Killing Me Sequentially

Look up Hella kill switch, just like your marine kill switch works great.

https://www.amazon.com/HELLA-0...Master/dp/B0000AYAFE

Most likely your car will have an electric fuel pump - use a toggle switch to cut power to it.  Car can be stolen and driven maybe a 1/4 mile before fuel in line is used up.  An inline fuel cut off is a good idea if you do plan to store car for any period of time - some carbs seem to overflow if car is parked on incline too so that prevents that too. These are available from ACE HW for lawn tractors.

Ray, where have you seen people mount them? I've seen some odd placements that would best be categorized as . . . eyesores. I was thinking of installing knobs that are in line with a typical dash setup to create a kill switch for one or all of the following items: coil, battery and fuel pump.

Behind the passenger seat under the rear section that way you can put it inline with the starter but you will need to kill the fuel pump if it is electric. Or kill the fuel pump only with it under the dash but then if the fuel pump can be jumpered your done.

I have the switch Ray posted. I have it installed in the battery ground cable. The cable goes from the battery to the switch and then from the switch to a bolt in a nearby drilled and tapped hole.

On my CMC, installation did require drilling through a thick piece of steel.

Michael how the hell do you reach it?

I don't have to reach it when I am driving.

I open the passenger door, kneel down, and reach under the dash. (did anyone notice the oxford comma?)

I don't have to do this often - sometimes when working on the car and sometimes for theft prevention.  For theft prevention I also have a fuse on the fuel pump relay I could pull.

(did anyone notice the oxford comma?)

I use one all the time...

@Michael McKelvey posted:

I have the switch Ray posted. I have it installed in the battery ground cable. The cable goes from the battery to the switch and then from the switch to a bolt in a nearby drilled and tapped hole.

On my CMC, installation did require drilling through a thick piece of steel.

That’s how I’d do it, too, now that I’ve relocated my battery up front.

Michael, what are the odds that switch could spark? Kind of wonder as it’s right under your gas tank.

@Bob: IM S6,  in the past I never used them but I have started to.

@dlearl476, I never considered the possibility of sparking.  Maybe it is less likely since it is the ground cable being switched.  Even if it did spark there might not be much risk since it is on the opposite side of the tank from the opening.

Here a strictly hypothetical security circuit that puts a small, low amperage, single pole, single throw, toggle switch under the curl of the dashboard. You can hypothetically learn to find the toggle switch easily as you turn the ignition key off or on, hypothetically. The miniature toggle switch is rated at 5 amps at 125 volts but only carries the relay coil load (.15 amps at 12v).

The toggle switch grounds a power relay located in the wheel well or under the nose. The power relay is rated at 200 amps and when grounded, switches power from the battery to the main harness.

This setup performs just like the switch noted by Ray and Michael above, except that it is enabled or disabled by the hidden, miniature, toggle switch under the dashboard. It would be a cinch to have Greg pull a wire from the battery area to the dash area while the car is being built.

I would prefer the left side of the dash, hypothetically, of course.

When I ordered my VMC speedster I asked for a kill switch but didn’t specify what or where.  What I got was a battery kill switch near the battery, so entry into the frunk is necessary, and a fuel pump kill switch under the dash to the right of the steering column.  So call that your default VMC option and go from there.

Price?

if a thief wants sumthin' bad enough....it's gone!...just sayin'....that being said...in the mid 80's my cousin witnessed this scenario....i guy with a 70's 911 RS was cased by car thieves were he got coffee each morning....they lowered the roll off ramp on the truck around the corner and the owner watched this team roll around the corner...a guy jumped out ....quickly had a cable with a hook ...attached the hook under the front......and with out stopping the truck...dragged the car down the street with the winch onto the ramp ....lowered it down and adios!!....all before he could run out the diner door....so, even with a kill switch/fuel pump switch etc in a speedster/convertible (gotta break windows in a coupe,but that's done quickly as well)....if you aren't guarding your car....the pro  bad guys can pop it in neutral , release the hand brake and push it to said roll off truck pretty quick...i just carry a "CLUB" steering wheel lock.....which is a pretty good overall solution.....not sure, but i bet not many of our replicas get ripped off.... the pro thieves are probably more interested in the REAL DEAL multi $6 figure cars.... al that said...happy theft-free motoring

@jncspyder posted:

i bet not many of our replicas get ripped off.... the pro thieves are probably more interested in the REAL DEAL multi $6 figure cars.... al that said...happy theft-free motoring

That's why our PCCA and clown car stickers are such good theft protection 😄

You can get this in an extremely small size to trigger your relay and bury it somewhere. or get a small plastic box to hold it in.

@jncspyder I agree. I had a 2010 Honda CBR demo before public release and had it stolen from a secure garage, located under a large corporate law firm, with 24/7 guards, and monitored cameras. No one saw or heard anything. Clearly an inside job, as I ran in to grab a case file I left at work. 10 minutes; poof, gone!  Still, I gotta try something.  

@JoelP I have no idea what the line item cost was for my kill switches. I don’t think it was much.  Fuel pump kill switch reachable while behind the wheel is nice, and I’m OK with the battery disconnect under the front hood.

I worked on a Spyder last summer that had the red key battery cutoff behind the driver seat. Take the key with you and good luck trying to bypass it.

I have to say it was VERY convenient to work on and weld on the car.

Having said that I'm with @jncspyder. If the thieves want it, they're gonna get it no matter what tricks you have. With a rolloff, it's gone in a minute or two.

That's what insurance is for.

Replicas are a minute niche market, there is almost nothing that will stop a car thief besides lead or a vicious dog .......Nothing.  Kill switches, pedal and or shifter locks, pull the dizzy rotor,  coil or inline brake lock will only slow them slightly. If they want it, they will get it....... You're better off with the fictional Trunk Monkey :~)

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@JoelP , the real question is WHY you want a kill switch.

Completely disconnecting the battery is convenient for working on the car's electrics. But for that you need a big honkin' switch, usually made just for the purpose, that can handle lots of amps. (Did anyone notice the Jersey apostrophe?)

If you've got an electric fuel pump, it's probably a good idea to have that on a dedicated switch no matter what, so you can turn it on before startup to fill the float bowls if the car's been down for a while. Or turn it off in the event of a major conflagration.

But if all you want is theft protection, the simplest thing is a hidden toggle switch under the dash that interrupts power to the coil. Even if you don't use a relay, current load in this circuit is pretty low, so a moderately-rated switch (say, one amp) will suffice. This is the 'kill switch' the old VS used to install if asked and, not surprisingly, it's the most economical of all solutions. Power to the coil comes from the ignition switch, so installing this kill switch nearby is pretty simple.

This can also be helpful starting a cold engine that hasn't been fired in a few weeks in cold weather. You can crank the engine for a little bit without it firing to get some oil circulating after it's all mostly drained into the sump.

This begs the question of whether any anti-theft measures are prudent on our cars, since, as suggested above, the pros want the real deal and the little guys want parts they can chop and fence. Also, it's way harder to blend into traffic in one of these than in, say, an Accord or a Beemer.

And the demographics of today's car thieves being what they are, a kill switch is probably less of a deterrent than a clutch pedal.

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@Michael Pickett posted:

That's why our PCCA and clown car stickers are such good theft protection 😄

Removed the one from the back and put one here today.

Anyone ever consider a "boot"?   

@dlearl476

I see you bring "Killah" with you for car anti-theft security......    

@Nolan posted:

Anyone ever consider a "boot"?   

Here's your boot! LOL!

@dlearl476 I gotta get me one of those.

Easiest is to kill the fuel pump relay power with a hidden kill switch, or better yet 2 hidden kill switches in different locations.  Main battery kill works well too, but best for aircooled and not watercooled (with stock ECU anyway).  In the end, something like a battery kill switch will keep the honest crooks out of it, the joy riders, or whathaveyou...  a real crook or someone with knowledge of what they are doing can bypass a battery kill in about 10s.

One thing that tends to be overlooked is a locking engine deck lid. One situation I know of,  a set of Dells that were stolen off a speedster while it was parked overnight on a transporter's trailer. A locking deck lid would help in keeping prying eyes and fingers out of the engine bay . One can hot wire a speedster with a jumper from the b+ alt to coil +,  pop the clutch in under 30 seconds.

Locking deck lid is a good point. Have you seen a setup that doesn’t disturb the styling?

@Bob: IM S6 posted:

(did anyone notice the oxford comma?)

I use one all the time...

I didn't know what it was called so I looked it up. I have always used one, it was the way I was taught.

Geez....  Bob and Mike are gonna have us reading "Eats, Shoots and Leaves", next.  

(Notice, an Oxford comma would not be appropriate there).

I'm still undecided on when to use a colon versus a semi-colon, but I'm workin' on it...

Kathy packed up my copy of E,S&L with other books we donated to the local library.  I had to race over there and beg it back, just for times like this.  

@Robert M posted:

I didn't know what it was called so I looked it up. I have always used one, it was the way I was taught.

I was taught(I think) this way as well. It seems to be what I've always done.

@Michael McKelvey posted:

(did anyone notice the oxford comma?)

I did, and I appreciate it.

@Robert M posted:

I didn't know what it was called so I looked it up. I have always used one, it was the way I was taught.

Me too. Mrs. Evans would have it no other way.

@Sacto Mitch posted:

(Did anyone notice the Jersey apostrophe?)

You had me at big honkin', Mitch... although if it was actually "Jersey", I don't think the word you would use would be "honkin'".

@Gordon Nichols posted:

I'm still undecided on when to use a colon versus a semi-colon, but I'm workin' on it...

Ah, the semicolon.

The rules for it's use are straightforward. But the thing is - nobody uses them anymore. Like NOBODY nobody. Read the WaPo, or NYT, or WSJ, or The Atlantic  (writers working in places where people can write). Nobody uses them, ever, for any reason.

I had a boss (back in the day) who beat it into me in no uncertain terms - no semicolons for any reason. I thought he was an idiot, because I knew how to use them. Then I started reading what people in the 20th century were writing.

The semicolon is dead. Long live the semicolon.

I love the semicolon and now am embarrassed about how much I have used it over the years.

I've inadvertently exposed how little I look to the great rags for influence on my writing style. I got stuck at Strunk and White.

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@Stan Galat posted:

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...Read the WaPo, or NYT, or WSJ, or The Atlantic  (writers working in places where people can write). Nobody uses them, ever, for any reason...

Well, yeah, it's not like them dudes (okay, okay, those dudes) are so in touch with how smart people speak today. It's more like their editors correct everything they type to conform to the rules in the AP Stylebook - an actual book published by the Associated Press.

I think this goes back to the days when the AP wrote a lot less of its own content, but distributed to member papers stories from other member papers. AP is technically a 'cooperative'. Papers aren't clients, they're 'members'.

So, you couldn't have a thousand editors typing on a thousand typewriters at a hundred different newspapers and expect to end up with any consistency of usage. The AP attempted to bring some order to the chaos by publishing its own book of rules that everyone would follow and that has been adopted as a sort of industry standard reference.

This way, you don't have to remember what Mrs. Gewurtztraminer taught you in the fourth grade (is it 'lie' or 'lay'?), you just look it up in the blue book.

The book covers everything, and I mean everything. I have noticed that Ed ( @edsnova ) will occasionally toss in an em dash just to prove that he knows the difference between that and an en dash and a hyphen. He probably doesn't really remember, but has a copy of that damned blue book somewhere.

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I’m a semicolon guy too. And I know when to use it as well as when to use a colon.

@Sacto Mitch I’m Al’s familiar with the AP Stylebook.  My brother used to talk about it when I’d see stuff written in the paper I thought was wrong.  

I am actually quite dashing; yes.

I get my colon checked every five years.

so if U had colon surgery do U now have a semicolon