My suggestion for everyone's next mod, is a little work but a good one.

Break up the wires to the fuel pump and route it separately by step 2 in the key lock - include a decent fuse that won't break when the pump runs at full pressure for a long time.

So if a ******* pulls the key lock with a backhammer, or rips the cables, your pump WILL not start if they hotwire (unless they are lucky enough to figure out you have a separate wire to the fuel pump - and then they have to figure out which one).

When you install that extra pair of wires, make the positive one is in opposite color from live (so black blue or brown instead of red or yellow), which makes it easier to confuse so increases their chances to blow the fuse.

If you want to take it far, replace the wires to the keylock and make everything exact the same colors. So when they are trying to hotwire, it makes it a total *****.

Additionally, together with the wires that run to the ignition lock, solder appr 10 more cables in the exact same colors, some wired randomly opposite and straight ground. Sure they can have a voltmeter to try to see what's live or not, but it'll be a nice matrix to measure through around 16 wires, all in same three colors, out of which some are wired with opposite colored polarity.

The point is if they don't get the starter relay wire and the ignition relay wire + your newly made fuel pump wires together to power (which again would be a big chance they blow the fuse to since it's color coded as ground) the car just won't start. Really efficient to make a douschbag ******* suffer to try to figure it out and you don't have to add an extra switch somewhere that can be found anyway.

IF they pull out the whole key switch module, with all wires still soldered/pinned correctly in the back of the switch, to just bridge it, this mod might not help though... something additional needed to cover that case.

 

Or let the pros handle it....

http://www.neverstolen.com/

A great little product we have had installed on many cars. It's such a simple concept, but works very well.

 

http://www.lojack.com/car/pages/car-works.aspx

I'd do both what Tony suggested as well as this method.

 

I've installed hidden kill switches in my cars in the past. I've thought about for my X50 but haven't done it yet.

 

Hogapalooza: Do it.

LoJack: A guy with a Speedster just got in touch with me, he had LoJack, no success. Self-powered GPS transponders are the stuff no doubt. However I look for ideas to make it hopeless to move the car. Ton of wires if they get in the car, if they try to hoist it, motion sensor which triggers selfpowered enormously loud and obnoxious alarm horns.

I don't want to go try to pick my car up somewhere, I want to have it sitting in my garage every morning. So the tracker is just a backup if some prevention method fails.

 

FWIW, a good thief will carry a GPS jammer.

 

Unless they can find the kill switch your car isn't going any place. Sure they can load it on a truck or trailer but mine is a Tip and they'll be there a few min dragging it.
I hate this for you Mr. White, I really do! You are right, I need to take the time and a couple of bucks to at lease keep them busy long enough they might give up trying to figure out why it won't start.

 

I'm killing myself over not putting a tracer in the car. We had a car at the office that was stolen (totally different area), but our office cars have trackers... so we saw their overnight location right on the map and then the car sitting in a field in the lancaster area a day later, office called the cops and they rolled out to find the car with three idiots in it, who will prob shake some serious cold iron bar for a while... the way they took it was by blocking the car in a street, jumped out with gun, dragged the driver to a dark parking lot and... let him go (thank god for that!!!). But that's pretty severe. They prob still wonder how they got caught. Good for them.

Since then, which was 2 weeks ago, I had this little feeling it's really time to get some tracker in the car, but what happens... they take it before I get to it, can you believe that??

If and when I can ever get a car again that is really special to me, it'll be my first mods to make it a pain to take it first of all, then make sure I can track it whether they have GPS jammer or not. It might cost like a set of coilovers or so and just as much time, probably a little more, as installing coilovers but totally worth it to not ever be in this seat and feel like now.

The only real reason then to park it off the street in a garage is to avoid nuiscance idiots (keying the car etc), because one can be seen anywhere, any time and a dedicated car thief will eventually figure out how to get access to the car.

Anyway, my motivation call-out is: protect your car now, like right now, today. And do that mod yourself, and absolutely don't tell anyone what you did.

 

wow...maybe just pull the fuel pump fuse? think guys would stick around long enough to figure it out?

 

Huh?

I used to work for LoJack, I would be curious to know the Speedster owner's story.

GPS can be hidden but is nationwide. LoJack is radio frequency and police have tracking units so it's more "direct".

Bottom line anything can be stolen with a tow vehicle. If you're notified (Early Warning system), a recovery typically within 2 hours with less than $500 damage is ideal vs. 2 weeks and $10K plus. Then you're stuck...

There is an old, old recovery story of a Porsche with multiple fuel cutoff switches, etc. It was stolen anyway. Recovered because of LoJack.

 

Absolutely not trying to neg rep just telling what just happened to another guy, PM me offline and I'll give you the guys info, he's in the car scene too and wants his car back, maybe you could help him out.

 

What alot of car thiefs do is park a stolen car a couple of blocks from a police station to see if the car is recovered within the first two days. If it isn't recovered, they know it doesn't have lowjack.

That said their are alot of anti-theft devices that will deter a car thief, but none that can 100% stop them. The more road blocks you can throw at a car thief the better. Most of them are not out for the most difficult cars to steal, but they are not always afraid of a challenge either. Good luck with the recovery of your car Mr White.

 

tony that ugly thingy needs to be painted black and installed on the carpet by the door.

 

Understood, perhaps I can give some insight. PM us both if you'd like.

What I meant about GPS, is a structure effective "hides" the location of the vehicle although it's "last known location" would display.

Can't compare to satellite radio in terms of "reception" because they have ground-based repeater stations.

 

Doesn't the Lojack system in the car need to be activated to get that 'last known location'?

There are two separate technologies in LoJack too- a GPS receiver that tells the car where it is (or the lojack receiver in the car) as well as a cell/radio system that tells the outside world what the car knows.

If the car is taken and hidden, or disarmed, BEFORE the LoJack is activated, there will be no record that can be 'read' (other than within the car that is now disabled).

The only way for lojack to overcome this is for it to be streaming position data to a "non car location" even before it is reported stolen. So that when it is reported, lojack and look at the recorded data in their servers and find where it WAS. Privacy issues I'd imagine...I don't want my position (and hence speed) recorded anywhere other than places under my control.

A