Steering Wheel Locks (Page 2/2)
hyperv6 MAR 29, 05:34 PM
The best I have seen is a kill switch TVs is operated by a magnet. It is behind a dash panel and is difficult to find.

The most simple thing is take off the coil wire. It will not start and they are not going yo take the time to diagnose it.

If they tow or flat bed it you are not going to stop that.

The bulb is worthless.

The main key is to disable a car where it can’t be started in less than a min or two. After that they will leave.
Patrick MAR 29, 06:30 PM

quote
Originally posted by hyperv6:

The most simple thing is take off the coil wire.



...and of course totally impractical for anyone driving that car on even an irregular basis.


quote
Originally posted by hyperv6:

The bulb is worthless.



What, the flashing red LED that I mentioned? If it even fools one joy rider/thief into thinking an alarm has been set (and they move on to a different car), it's hardly "worthless".
theogre MAR 29, 06:58 PM

quote
Originally posted by hyperv6:
The most simple thing is take off the coil wire.

Is a very Bad idea. Disconnecting HV even for milliseconds @ any point is good way to destroy the coil, the ICM & other parts. Worse car may not die right then but on highway @ worse time.
fliphone MAR 30, 12:10 PM
I used the NRG short hub from I think for a firebird that was recommended from another post (haven't figured out how to link posts yet lol), and as for the wheel I went with the NRG 350mm Flat Wheel. One thing to note is that pretty much any bolt on quick release hub/wheel is "tall" and brings the wheel towards you quite a bit, and it took me a week or two to get a seat position I liked.




I have wanted to try modding the stock fiero wheel for use on a quick release, it would just take drilling six holes to mate to the adapter
Patrick MAR 30, 03:38 PM

quote
Originally posted by fliphone:

One thing to note is that pretty much any bolt on quick release hub/wheel is "tall" and brings the wheel towards you quite a bit...



That's not always a bad thing. Being tall, I have my seat positioned quite a ways back for leg room, but doing so puts the steering wheel just a little too far away to be totally comfortable. In my Formula, I solved that issue by swapping in a stock Firebird steering wheel hub that is deeper/taller than the stock Fiero one. It's good to know that another way of moving the steering wheel closer is to install a quick release hub/wheel.
82-T/A [At Work] APR 04, 08:28 AM

quote
Originally posted by Notorio:
With all the input here I'm thinking about layers of deterrence, aimed not so much at the Pro (would any of them want my Fiero??) but at the delinquent teenager wanting to go out for a joy ride:

1) steering wheel club (which is highly visible)
2) fuel pump hidden cut-off switch
3) setting the parking break (which I always do anyway)
4) park nose in wherever possible
5) always roll up windows and lock doors

A harder measure to implement would be to make a circuit that monitors cranking time ... if someone cranks for more than 5 seconds (something I would never do), a loud siren could go off INSIDE the cockpit.




In times past... the Fiero was actually a very easy car to steal. I used to pull open the window on my 1987 Fiero SE / V6 whenever I'd accidentally leave the keys in my car and lock it and shut it. It was super easy... just pull the little metal tab over that holds it in, and get my fingers between the glass, and shove my forearm down so I could unlock it. I'm not a small guy, so I guess I got lucky because I did this on a Fiero in the junkyard and the glass shattered into a million tempered pieces. Haha...

In any case... the Fiero was also one of the top 5 cars being stolen at one point in the late 80s... usually for its parts value. There's no such demand for them now as far as I know (but what do I know?), but my best guess is that you're looking at two potential kinds of criminals:

1 - Joy riders
2 - Export specialists

The first group is easy to defeat, because they're looking for something that's quick and easy... that doesn't require a lot of effort. Predominantly, a layered defense will absolutely detract the overwhelming vast majority of people who are looking to steal a car. There's a reason why they make "the club" bright ass yellow, and bright red colors. It's because it serves as a warning... a "hey, look at me!" so potential thieves will see it before they even attempt to get into the car. Even if it's your only defense, they'll look at it as yet one more thing they're going to need to defeat after they break into your car, and before they can get the car running (which of course is easy... you rip down the steering column cover and rip the ignition wires out). Like 1985 Fiero GT said... they may not even realize it's a stick shift until they see it. But most people in the first group are going to be very uneducated, and very young, and will likely have never had any exposure whatsoever to a manual transmission car. So this does help (if yours is a manual).

For the second group... totally making this up, but piecing it together from my friends who are detectives in South Florida, work for DHS, etc. ... there's a lot of interest in exporting unique and older cars out of the United States (where they may have sold predominantly) and ship them out to other places including South America, Eastern Europe, and South East Asia. There's a big market for stolen American cars... not only for parts, but for retitling where there's few if any rules that track such things.

The United States has always been exceptionally wealthy, and older cars are becoming widely collected around the world due to their unique designs which are no longer even possible under most safety standards today. The cars don't have to be American, but because of the wealth America has had over the past few decades, a majority of these kinds of cars were sold in the U.S. There's a lot of port security that's overseen by Customs and Border Protection, as well as the Coast Guard... but the overwhelming preponderance of that security is focused on "incoming" freight and cargo. There's very little security for "outgoing" vessels, and most of that security is subcontracted out to private security firms, whom are often easily manipulated by bribes and such. It's funny... Gone in 60 Seconds really focused on that, and while that movie was originally from the 1960s... it was still a problem then, and is still a problem now. The theft of classic and rare cars out of the United States is like at the absolute bottom of the list of concerns for the Federal government. If given the chance, they'd all be regulated out of existence already if it wasn't for groups like SAN (SEMA Action Network). For groups like this, they generally target cars (of which the Fiero is likely not high on the list), but they often use unmarked tow trucks.
1985 Fiero GT APR 04, 09:18 AM
Yeah I don't live in an area that would be effected by "export specialists", or even joyriders very much. If a professional wanted to steal a Fiero, nothing really is going to stop them, as for joyriders, they want to be in quickly and easily, and aren't afraid of breaking stuff, I always leave my doors unlocked, and don't bother putting my windows back up or sunroof back on, of they want in, better to let them in then break something. Then once they're in, they realize it's a manual, and if they can drive manual, they won't be able to figure out the parking brake, if they figure that out, my shirt shifter is very stiff going into reverse, and I always park nose in to spots, reverse is basically impossible to find. Also the manual steering helps a bit, if they were trying to turn the wheel like a normal car and nothing happens haha. On top of that I'll have a simple battery cutoff on the battery, for if I visit somewhere more shady (and parking long periods of time), can't open the trunk without either keys or battery power!
Notorio APR 04, 10:17 AM
Never heard about the export market. Very interesting!
Patrick APR 04, 05:06 PM

quote
Originally posted by Notorio:

Never heard about the export market. Very interesting!



From yesterday - Police operation at Montreal port leads to recovery of nearly 600 stolen vehicles


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A police operation at the Port of Montreal has led to the recovery of 598 stolen vehicles since December, many of them stolen from southern Ontario and slated for sale overseas.

The operation, dubbed Project Vector, involved more than a dozen police forces from across Ontario and Quebec.

"Project Vector disrupted criminal networks that profit from the Canadian export market to sell stolen vehicles," Marty Kearns, the deputy commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said at a news conference in Montreal.

Police hailed the project as an important step in their fight against organized criminal networks that they say are behind a recent surge in car thefts in Eastern Canada.

More at the link