Ignition Cut Off Idea

[Bruzilla]

I was talking to a co-worker who's Dad has a vintage Camaro. To prevent it from being stolen, he installed a manual cut off valve into the fuel line where it passes by the driver's seat, and the handle for it comes up through the deck next to the seat. When he gets out, he turns the knob off, so if anyone tries to drive it off, they get about 50 feet then the motor dies. Nice idea but it's over-engineered, I don't like having any access to the fuel system in the cockpit, and the idea of my car sitting in the road in the middle of the night with no lights and at who knows what angle worries me.

What I was thinking would be a better idea would be to cut off the ignition. I was thinking of cutting either the POS or NEG wires to the coil, splicing in two wires, and running the wires to a hidden switch under the dash or in the console. Switch is on, the car runs. Switch is off, the car won't start.

Has anyone tried this, or have any ideas on load requirements for the switch? Thanks.

 

[67 coronet]

even easyer is cutting a switch to the solenoid activater wire on the starter.that way they dont ever even get to turn over the starter much less move the car.i have done several vehicles this way and it works great.

 

[tpodwdog]

they call that a KILL SWITCH. Bruzilla. you can either kill the ignition ....OR kill the starter....either way theyre not going anyplace if they try to steal your car.

hide a switch someplace in your car that has 2 leads and a pretty stout switch that can handle a descent amount of power, AND USE "BEEFY" WIRE FOR LEADS

run both leads to wherever you want to cut...be it ignition...or starter

cut the "hot" wire of your choice and splice the switch leads to the cut hot wire...BADDA-BING...instant kill switch !


putting fuel into the passenger compartment is just plain STUPID...( the man has a Camaro (vomit)...so not really much brains there to begin with I WOULD IMAGINE! )

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[RustyRatRod]

You must live in a really bad neighborhood.

 

[Meep-Meep]

Where I grew up we called it a tweak switch - as in keeping the tweakers from driving off with your car. There are a bunch of ways to kill power to the ignition. If you have an MSD you can cut the signal wire to the box. For Chrysler electronic probably find the power lead and put a switch in. As for the starter I'd sneak into the neutral start switch circuit at the relay on the firewall. Just switch the small (yellow?) wire. This is probably the best solution because you will only need to run one wire and ground the other at the tweak switch. Any of the above choices can be run using the factory gauge wiring, which I believe is 16 GA. Anyway, you won't need 10 GA.

 

[Bruzilla]

You must live in a really bad neighborhood.

LOL! I live in great neighborhood, and that's the problem. Thieves don't go to bad neighborhoods in the hopes of finding good cars to steal.

 

[Bruzilla]

they call that a KILL SWITCH. Bruzilla. you can either kill the ignition ....OR kill the starter....either way theyre not going anyplace if they try to steal your car.

hide a switch someplace in your car that has 2 leads and a pretty stout switch that can handle a descent amount of power, AND USE "BEEFY" WIRE FOR LEADS

run both leads to wherever you want to cut...be it ignition...or starter

cut the "hot" wire of your choice and splice the switch leads to the cut hot wire...BADDA-BING...instant kill switch !


putting fuel into the passenger compartment is just plain STUPID...( the man has a Camaro (vomit)...so not really much brains there to begin with I WOULD IMAGINE! )

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Would it be better to cut the ground or the positive wire at the coil, or do they both have the same draw? Also, I can't find any wiring sized "Beefy". Should it be a 10, 12?

 

[440roadrunner]

The problem with screwing with starter wiring is that most anybody knows how to jumper a Mopar starter relay or starter

MSD already has "built in" anti theft. Go to their website and read the destructions. I believe it is the white? wire is used for points trigger. All you need to do is either switch the small red or ground the white or both. The trick is hiding the wiring so that the average thief can't figure it out

If you have OTHER than CD/ MSD ignition, and especially if you have a tach which is already hooked to coil NEG, just hide a switch and GROUND it. Some guys have done this by wiring the NEG coil lead to the cigarette lighter. This prevents a spark, and won't hurt anything unless the ignition is left on. So even if it burns up the coil, or ballast, at least the car will be there

If you have a trunk mount battery, NHRA rules require that if you use a push/ pull knob, the knob must be PUSHED for OFF. Well this is great--- rig your disconnect so that the knob can be pushed off, but so that it's not hard connected, and cannot be pulled to turn on. You must open the trunk and operate the switch.

If you have an electric pump, put a hidden switch in the pump relay ground leg

So far as a manual shut off knob, they have been used in trucks/ pickups for many many years and are DOT approved: You don't put "fuel in the passenger compartment", you put the valve UNDER the car and only the stem comes through the floor. If you are a good fabricator, you could even devise a seal around the shaft

Of course you might want to disguise it a little because anyone that has ever seen one knows what they are

But what EVER you do, remember this: A rollback bed and a good team can work quickly, and all this is irrelevant.

You might consider a cell based alarm. I have not kept up on cellphone stuff, but you used to be able to rig a cell up under a dash. If you can't get one to alarm simply, at least you can call it up and track it. You of course need to disable any headset/ ringer volume, but you can also listen to the phone, which might prove interesting.

By the way, Stroker, the neighborhood just does not matter.

 

[69Bee]

Would it be better to cut the ground or the positive wire at the coil, or do they both have the same draw? Also, I can't find any wiring sized "Beefy". Should it be a 10, 12?

Always cut the power side. The coil wire is already a 14-12 AWG, so you would be fine at 12 AWG. The starter solenoid uses a 10 AWG I think, so match that also if you cut that one.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Park the car, open the hood, pop the distributor cap off, yank the rotor off. Less than five minutes with zero cash outlay and a dead *** car.

 

[Meep-Meep]

Would it be better to cut the ground or the positive wire at the coil, or do they both have the same draw? Also, I can't find any wiring sized "Beefy". Should it be a 10, 12?

Won't make a difference since it's a circuit and the amp draw depends on the coil and dwell time. But no matter what the amp draw is a duty cycle since the coil isn't on all the time. Are you running an MSD or some other hopped up ignition? If so I would not go into the coil side but rather the signal wire that turns the unit on. CD type ignitions typically put very high voltage into the coil and you may not want to mess with that.

 

[Bruzilla]

Park the car, open the hood, pop the distributor cap off, yank the rotor off. Less than five minutes with zero cash outlay and a dead *** car.

I think I can spare a buck or so worth of wire and a $5 switch to keep from having to remove and reinstall the rotor every time I want to drive the car. I'm not that cheap.

 

[Bruzilla]

Won't make a difference since it's a circuit and the amp draw depends on the coil and dwell time. But no matter what the amp draw is a duty cycle since the coil isn't on all the time. Are you running an MSD or some other hopped up ignition? If so I would not go into the coil side but rather the signal wire that turns the unit on. CD type ignitions typically put very high voltage into the coil and you may not want to mess with that.

Totally stock electronic ignition.

 

[Bruzilla]

The problem with screwing with starter wiring is that most anybody knows how to jumper a Mopar starter relay or starter

MSD already has "built in" anti theft. Go to their website and read the destructions. I believe it is the white? wire is used for points trigger. All you need to do is either switch the small red or ground the white or both. The trick is hiding the wiring so that the average thief can't figure it out

If you have OTHER than CD/ MSD ignition, and especially if you have a tach which is already hooked to coil NEG, just hide a switch and GROUND it. Some guys have done this by wiring the NEG coil lead to the cigarette lighter. This prevents a spark, and won't hurt anything unless the ignition is left on. So even if it burns up the coil, or ballast, at least the car will be there

If you have a trunk mount battery, NHRA rules require that if you use a push/ pull knob, the knob must be PUSHED for OFF. Well this is great--- rig your disconnect so that the knob can be pushed off, but so that it's not hard connected, and cannot be pulled to turn on. You must open the trunk and operate the switch.

If you have an electric pump, put a hidden switch in the pump relay ground leg

So far as a manual shut off knob, they have been used in trucks/ pickups for many many years and are DOT approved: You don't put "fuel in the passenger compartment", you put the valve UNDER the car and only the stem comes through the floor. If you are a good fabricator, you could even devise a seal around the shaft

Of course you might want to disguise it a little because anyone that has ever seen one knows what they are

But what EVER you do, remember this: A rollback bed and a good team can work quickly, and all this is irrelevant.

You might consider a cell based alarm. I have not kept up on cellphone stuff, but you used to be able to rig a cell up under a dash. If you can't get one to alarm simply, at least you can call it up and track it. You of course need to disable any headset/ ringer volume, but you can also listen to the phone, which might prove interesting.

By the way, Stroker, the neighborhood just does not matter.

There was a time when I would agree with your notion of everyone knowing how to short a starter replay, but not anymore. We know, but it's like setting a directional TV antenna to most people today. They have no clue.

I agree that a team with a flatbed is going to get what they want, but those aren't the guys I'm worried about. It's the lowlifes who want to snatch a car to go joy riding in and then wreck it for fun when they're done. These are all snatch & go guys, and don't use flatbeds.

Also, btw, I disagree on your assessment of manual valves. They are still valves, which mean they can dispense fluid when damaged... like after an accident... when you're the most vulnerable. Valves have three points of failure: inlet, outlet, and the valve stem. Why weaken a fuel line by adding two distinct points of failure, and add them right about four inches under your ***?

 

[tpodwdog]

12 gauge wire will do. you can cut either positive or negative,,,,dont matter as long as you break the complete circuit someplace via a switch.