Is anyone using one on their Fiero? Any recommendations for good fit and good visibility (to thieves)? These seem like they would also do well as a CLUB to ward off attackers ...
If your car is a manual, just put a sticker on the window saying so haha, also make sure you use the parking brake, very few people can figure that out, maybe add a kill switch somewhere. Also always park nose in to the spot, get a short throw shifter and don't oil the reverse mechanism in the shifter, will have everyone stumped about where reverse is! I brought my car in for a safety inspection, mechanic couldn't disengage the parking brake or find reverse! And he is a competent mechanic (I now work with him).
If your car is a manual, just put a sticker on the window saying so haha, also make sure you use the parking brake, very few people can figure that out, maybe add a kill switch somewhere. Also always park nose in to the spot, get a short throw shifter and don't oil the reverse mechanism in the shifter, will have everyone stumped about where reverse is! I brought my car in for a safety inspection, mechanic couldn't disengage the parking brake or find reverse! And he is a competent mechanic (I now work with him).
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.
Yes. Sure, it's "defeatable"... but it's more than enough to discourage a joy-rider who's just looking for an easy mark. I use a steering wheel lock along with additional measures on my JDM Subie, but that's because it's worth a heck of a lot more than any of my Fieros, and it's liable to attract a more serious thief.
im with the hidden switch somewhere crowd.interupt the starter or other wire.you could come out of the neutral safety switch.and get alarm stickers even without an alarm.they don't know.
get alarm stickers even without an alarm. they don't know.
Along those same lines... When I got my first Fiero back in the mid 90's, I guess I thought it was worth something... so I installed a flashing red LED by the cigarette lighter in the center console. No alarm, just a flashing red LED. "They don't know".
A steering wheel lock may be easily defeated but but it slows the thief down and may discourage theft. What works best may be the hidden cut off switch and an alarm system that kills the ignition switch on activation. I'll also recommend putting Tile and/or AirTags in hidden locations in the vehicle.
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When you use a switch, do it so others can't find it fast. Do Not use them in High Current circuits like Starter Solenoid circuit on most GM and many other vehicle.
⚠️ Many including YT Scooty K say unplug whatever relay fuse etc but Do Not do this often as the plugs/sockets are not made to be used like that & will fail to get good connection, worse heat up & have way more problems or cause a fire that Insurance & Warranty won't pay after user abuse.
⚠️ Many "Club" clones have Same Key on all of them.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
...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".
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
