cheap anti theft?

4eyes wrote: Blaze orange stickers that say, "CAUTION: LIVE POISONOUS SNAKES"

There's one floating around that says NOTHING IN THIS VEHICLE IS WORTH YOUR LIFE.

A quick/effective alarm is one of these in the front fender:

You run a relay through this switch to the dome light switch. The relay then powers up the horn. Takes about 20 minutes to wire.

JoeyM wrote: take the coil wire with you....I doubt that he brought one with him

I heard a story about someone who took his distributor's rotor out at a car show.

Later, he heard someone (with a similar car) exclaim that someone stole his rotor...

Sure enough, someone had nicked Guy #2's rotor in order to steal Guy #1's car!

Personally, I remove the Megasquirt's power-up fuse, which is in a secondary fuse box in an unexpected location.

Fuel pump fuse is out - which is unfortunately under the hood, but that's easier than buying a new truck. Cranks, but no start. I'll hear it.

And if I don't hear that, I'll hear the ungodly loud wireless door chime I put in this afternoon that rings in my bedroom. Works a treat.

If only I could remotely lock the doors from the outside, I'd be able to solve this problem without even putting on pants.

alex wrote: Oh, and these don't work on GM side post batteries. Friggin fraggin...

Saw them for side-mount batteries at Walmart today.

I've always thought an electric fence doodad could be put to good use as anti-theft. Especially in the rain.

Unfortunately you cant set a trap. You would end up owing the perp money.

I'm with the Desert Eagle idea . . .just a little more practical

then SURPRISE DIRTBAG!

I knew a guy who did the cigarette ligthter thing. It was major cool!

I'm not going to read through all of this, but I know people who have put their fuel pumps on a hidden switch.

fastmiata wrote: Unfortunately you cant set a trap. You would end up owing the perp money.

I don't see how "accidentally" leaving your bear trap on your seat while you were unloading your truck could possibly be construed as "setting a trap". Same with "accidentally" leaving razorblades behind the stereo. Ah, "That is where I left those"
I didn't mean to park my truck next to that deep hole filled with sharpened sticks that had been coated in dog E36 M3. You see officer I couldn't see it because it was covered with that old brown rug. I am glad he found it cause I have been looking for that hole for awhile now.

Too bad it's not a Ford. Find where the fuel pump inertial switch is and give that area of the car a good solid thump with the side of your fist. Also useful for pranking co-workers.

I've seen people throwing things into the trunk too hard set it off. Specifically, a kid who was pissed off that he got a flat, who threw the flat tire into the trunk of his Escort. The car came in on a hook. By the time he got to the shop, he'd simmered down a bit. I wasn't around when he was told WHY he had to spend $60 for a tow...

That was my EG Civic that got taken from my driveway in April and was found in the ghetto stripped to a shell--all 321k miles of it's worn-out, borderline useless existence.

Got taken w/ an Autolock clutch lock.

It's replacement got a very beefed-up alarm w/ pager on it out of sheer spite.

I'm all for nuking the ghetto since then.

I have a good one. Electric exhaust cutout with a hidden switch.

Really useful for rotaries. There's no such thing as stealth with a wholly unmuffled 13B.

The only way they could get it without attracting every policeman in a five mile radius would be to tow it, and if they're prepared for that, they're getting the car no matter what you do.

how about one of those old foot operated high beam switches as a cut off?

You could also confuse the thief.. put a row of 6 unmarked switches.. that are turned around randomly that up could be off.. that way you have to turn some switches "off" and some "on" to start the truck

On the 70 Impala I drove for years, I rerouted the Neutral Safety Interlock through the (disconnected) cigarette lighter. You had to push in the cigarette lighter element to complete the circuit and start the car. If you wanted to keep it safe, pop the element out and stick it in your pocket.
When doing the wiring, I put a couple connecters in line so that the entire thing could be bypassed quickly, but you had to know where to look and i used wiring that matched the local power/ground colors for more deterrent.

Worked like a charm but doesn't really deter B&E

i've seen people wire up the starter switch so that you have to flip a hidden switch and turn on one of the blinkers in order for it to start.

a guy in high school drove a camaro with a big toggle to the left of the steering wheel with a big red sticker that said "WARP SPEED" or something like that to make it look like a nitrous switch or something, but was actually an ignition cutoff switch.

In my '65 Mustang I had a small white towel covering the steering wheel. I would fold the towel and put it in the glove-box and flip a switch hidden in the top of the glove-box. Fuel pump power switch.

We don't usually do anti-theft - but on a recent customer car, we hooked the clutch switch up to a factory dash switch. I forget what it said, Traction Control or Fog Lights or something. All it did was turn on the clutch switch. Since it looked totally factory, it should be pretty secure.

I once left my old Land Rover in the shop on my day off. After an hour of trying, my coworkers called to ask how to get it going. Some vehicles don't NEED anti-theft.

Keith wrote: I once left my old Land Rover in the shop on my day off. After an hour of trying, my coworkers called to ask how to get it going. Some vehicles don't NEED anti-theft.

At least not if you've got Lucas electrics...