LM theft deterrent on old cars

Just get an old boot or one of the new barnacles. No theft, and as an added bonus, no parking tickets!

I would personally lean toward ignition.  These old cars can easily be bump started (unless automatic), leaving the starter interrupt as a little less effective.  Of course, it will still work, since confusing a thief would be easy to do.  But a smarter one will know that turning it on, and bump starting will work.  

Battery disconnects would be very effective, assuming that it's not easy to hook back up (since it has to be massive- most are right next to the battery).  And the battery switches can, theoretically, be jumped with a wrench.  Again, it will work, but the smarter thief would be able to diagnose the problem quickly.

Ignition would be also easy to diagnose (crank, and crank, and crank...) but finding a well placed fault could be a real challenge.  I would almost even lean toward a fake main wire, since few think of that if it's in place.  

Whatever direction you go, it needs to be hard to find.

I switch panel like similar could be fun.  

But, start has nothing to do with start and the real sequence is 2 and 4 toggle need to be up

In reply to John Welsh :

Like an old Nintendo controller and an Arduino... In order to start you have to do up down up down left right left right select,

And then the starter works. 

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

It's an entry code in binary.

And here is a thought.  If you updated an older vehicle with a later steering column, use either the hi-low beam switch in the new column or the high/low beam switch on the floor as an ignition interrupt.

In reply to John Welsh :

My 2005 Express  van was taken at  3am with a chain and a big lock on the steering wheel !

they just cut a chunk out of the steering wheel and the chain fell to the floor :(

Good news was the AirTag which helped the cops recover it a mile from the house 

I would like to put a switch to cut off the electric fuel pump but could not find the wire ....

My Opel has a toggle switch up under the dash. Not that it's going to matter in 10 days.

When I had my old '67 Jeep Gladiator, it had no door lock cylinders and a pair of vice grips for a window crank.

The theft deterrent was a shrunken head hanging from the mirror and a baseball bat hung in the gun rack.

Plus, a T-19 wide-range transmission with no pattern on the shift knob.

I owned that truck for 5 years and nobody ever touched it.

Wire a switch to the negative lead on the coil in parallel with the points. Ground the other side of the switch. When the switch is turned on, the coil will not get triggered by the points cuz they're grounded. If you use old wire, it will be hard for the typical stupid thief to figger it out. Remember, thieves typically are not the sharpest bulbs in the chandelier; that's why they hafta resort to stealing other people's E36 M3.

With an old CJ, a coupla things come to mind to prevent towing besides chaining it up would be a shift lock. Some kind of lock to keep it stuck in reverse. Then if they figger out the ignition kill, they can only drive it backwards.

Another one would be a brake lock similar to a drag racing line lock for doing burnouts. This would be an valve in the brake line that you would close after pushing the brake pedal down and keeps the brakes on. You wouldn't want to use this for long periods of time and don't forget to release it before trying to drive away.

An empty handgun holster on the dash in plain sight might be good too. Then the miscreants hafta decide if the possibility of getting shot is worth attempting to steal the Jeep...

Hello? Trunk monkey?

How about welding a chain loop on each shifter, and a corresponding anchor on the floor?

Then you could lock the trans and t-case shifter in gear to reduce risk of theft and towing. 

rdcyclist said:

An empty handgun holster on the dash in plain sight might be good too. Then the miscreants hafta decide if the possibility of getting shot is worth attempting to steal the Jeep...

Or they'll break in to find it. 

You'll never make anything 100% theft-proof. Just make it too much of a PITA. 

It's a manual transmission. Weld on a loop by the bottom of the shifter that you can fit a padlock through and around the shifter. Can't go anywhere if it can't change gears.

Was leaving one of my first big car shows and swap meets. Moultrie around 99-02.  Guy im the parking lot was sitting on the ground near tears.  Another guy was nearby and clearly irritated. 

Buddy sidled up to the irritated guy and asked what was up.

Sitting guy had his Chevelle stolen despite carrying around the coil plug wire all day.  Irritated guy couldn't start his truck because someone had stolen the coil plug wire from his truck. Both were waiting on cops that someone had gone off to find.

If there's a moral, I guess it's be careful what you pull as a deterrent and think about where you are?

So boats are notoriously easy to hot wire, especially older ones.  I'm vaguely remembering my Dad taking the real coil wire off and replacing it with a "dummy" coil wire that used black pneumatic tubing and a couple of insulator boots so that it looked exactly like the real coil wire and it took maybe 10 seconds to swap.    Not that where we kept the boat was in a high crime area by any means but it made him him feel better.

I was thinking to run an ignition wire through a switch to right under your nutsack.  Flip the switch to arm it.  If someone comes and fires it up, they'll get 50,000 volts to their taint.

Just don't forget to disarm it before YOU crank it.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

You probably only need to forget once.

I'm thinking of taking the blown fuse idea one further.  For overnight trips, I may cut the power blade off a relay, and swap it in place of the fuel pump relay when the car is sitting.  That way, it'll click, but not actually power the pump.

An easy to remove handle for rhe parking brake. Set brake, remove handle/release whatever and good luck driving off. This works best when used with the other suggestions above.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

I was thinking to run an ignition wire through a switch to right under your nutsack.  Flip the switch to arm it.  If someone comes and fires it up, they'll get 50,000 volts to their taint.

Just don't forget to disarm it before YOU crank it.

Magnavolt. Lethal Response.

Also add the loudest most peircing fire alarm you can get. Mount it under the seat.

Bonus if the power locks keep the perp in the car...

Thanks for the suggestions above.  I've been thinking about doing something/s like this for a while now.  

I had someone try to steal my 1994 Miata from my secured apartment garage! I'm really happy they weren't able to steal it, but here are some things I learned.

• The thief was not great at what they were doing. With that, they might cause a lot more damage than you expect. They ripped off panels, broke the turning stalks, punched the dash and gauges, destroyed a bunch of locks, ripped my soft top, and various other things. 3k in repairs! 
• Stealing random stuff from my trunk was unexpected, but be mindful of what you still have in there.
• Having the club is super useful. I've seen car thieves drive by, look at them, and then keep on moving. 
• Be mindful of what other cars you park next to. The last time someone busted my window, one guy broke into a Tesla and the other jumped out of their getaway car to break into my car because it was taking his friend way too long. With that, I try not to park next to cars that are commonly broken into.
• It might be worth it just to pay for valet or find a secured lot in your area if you are traveling. 

This is a very East Bay parking problems-themed post, but I hope it helps. 

By far the easist anti-theft option is a battery cutoff switch with a removable handle. Take it with you and any would-be thief has to get to the other side of the switch to jump it. Alternately, they'd have to have their own switch handle or be creative enough with a spare battery and jumper cables to get the thing running.

I have a setup like this (for other reasons) in the Targa Miata and getting that thing to run without the handle would be a real challenge because you can't get to the backside with the transmission in place :) I have a little clip on the handle so I can attach it to my keychain if I've removed it.

Plus a battery cutoff is really useful on an occasional use vehicle or one that you work on a lot. Jeeps, amirite?

You can see the cutoff here on the trans tunnel. The visible wiring is for the intercom, the power cables are in the tunnel.