Security System thoughts

[commonlaw]

I have been thinking about this for awhile. My EB has no doors and is just begging for someone to steal it. I have no kill switch or alarm system. Now that I have put some money aside, I spoke with a rep at the local auto security center who turned me onto an alarm system that has the conventional attributes (i.e. shake or move the car and tha alarm sounds off) and the added protection of a security "bubble" in the cab of the truck whereby the alarm goes off if someone breaks the plane and reaches into the rig. Also, the system he is touting has a built in kill switch that kills the ignition train whenever the rig is armed, i.e. it cannot be started even if someone is foolish enough to remain in my rig while the alarm is going off.

The total price for this system and installation is around 360 bucks. I do not want to rush in foolishly but that is a small price to pay for some much needed peace of mind and this great addition feature of the kill switch that I was going to do anyway. What do you guys think?

 

[Nobody]

I think most alarms are useless, as are kill switches. I know I ignore alarms when I hear them. So unless it's Lojack where your vehicle can be tracked, I wouldn't waste my money.

The most effective solution I can think of is a Keyed Fuel shutoff valve. In order to bypass it they would need to splice in a piece of hose, which would take awhile. Down side is if you are carbed, they could probably drive a little ways before running out of gas.

I sometimes turn my tank selector half way as a fuel shutoff. If I forget, and jump in an drive I make it about a 1/2 mile before running out of gas.

Of course nothing can help dragging it up on a trailer.

Another option that we used on military trucks, is a cable & lock that locks the shifter in place so you can shift.

 

[76Broncofromhell]

Car alarms don't stop anyone. Search on this, a lot of people have done some pretty creative stuff for cheap:

http://www.classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54938&highlight=theft+deterent

http://www.classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47555&highlight=theft+deterent

http://www.classicbroncos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50316&highlight=theft+deterrent

It's for Jeeps but pretty informative:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=220507&highlight=theft+deterrent

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=318717&highlight=kill+switch+anti+theft

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=190552

 

[burntfish]

whats up. i spent 8 years dealing with car audio and alarms. with alarms you get what you pay for. go with a good system like viper, cliford, auto page, alpine or any top name alarm. viper is my preference, i have had vipers in every car i've owned. the most important part of the alarm is instalation. you need to find a good installer to put in your alarm. first thing ask to see there car or one they just installed, look under the dash and see if there are wires that don't look factory( wraped in black wire loom or black tape no coloredwire should be visible and all wires should be souldered not butt conects) if so find someone else or ask if they can do a stealth install. a starter kill in a alarm is just a relay and if a theaf can find it his job just got real easy i.e. unplug and jump and drive away. with a bronco extra care must be taken to hide the alarm and components. put the brain in a center lock box, in the under side of your seat, behind your heater box or any place that would be hard to get. get a motion sensor and glass break sensor if you have a hard top. put 2 or 3 sirens on it (1 under hood 1 under dash 1 under rear end) why you ask, how ofen do you hear a car alarmm do you even look most don't. the siren under dash is loud you don't want to be in there. the other two make it louder to get peoples attention. just remember the install is #1. if you have any other ?'s e-mail me or pm me. also make it hard on them, lock your hood, club, removable steering wheel, lock boxes, hidden stereo or amps. take away the opertunity and don't advertise your alarm with stickers. another good idea is a fuel cut of switch. remember out of sight out of mind.

 

[Tom Dummer]

Mr. Burntfish, your response is great for all the nice cars out there with nice stereos, but on my Bronco, if you look under my dash, there are 30 years of butt splices and colored wires. a soldered connection or loomed wires would be a dead giveaway. A starter interrupt is just a relay and thats the beauty of it. IF the thief can locate all the relays and FIND the proper relay to the bypass AND correctly bypass the start system, he's just an out of work electrical engineer anyway. An audible alarm really doesn't bring out the neighborhood either. I do like your plan of having a very loud one in the vehicle. I would like to wire an alarm to my horn and really piss off the neighbors (I have an air horn out of a fire truck under the hood.)
I agree with "nobody" about the fuel selector switch. These switches havent been used for alot of years and with no indicator, just pointing them in a non-tank direction will let a thief get only so far. AND I know how far that is because I have tried a few directions from my house to see where I can find the Bronco when it stalls on the confused driver.

 

[burntfish]

when i was talking about wire loom i ment under a new car dash to see his work.

 

[Nobody]

Car alarms are a joke. As far as I'm concerned they are just a gimmick. They are so fricken annoying that I hope the vehicle is getting stolen. Hell I'm tempted to give them a hand so I don't have to listen to it. Please get it out of here.

Electrical is far to easy to bypass. The theifs just have to pack the right stuff for the car they are after.

 

[SteveL]

The thief usually knows more about the alarm than the installer. The first thing they do when a new alarm is out is buy it and take it apart. I like my brakelock that locks all four wheels with a key. It cost $100 + some labor to instal it, but when it's locked the bronco isn't moving.

 

[76Broncofromhell]

It really isn't hard to steal one of these Broncos. I venture to say I could take one in only a few minutes. All you need to do is run a hot to the coil wire, one to the ignition wire on ignition box and you're done. Just rip every other wire off that isn't the start wire.

Alarms don't work as I posted earlier.

 

[wildbill]

;D ;D ;D If they want it they will get it. I have a locked hood and hidden kill switch wont stop them but will realey slow them down. Good luck Bill %)

 

[SaddleUp]

If you are running EFI then the fuel pump inertia switch makes a decent kill switch. They need to find it first before it will start and run unless they run a wire all of the way out to the fuel pump which isn't likely. The Lojack suggestion above is probably the best way to be sure they don't get too far. I.E. If it is stolen then it can be tracked to get it back.

 

[SteveL]

Once they park it in an underground parking structure lojack doesn't work so well either.

 

[commonlaw]

Good responses...looks like the consensus is that an alram system, regardless of the type, is a fair waste of money. Burntfish--if I do end up pursuing this idea further, I will PM you so I can have some good questions for the installer.

Hey SteveL--how did you come by this brakelock system? did you install yourself? does it matter that i still have drums? what do you guys think of brakelock?

Also, for now I will be using the old fuel selector trick, simple and has a shot at working in the interim, thanks Nobody.

 

[SteveL]

I purchased it from brakelock.com I think. I'm not sure if they're still there. I can check my paperwork for more info. TSM brakes also sells em but they were a few $$ more. I did the install and put the key on the dashboard. It will still work with drums.

 

[bluebronco69]

how are you guys locking your hoods? i would like to do that but not install like a cable opening system, just retain teh stock setup.
thanks

 

[Nuke]

A couple of years ago, some one broke into my POS 97 Saturn in an attempt to steal my brand new $150 stereo deck. The alarm went off and all they got where the CDRs in the CD case on my sunvisor. This was at 3:00 in the morningt in my apartment complex and no one was around. I happened to be up and heard my alarm. The theifs had already left by the time I got outside. I agree alarms aren't bulletproof but they can work.

That being said, I was thinking of using this for my theft detterant on my EB.

http://www.youcansave.com/lockp.asp

Won't work if you have rusty floor panels thought ;D

 

[commonlaw]

A couple of years ago, some one broke into my POS 97 Saturn in an attempt to steal my brand new $150 stereo deck. The alarm went off and all they got where the CDRs in the CD case on my sunvisor. This was at 3:00 in the morningt in my apartment complex and no one was around. I happened to be up and heard my alarm. The theifs had already left by the time I got outside. I agree alarms aren't bulletproof but they can work.

That being said, I was thinking of using this for my theft detterant on my EB.

http://www.youcansave.com/lockp.asp

Won't work if you have rusty floor panels thought ;D

I am trying to stay away from items like these as they seem to just invite trouble. Recall, I have no doors right now and if a thief sees the club or this item I am just begging for someone to try. I am leaning towards my own kill switch device locked in my tuffy.

 

[Fishmanndotcom]

if you use a combo of wyas you can really slow them down. why not get a battery disconnect switch thats actualyl at the battery, that way NO hot wire is coming in to the fuse block... then put a lock on the hood so that when they figure out they can't hotwire it they try and open the hood. then still do the fuel cutoff switch so just in case they do get it turning over it wont last long.

the line lock are a NICE touch but and would hinder quite a few thieves but nothing short of chaining your bronco to a parking deck pylon (like we did back when we younger and rode bikes everywhere) will stop the most persistent of thieves. the ones with rollbacks are obviously serious and thats when i figure its about time to get another bronco!

however the best theft deterrant i have seen so far is a dog! how many of you make sure you avoid the truck in the parking lot when a dog is in the bed? i know i do, i wont even chance it!

-cutts-

 

[SaddleUp]

if you use a combo of wyas you can really slow them down. why not get a battery disconnect switch thats actualyl at the battery, that way NO hot wire is coming in to the fuse block... then put a lock on the hood so that when they figure out they can't hotwire it they try and open the hood. then still do the fuel cutoff switch so just in case they do get it turning over it wont last long.

the line lock are a NICE touch but and would hinder quite a few thieves but nothing short of chaining your bronco to a parking deck pylon (like we did back when we younger and rode bikes everywhere) will stop the most persistent of thieves. the ones with rollbacks are obviously serious and thats when i figure its about time to get another bronco!

however the best theft deterrant i have seen so far is a dog! how many of you make sure you avoid the truck in the parking lot when a dog is in the bed? i know i do, i wont even chance it!

-cutts-

A battery disconnect usually isn't practical for a couple of reasons. First is that for most of us it would mean resetting out stereos and for those with EFI it would mean the ECM would need to learn the best mix everytime it was started. More improtant though is that a good theft deterent should be easy for the owner yet hard to figure out. A battery disconnect would require getting out, opening the hood, advertising to the world that it is there, and then getting back in to lock the hood. In that case it is no longer hard to figure out if someone is watching if it even gets done since it would be a hassle. In that case they know in advance what needs to be done to get it going under it's own power. The beauty of a hidden kill switch is that they will watch precious time trying to start it in the first place. The more time it takes the more nervous about it they will be and then hopefully they will abandon it to find an easier mark.

 

[RobS]

I just installed a kill switch/hood lock for around 40 bucks, do a thread search, I included some pics.