Car Security

[George]

With the couple of thefts recently I'm sure everyone is thinking about the security of their own cars.

 

What do you do to keep your car secured? I'm not after the specifics and you obviously need to take care when sharing any information.

 

What is the ideal security device/measure, or a combination of, while remaining practical?

[PB260Z]

It has been a little while since I have owned a high theft rate car.

 

I went with a high end alarm with sat tracking, anti hi-jack and they even offered a geo fencing service when I went overseas, that way a friend could start and run it around the block every few weeks.

 

On top of that I always tried to have it parked in, even in the garage at home would park another car on drive blocking access.

 

I will be going with a similar approach when my Z is on the road.

[mossy]

I see a few guys have their car out on the street or the driveway, being an older car they are probably very easy to steal so I really like to keep my car garaged, thats my security and probably also why I wont do a z weekend, ie tassie, I don't want to leave it out anywhere overnight. Yes it is insured but i put a lot of blood sweat and tears into my car and its hard to replace that with another 240.

[dat240z]

I think youd be crazy to leave a z outside and in plain view of the general public. There are just too many low quality people out there these days who'd prefer to steal than work hard and earn something themselves.

 

My cars stored in my DLUG, full insurance, satelite tracker, detachable steering wheel (which is always off when parked up, and in a different location to car), push button start with hidden immobilizer switch. Im even thinking of sinking a bolt into the slab and attaching a chain/strap underneath when stored but that may be excessive... 

 

A visible outdoor alarm beacon (even if not real) it also a good deterent.

 

Id prefer to play it safe and be over secured, than under. Afterall, its not like our cars are easily replaceable!!!

[Six_Shooter]

I usually park mine in a garage.

 

I always lock the doors when I'm not around it, and have installed an alarm system with a starter kill.

 

I also consider my EFI system to be contributing to the anti-theft, since it can not just be simply jumped from under the hood like it could have been when it was carburetted. I could also upload a bin file that would not allow it to rev over a very low RPM if I desired. If the code I am running had a vehicle speed limiter I could set that very low as well.

 

I don't believe in "The Club" because the steering wheel can be cut in seconds and removal of the club a second later..

 

When I'm not at home, I try to park in a high (pedestrian) traffic area, and if it's at night a well lit area.

 

If I have to park my car outside at home, I park another vehicle behind it.

 

The best anti-theft I have, is what it looks like. People look at it and think it's a piece of shit, because the clear coat is flaking, it's at least two different shades of brown, and has some exposed rust.

 

[Retro Z]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQbHnLSasfQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

 

I was thinking of most of the above eg alarm, club lock etc. But have decided i will design some kind of quick release removable gear stick and leave it parked in gear.

 

Or a chain/wire cable bolted to the tunnel/seatbelt mount which clips to the shifter to hold it in 4th or reverse etc. And another chain or cable to lock the seat in the reclined foward position.Not entirely theft proof, but would give the person a hard time along with the other security measures.

[lightmaster240z]

I have a number off product that I can supply from my suppler. One is a tracking light with movement decor and built in camera sell for around $400.00 mark delivered with Aus

I can also get product from techbrand.com as well if you need any thing just PM me

regards

Bruce 

 

[Zedman240®]

I have mine out of sight in the garage with another car in front with heaps of crap around it. Best security I had was with an older Wolf ECU for the EFI. It could be "locked" so there was no injectors fired or spark. Impossible to jump and even if you unplugged the computer, same thing. Its a shame they got rid of that function on later models.

[C.A.R.]

It's simple. Don't leave your Zed in the driveway.

[PB260Z]

It's simple. Don't leave your Zed in the driveway.

 

Agree 100%, the challenge is if you want to take it away.

It is sad that we have to worry about theft and can't just enjoy them without the worry 

[Riceburner]

What about one of those hideous council wheel clamps? Or even a motorbike style brake disc lock, might be able to find one big enough that will go through the cross drilled disc holes if you have them.

[DreamZproject]

It's simple. Don't leave your Zed in the driveway.

 

Not always possible for those of us who live in the inner burbs. Space is a premium, so I'm sure there will be some periods were I'll have to park my

car on the street. But I sure will have some buff security

[Whittie]

It hasn't been mentioned here, but the tacho in all zeds (as far as I'm aware) has a wire feeding back from the dizzy that it uses as the sensor wire. It just so happens that with no sensor wire there is also no spark....

[Cozza]

It hasn't been mentioned here, but the tacho in all zeds (as far as I'm aware) has a wire feeding back from the dizzy that it uses as the sensor wire. It just so happens that with no sensor wire there is also no spark....

 

Not sure this would help too much. As Six Shooter was eluding to, if you simply supply the +ve side of the coil with a 12v supply directly from the battery you can almost ensure spark. With carbs and non ECU control ignition, there is very little you can do to immobilise the engine.

I have heard of people having an alarm and tracking device. The aim is that when the alarm is activated a SMS is sent to your phone, you can then track the car via GPS. While this doesn't stop the car from being pinched it sounds like it would help to recover it.

When do thefts tend to occur, I imagine when the Car is parked at its usual location, home, so I agree that parking in a garage with additional cars parked in drive sounds great but not always practical.

 

Just my thoughts.

Mick

[George]

When do thefts tend to occur, I imagine when the Car is parked at its usual location, home, so I agree that parking in a garage with additional cars parked in drive sounds great but not always practical.

 

No one has mentioned removable bollards. Only a few hundred dollars.

[Six_Shooter]

The 240Z and early 260/80Z tach used an inductive loop to trigger the tach. Disconnecting the tach will disabled the 12V feed to the coil, provided it's still as original. However a simple jumper wire under the hood will get around this.

 

On the later 260Z (280Z for North America), the tach is points triggered and disconnecting the tach will have no effect on the running of the engine.

 

However, there is something that can be done on earlier carb equipped vehicles, with points ignition. You can simply ground the coil negative, the car will not start when you do this. The magnetic field in the coil never collapses to discharge and fire the spark plug. The only draw back to this is that if the 12V feed is left on, it will burn out the coil.

[PB260Z]

Back in the day a mate of mine had a Torana GTR-XUI and was terrified of it getting pinched.

 

He fitted a tap in the fuel line and had it mounted under the seat. If you started the car with tap closed it would only run for a very short time then die. Maybe not the safest idea but cheap and effective.

[Scoota G]

I would assume that no matter what security you had in place if people wanted them bad enough they would get them. I had both sets of keys removed from my two Zeds late last year and they were parked behind a 7 foot high locked gate in the backyard. I usually always left the keys in them but i don't anymore. I think i may have disturbed them in the middle of the night.

[OZZ240]

If they use a flat bed truck/tow truck and a winch not much is going to stop them. If they really want it they will find a means to take it from you 

[George]

If they use a flat bed truck/tow truck and a winch not much is going to stop them. If they really want it they will find a means to take it from you 

 

No one seems to think of towing but that's why I brought up the bollards for home security. Seems like a good way to prevent that and you can do away with most other measures that try to prevent starting the car.

[Six_Shooter]

No one seems to think of towing but that's why I brought up the bollards for home security. Seems like a good way to prevent that and you can do away with most other measures that try to prevent starting the car.

 

No one mentions counter measures for towing, because there's nearly nothing you can do to stop it. Not even the removable bollards will stop a thief, if they want it bad enough.

 

The bollards also have ZERO effectiveness when not parked in that exact position. So when out on an errand or just for a drive and decide to stop somewhere for a while, the car would be more prone to theft than if you added the anti-starting and sound making devices.

 

Sometimes all it takes is a flashing LED on the dash that looks like an alarm to have thieves move onto another car.

[NISZILA]

I had two forms of security on my R34.

 

1. A Brant immobiliser that included a keypad which required a pin number to start the car.

 

2. There is a small circuit (can't remember who makes it) which has a GPS and place for a sim card. You hide it under your dash and just find 12 volts to connect it to. You need to pay a monthly cost to keep the sim active, but if your car is stolen, you send this circuit a text message. It will immediately reply with the GPS location of your car without alerting the thief.

[FuzzyDropbear]

Hmm, lucky that mine's already 100% theft proof...

 

 

That's right, protected by an original 80's Dick Smith anti theft system, job done... 

 

*please note that this alarm system is a black plastic block with about 10 wires running out of it so probably does nothing apart from make the red light on the dash blink because it doesn't even have anything to make a noise if it detects that it's being stolen... 

[gav240z]

I haven't tried it, but on another forum 1 suggestion was buying a cheap disposable mobile phone and inserting a sim card on a plan with pre-paid credit that doesn't expire. Then you directly wire the mobile phone into the car to keep it charged and hide the phone someone inside the car. Using a mobile app that let's you know the GPS position of the phone would enable you to track the exact location of the car at any given time.

 

1 person said he still knows where his car is 12 months after he sold it to someone else .

 

At the end of the day GPS tracking in my opinion is the best bet for recovering the vehicle after it's stolen. Of course anything you can do to prevent it is going to help.

 

I have a thick chained gate, a garage, good neighbors who keep an eye on the place when we're out and we recently installed this guy.

 

 

He may not look mean yet, but once he's fully grown I suspect most wouldn't wanna mess with him .

 

PS: His name is 'Datsun' .

[NISZILA]

Great looking dog and awesome name! I have a border collie and wanted to name her Nismo, but my wife wasn't too keen on it.