LS6427

iTrader: (2)

A place in Miami called ABC Locksmith. They installed car alarms and these hood locks back in April 1998 when I bought my car. I took it to them the day after I picked my car up at the dealership.

Its been working great for 13 years, the sirens, kill switches and blinking lights.

It cost $400.00 back then.

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LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Here's how my hood lock looks and operates.

When the key is turned to the right, it activates the alarm and locks the hood mechanically. The hood lock uses a cable to slide a steel pin into place which locks into a latch thats screwed into the hood near the hood latch. Then its just like any other alarm system when its turned on. My keychain remote turns the alarm on and off normally. But the hood remains locked all the time, whether the hood is locked or not. The only way to unlock the hood is with the Medeco key, and when I turn it to the left (alarm off and hood unlocked) that red light goes out and the entire alarm system is deactivated and the hood is unlocked. With the hood unlocked, the alarm system cannot be activated in any way. So when I leave my car somewhere so it can get worked on, the hood is left unlocked and the alarm is deactivated. If I trust the person with my car I'll tell them to lock the hood when they're done so its protected. Problem is.....if you leave the hood unlocked for someone and they happen to LOCK the hood by turning the key to the right, also activating the alarm system...BUT the hood is still up.....if they slam the hood the latch will slam into the steel pin and the fiberglass hood will shatter/splinter.

So.......I turn the key to the right (alarm back on and hood locked)....everything is back on and my keychain remote is the master again. Turn it to the left and the hood gets locked (locking pin) and the alarm is fully activated.

That black box where I put the key....its an iron or solid steel box. That conduit that leads to the firewall is what would take 45 minutes to cut through with a drill and cutting wheel. Hack saw can never cut through it. Bolt cutters won't even scratch it. They had a sample piece that we could try to damage with all kinds of tools....ain't no way. Especially with an alarm going off, nobody will hang out for 45 minutes trying. The firewall hole they drilled for the cable leading to the hood was sealed with a rubber grommet and silicone.

That steel/iron key box can also be tucked under and hidden if preferred, they just cut whatever length of conduit they need. They cut it with a big *** kind of band saw, and it took a few minutes to get through it when they cut mine. I wanted that bright red light to be visible if someone walked up to it.

Hope thats not confusing.....Any questions you have, shoot away.......

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Here's the thing....besides someone pulling up with a tow truck and dragging it away, I'm talking about MOST typical auto thefts....where its done by someone breaking into the car and driving it away.

The first sign of a problem, they usually will haul *** and forget it. If someone breaks my window, then pops the hood to disable my alarm by cutting battery cables or smashing the siren with a hammer......they're gonna break the window, alarm will go off and lights will flash, then they will pop the hood, then run to the front of the car to open the hood. SURPRISE......its still shut tight. 95% of thieves will be out of there at that point, especially if its parked in my driveway at night or near any people, homes or busy places.

The only time a thief will NOT care about a siren going off is in the middle of nowhere.....my car will never be in a place like that. But thats where the pager comes in to play. Even in a mall, you can be there in 1-2 minutes. But then there's the GPS sensor that paints on a map where the car goes. If they drive it quickly a mile or two away....the GPS track line will lead right to that garage....so the cops will have a turn by turn map of where the car went.

Having those 3 things, your car will be hard to take, nice deterants like kill switchs and sirens, if people are smart they will also install FUEL SHUTOFF kill switches with the on/off button hideden somewhere, and a GPS in case they actually do get it started......it'll still be found in minutes.
-----With the hydraulic system....car theft is a thing of the past....unless you park your car somewhere where a thief has time to use a crane and a flatbed. But then again...you still have a pager and can be at the car in minutes with your fully loaded Colt .45

lol

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driftpin

No need for a crane. A hi-lick jack and wheel dollies would defeat that. Like someone else said on here if someone wants it, they can take it.



Stay away from the firearms someone else mentioned unless your trained and someone stealing your car certainly doesn't give you right to use lethal force on them. Not unless their trying to run you over with it.

The GPS thing sounds like it would work great. Any link on that system??

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

You can make the hydraulics up to 3 feet high, so dollys are useless. Unless they lift the car MORE than 3 feet off the ground and have dollys that are that high. As soon as the alarm goes off the hydraulics can slowly extend to 3 feet high. And there's no way for them to steer it while they tow it on 4 dollys. They will go to another car...its just a friggin Firebird. Maybe someones F1 McLaren or Mercialago would be at risk to try, but really, we're talking about a cheesy American made F-Body......in comparison.

And the second they touch the car with a jack....alarm, text messages and pagers start going off. And the GPS has them ultimately.

As soon as my friend gets home on Monday I'll get the GPS info.........

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driftpin

I was thinking of conventional auto hydraulics. What are these like feet the protrude down and like the entire car off the ground?? Sounds interesting. Any pic or links??

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Exactly, its the same thing the CART cars (Indy cars) had. They pull into the pits and a crew member attaches an air hose...and bam, the car is instantly off the ground so they can change tires. Its just an air jack attached to the frame that extends downward and lifts the car.

4 can be used at each corner, anywhere they can attach to the frame via weld or brackets. Compressed air or a small hydraulic pump will lift the car.

The cars at the car show that had them lifted about 6-8 inches off the ground. They both used compressed air. A small motor keeps a small air bottle full, just like the pumps that blow up your tire and plug into the cigerette lighter. Tiny, they'll fit anywhere.

I've never seen a company that makes them, you have to do it yourself. When I looked into it, everything is about $1,000 with nice stuff and 4 lifts, but it can be done for $500 and 3 lifts.

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driftpin

Boy if someone put together some jacks, pumps, circuit boards to tie into an alarm/gps, wiring and sold it in a bolt in, plug-n-play sort of kit for guys that have as much time and money as most of us do they could probably make some decent money. You could even divert the nitrous to fill the jacks. The ricers would even love that. Hell, they'd toss it into a $400 Accord with a wing, night glow and their emblems.

98-WS6

Yeah, you're absolutley right. A common theif would leave at the first sign of trouble. Especially with the alarm and hood lock.

And it's funyn that this happened today, since we're on the topic, but while I was outside jogging, I ran into the owner of the apartment complex. He told me that THREE cars were stolen in the one night that my car was stolen. The other one was a 2011 Camry SE and a 2004 Mustang Cobra, 40th anniversary edition.

My point is, these guys don't seem like common thieves. They knew what they were doing. For some reason, my TA was the only car that was found of the three. I was shocked, literally. I feel so fortunate.



That's an interesting idea, but then again, I bought the car as is at a dealer-only auction. People without a dealer's liscense can't get in. Cars are sold at Black Book prices. My father, fortunatley is a mechnaic/dealer. So we got in and bought my WS6 cheap. At the time I wasn't worried about auto theft or the VATS system. I was just hyped up about the car.

But, you have an interesting point there at the end of your post.


I don't think most thieves could even break into new, upper model Beamer and Benz vehicles. Everything about those cars are incredibly complex, from the key to the alarm system.

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

I think you're right.

I remember asking the guy with the Vette...."what if that thing activated while cruising at 80mph".

There's a master electrical plug kept under the drivers seat that he unplugs, it deactivates the entire system while he's driving the car. But if that plug is cut or unplugged while the car is up on the feet (like a thief who knew it was there) with the alarm on while you're away from the car.....it won't allow them to retract until the remote control matched to that system is activated to "off". So basically, like alot of things on aircraft, loss of electrical power causes it to fail in its last position. So if they cut all the electrical cables, it does nothing.

The only thing I can think of is....what if they got under the car and cut the air/hydraulic lines? Of course after they put something under the car so they don't get crushed.
But I guess that would be easy to fix too.....just have an electrical lock pin like a car lift has, that again fails in its last position, but the pin can only be commanded to move out of the way for foot retraction by use of the associated remote.

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4doortypels

iTrader: (39)

low jack... i think you get discounts with insurance companies, well mine asked maybe pay it self of after a few yrs

myk

iTrader: (4)

Unfortunately the basic lo-jack only helps you once you've discovered your car is gone. By then it could be south 'o the border or in pieces somewhere. Additionally, someone told me that lo-jack only activates when the car is SHUT OFF-someone correct me if I'm wrong...

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Its really odd. With professional thefts, you hear about chop shops, shipping cars out of the country, going for joyrides, etc. With the items that were stolen - it seems to be someone with a shopping list for the special TA/WS6 parts and not someone interested in a "typical" theft.

Where I live, I worry about my car being stolen for a joyride - that's the popular thing in Chicago - take it, drive it, and then burn it. While all the usual types of theft are always out there, I wouldn't think that this type of thing is very common or would happen again.

Has anyone heard of this kind of half-chop before?

sempire

iTrader: (5)

I remember a wise man told me to never let people know what you have under the hood...

I had a friend that used to sit outside of the donut shop with his hood popped showing off his 9 second engine that he dumped thousands into. Everyone knew who he was, what was done to the engine, where he lived, worked, and went to school.

One day he woke up and his car was gone, and when they found it, the car was intact except for the engine. They hoisted out the engine professionally and left the car abandoned in a parking lot...

it sounds like people knew there was some good stuff under your hood. I don't talk about what I got, and I won't show you my engine.

O2Form

I still think the best deterent is a LOUD siren with battery back up and motion detectors. SOMEONE will see it go if the siren goes off trust me. The siren in my jeep is loud its INSANE, you could hear it a mile away easily.

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

Anybody with a rollback car carrier and winch can own your
car.

If they drove it away, that's something you could fix with
a fuel pump kill switch hidden where nobody can find it.
Put it in series with the fuel pump relay coil, not in the
current path. I've done this on older cars, and used a
SPDT switch wired so that in the "kill position" the fuel
pump voltage goes to the horns instead.

slow

iTrader: (7)

that is a good idea Jimmyblue, another thing that can be setup for a kill switch is the seatbelt, use it to tie a relay to ground, and then as the owner you do nothing out of the normal, but who is going to buckle up when stealing a car.

Ryan

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

I've seen kill switches also set up with 5 of those chrome little tiny mini toggles. They are set up in a row of 5. Only you know which ones to put up or down to shut of the kill switch to the fuel pump. No way a thief could ever get it right.....unless he sat there and tried thousands of combos.

It was inside the center console compartment in the back, so the thief wouldn't even find them to try. It was cheap and he did it himself.

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Teakwo23

sorry to hear about your car man. My first day of college, i had my 87 camaro stolen. It was ugly but i had just fixed the a/c for the Florida summers. They found my beat camaro in Indiana. It was stolen by a drug addict who drove it to his familys house up north to strip it. I couldnt believe it made it all the way to Indy. Anyway, i paid $700 for the car and only had property and liability insurance on it. Some po dunk good ol boys wanted me to pay for towing and a holding fee to get my car released. The local sheriff wasnt a help either. I had to send them the title or pay the 700 in towing fees for the car. I know how you feel and it absolutley sucks. After that I have had at least to cut off switches installed on every car i own. I always try to park in lighted areas. Anything to prevent theft

608kZ28

i saw a 20/20 special (some show like that) were they had a car outfitted with 5 different theft systems. they brought in a retired car thief. and the car thief drove away with the car in 5 minutes. with something like the club, all one has to do is cut the steering wheel. the car still drives.

my best advice is keep all things of value hidden. ipods, phones, cds, money, things of that sort