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Disabling your Miata.

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Old 06-06-2011, 12:25 AM
  #21  
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If someone shows up with a rollback, nothing you do will stop them. You can make it really hard, though.

-Proximity alarm inside the car - outdoor alarms are useless since everyone ignores them, but a 2-3 second delay combined with a 140+dB alarm inside the car will significantly discourage anyone trying to make off with the entire thing.
-Hidden kill switch - hidden as in I'm not going to talk about it any more and neither should you.
-Battery disconnect in the trunk, center console disabled. I used to do this on my car when I still DDed it - when I parked at hotels and such I would take the screw-in switch with me into the room, so even if they found the switch they would have to take the time to remove it and hook the battery up the normal way.

All you're trying to do is make it a PITA - at a certain point they'll just decide it's not worth it and move on. You don't have to make it impossible - just make it not worth their time.
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Old 06-06-2011, 12:26 AM
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Originally Posted by codrus
Park it in a secure area?

--Ian
Also, a big loud *** truck to come steal a Miata is going to attract a lot of attention.
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Old 06-06-2011, 12:50 AM
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Move the **** out of Kalifornia?
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Old 06-06-2011, 02:58 AM
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I am a little insane about this, even though I live in a super safe area.

I have fuel pump kill, battery kill, removable steering wheel and I take the megasquirt (just in case they know where to look for it) out of the car. I think it's pretty safe now.

My old alarm used to drain the battery when it went off for no reason while I was at school, so it's long gone. But I will get another with a external speaker and a low jack if I move to a "sketch area",

Good idea on the line locks. I'll look into that.
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Old 06-06-2011, 03:08 AM
  #25  
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^Better safe than sorry I guess.
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Old 06-06-2011, 03:24 AM
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I pulled my ms once lol. They'd need a spare miata to grab parts off of.

But I need some security soon. My car can't 'look' like **** forever.

Edit: When I ran out of gas I pulled off a vacuum hose and took it with me to get gas.

Last edited by turotufas; 06-06-2011 at 11:15 AM.
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Old 06-06-2011, 03:42 AM
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Move. I never even lock my car. I bet the soft top they would cut is worth more than anything in my car.

I do have a FP cut off switch on my Mustang, did it originally as a theft deterrent but its pretty handy when working on the car too.
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Old 06-06-2011, 05:10 AM
  #28  
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in sketchy areas, I used to disconnect my battery and lock the center console, disconnect the injector, CAS, and coil harness, and drop my fuel pressure to nothing.


Then lock the car.




my buddy is the worst of all... he pours tranny fluid into the intake mani to simulate a bad engine, but the most genius he had for his 300zx: Made a hidden switch that swapped the brake lights for the horn... his train horn.
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Old 06-06-2011, 10:43 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by Pen2_the_penguin
in sketchy areas, I used to disconnect my battery and lock the center console, disconnect the injector, CAS, and coil harness, and drop my fuel pressure to nothing.


Then lock the car.




my buddy is the worst of all... he pours tranny fluid into the intake mani to simulate a bad engine, but the most genius he had for his 300zx: Made a hidden switch that swapped the brake lights for the horn... his train horn.

i like your buddy's idea, train horn as brake would definitely make somebody walk away from the car.
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Old 06-06-2011, 10:52 AM
  #30  
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I don't even lock the doors most of the time. Hell sometimes I even keep it running depending on where I am.

A fuel pump switch or battery shut off are probably both things I'll eventually get to, but I'm not in a rush to do them.

Taking the MS out of the car seems a little extreme to me.
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Old 06-06-2011, 10:58 AM
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maybe just get a sticker that says lojack secured or something. they wouldnt want to risk if the car has it or not
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Old 06-06-2011, 11:15 AM
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you can get a car immobilizer for it.

one of my cars has one and you need a FOB to touch it before the fuel pump will turn on.

if you dont, the car starts for a second or 2 and then dies (no fuel) so they probs think your car is shitty.

doesnt have lights and is inconspicuous so its a pretty legit option.
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Old 06-06-2011, 11:56 AM
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Homemade phone home gps lojack. Steal my car and I will ******* hunt you down and break your skull.
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Old 06-06-2011, 12:06 PM
  #34  
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GPS tracking is a really good idea, especially if you put it somewhere really, really inconvenient. Maybe even wire it up to a power supply so if someone steals your **** and disconnects the battery it will still work while it has battery.
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Old 06-06-2011, 12:14 PM
  #35  
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Load a map with 1750rpm rev limit
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Old 06-06-2011, 12:46 PM
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Every single time you park it? That gets old really fast. I have a quick release steering wheel and battery disconnect. If they still want it, I hope it shorts somewhere and burns them alive.
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Old 06-06-2011, 01:01 PM
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Wire the starter solenoid/fuel pump to some random stock interior switch, like cruise or defrost.
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Old 06-06-2011, 01:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Savington
If someone shows up with a rollback, nothing you do will stop them. You can make it really hard, though.

-Proximity alarm inside the car - outdoor alarms are useless since everyone ignores them, but a 2-3 second delay combined with a 140+dB alarm inside the car will significantly discourage anyone trying to make off with the entire thing.
-Hidden kill switch - hidden as in I'm not going to talk about it any more and neither should you.
-Battery disconnect in the trunk, center console disabled. I used to do this on my car when I still DDed it - when I parked at hotels and such I would take the screw-in switch with me into the room, so even if they found the switch they would have to take the time to remove it and hook the battery up the normal way.

All you're trying to do is make it a PITA - at a certain point they'll just decide it's not worth it and move on. You don't have to make it impossible - just make it not worth their time.
I have a hidden fuel pump switch but I couldn't agree with you more, if they come up on it with a rollback or a sling or anything really the car is gone. I try and crank the wheels so if they do have a sling hopefully it'll turn and hit something and get stuck, or hit another car and cause a scene. Yeah if you hide a GPS where they can't find it then turn it in to the police or go hunting yourself. But someone tried to steal my car once, and with the fuel cut making it a PITA it must have pissed them off so they smashed the car up. Stole my deck (with no faceplate) smashed the front windshield, kicked in the tail lights, turn signals, and then took a chunk of asphalt, stood on the hood and slammed it down. But at least I still have the car. $1100 dollars worth of damage later...so making it hard to steal is good but it can have its downside if it pisses them off enough to **** the car up because they can't steal it.
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Old 06-06-2011, 01:37 PM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by Spookyfish
Load a map with 1750rpm rev limit
I like this idea. But one might be screwed if the **** chance their laptop goes to **** after they load the map.
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Old 06-06-2011, 01:50 PM
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My car came with a switch you can wire into anything to trigger before you start it.

I had to turn key to ON, flip left signal light on for a second, then start it. If I didn't do that, the starter wouldn't engage. I've since taken all that out because I live in Canada where ppl don't steal ghey cars like mine.
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