached a central locking actuator to the hatch that would unlock when I disarmed the alarm and lock when armed. It was fairly easy to setup, I removed most of the locking mechanism and fixed the actuator in place with a flat metal plate attached to it with slots...... the hatch is an easy point of entry, screwdriver can open the lock.

As I said, never got broken into...... if you want more info, feel free to ask.

Marc.