73-80 Hood Lock and Alarm Questions

[Pyrotechnic]

There's a good chance that the next truck I get with be a 73-80, and I'm well aware of two flaws:

1. Anyone can walk up to the hood, open it, and take or destroy whatever they please. Someone once took my K&N and replaced it with an oil soaked paper filter.

2. All it takes is a slim jim and the door is open. I had some stuff stolen out from behind my seat, just a nice flashlight and some tools but it could have been a lot worse. This was before I had installed my CD player and stereo and it had some junk tape deck in it.

Now keep in mind, my previous truck was not much to look at and just had a stock engine. This new truck will have a high performance 350 and a fairly nice coat of paint, so I would like to invest in protecting it.

What are my options for locking the hood, or making sure that it can only be opened with a pull cable from the inside? Will the pull cable setup from an 80's truck provide good security? I just need to make sure there's no way to just walk up to the truck and open the hood.

Are any of you guys running alarm setups? I'd like it to go off if the doors are opened or if the hood is opened, and probably the sliding rear window as well. I'd also like some way to have power to the ignition cut off when the alarm is armed. Looking for recommended alarm setups.

[Jonboy]

You could get an inside hood release in '79 and '80 (maybe 78 also). You have to replace the top of the radiator support (it just bolts on) and the hood striker, and install a hood release cable. They are usually found on the Silverado/Sierra Grande trucks.

I usually see the vent glass broken as the easiest way to get in these trucks. I would suggest getting a good alarm, if possible.

[killthewabbit]

Originally Posted by Pyrotechnic

There's a good chance that the next truck I get with be a 73-80, and I'm well aware of two flaws:

1. Anyone can walk up to the hood, open it, and take or destroy whatever they please. Someone once took my K&N and replaced it with an oil soaked paper filter.

2. All it takes is a slim jim and the door is open. I had some stuff stolen out from behind my seat, just a nice flashlight and some tools but it could have been a lot worse. This was before I had installed my CD player and stereo and it had some junk tape deck in it.

Now keep in mind, my previous truck was not much to look at and just had a stock engine. This new truck will have a high performance 350 and a fairly nice coat of paint, so I would like to invest in protecting it.

What are my options for locking the hood, or making sure that it can only be opened with a pull cable from the inside? Will the pull cable setup from an 80's truck provide good security? I just need to make sure there's no way to just walk up to the truck and open the hood.

Are any of you guys running alarm setups? I'd like it to go off if the doors are opened or if the hood is opened, and probably the sliding rear window as well. I'd also like some way to have power to the ignition cut off when the alarm is armed. Looking for recommended alarm setups.

Wait, someone took your K&N filter and bothered to leave you another one? You got some strange thieves out where you live.

Sorry, I have no useful info on your alarm and info. I do want one for my 78, so I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

[canadianc-10]

after i had my stereo equipment removed and dash renovated for me last year i installed a viper model alarm, think i paid 120 bucks canadian for it new. unless your going to buy an alarm at say, walmart most majour brands come with all the features you want, ex keyless entry, ignition kill. if you feel the alarm doesnt have enough protiction, stick with brands made by dei, that way you can add additonal sensors, like glass breakage, motion, voice warning. i added a battery back up siren which a theive cant disable quickly without a key, and a sensor meant for convertibles, its scans the interior for movement. as for retrofiting for a hood lock, youll need a donor latch, release handle and im not sure if the center brace on the ran support is the same

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by Jonboy

You could get an inside hood release in '79 and '80 (maybe 78 also).....

77 had them too...

[pcmcobra]

if you do put in an alarm, do yourself a favor, take the dash off, and stick the alarm as high as you can get it up under the dash.
Tape up the wires to disguise it a little bit. Nothing worse than having a nice ride WITH an alarm, and having it "ganked" by some fools who just ripped out the alarm because it was zip tied too the steering column at foot level under the dash...
Seen it too many times...At least make them work for it..

[AceX]

Taken from MR2OC.com

Some information is more MR2 specific, but this should provide you with a better understanding of security.

originally posted by davidchau

Winter is here and its getting dark around 5pm here in Philadelphia, so car thieves come out earlier.

Here are some of the methods I use when installing a alarm on custom cars or my own car. I installed car alarms for 3 years during High School, have a Master MECP from Mobile Dynamics and I live in Center City Philadelphia and have seen many theft recovers, many of my customers already had alarms (installed at a local "alarm shop" and not by me) and their car was still stolen.

I thought of many ways of protecting a car under attack. Since growing up in the city, many of my friends where car thieves themselves and even they had me install their alarms. Having friends as car thieves back in high school taught me how car thieves really think and how to protect and slow them down. Any place can install your alarm, its easy to connect wires and make them chirp and blink, but I don't think its really going to protect your car under a full blown attack. In the years I did install alarms only 4 cars out of about 120 alarms I installed where stolen. Many of the cars install where still broken into, But the thieves gave up and ran away. The 4 cars that where stolen was stolen by a tow truck, person left keys in the car, forgot to turn on alarm, and one car jacking.

I am not saying your car will not be stolen but with these tips if done right will give a very good thief a VERY hard time.

1 tip: Disconnect the hood lever and hide it. When you need to open your hood just pull on the cable with your hands. Prevents a Battery attack. Wrap the cable with black tape to make it just look like another 10 gauge wire under your dash.

2 tip: Disconnect the driver side lock linkage. Your going to have
keyless entry anyways and if your battery dies or alarms acts up, just use the key on the passenger side. Prevents Slim-Jim's on driver door, and the common screwdriver under the door handle attack. Also Cuts %50 off break-ins because you only have 2 doors. Most break-ins happen on driver side door.

3 tip: When installing a Alarm NEVER use the valet switch, just wrap the valet switch around the brain.. if they found the brain they don't need the valet switch anyways. I install my alarms in Active re-arm mode, not a in passive which I hate because its such a pain in the ass when your working on your car or pumping gas.
Active re-arming means the alarm doesn't turn on itself but WILL turn back on if you dis-arm your car but DON'T open a door in 30 secs. Its for the times you accidentally hit your alarm button in your house.

4: tip: For the MR2 when installing a alarm I think the best place to put the "Brain" in a MR2 mkII turbo is above the Front air vents behind the radio, then wrap the wires in loom and run them down and thru the dash... when a car thief looks under the steering wheel to rip wires out he won't see anything but the big air vent under your kness

5: For the MR2 the hard part was placement of the siren, I run the wire on the back side of the fender after removing the weather guard in the fenderwell and then placed the siren behind the front bumper (where "The Beast" has the brake ducts) Sounds like a pain in the ass to due, but Most car thives just cut the siren wire and that shuts it up. Most shops just puts the siren in plain view under the hood or engine lid. "Where is your siren??" They just open the door, pull the hood and rip the siren out, 10 secs tops.

6: Dis-connect the truck lock linkage, I have power truck release so I just use that. Prevents truck break-ins. I have 94+ lights so I shaved both my revs lights and lock for a smoove look and saved over $120 on the lock and rev lights. I just use $20 side marker lights under my veilside bumper for rev lights.

7: A lot of times thives use this method of break-ins called Pop-in the glass out, done on the driver side mostly. Its when they stick a screw driver on top of your glass and just pry your glass out far enough to stick their hand or slim-jim in your car and hit the power lock button or lock lever over. The Glass on your car is very strong and will not break, its very easy to do on a T-Top and MR2's because we don't have a frame on top of the glass on the door. To Prevent this disconnect the lock lever on the driver side handle and wire a Relay with the starter output to shut off the power door lock switch when the alarm is armed. Test the wire that is the neg pulse given out at the switch, this is a pain in the ass to due, but this break in method is VERY common. Anyone who has locked themselves out and used a hanger to open the door knows how much the glass can flex out of the door, and most people are scared of pulling on the glass as much because its their car... car thives don't care if the glass breaks.

8: Don't EVER use those stupid Blue LED Scanners... I think the red ones are fine, but for some reason the color blue atracts thives.

9: Get a Mircowave (area motion sensor) sensor, its worth the money

10: I use the Millenium FX pager from Crimestopper... $80-90 bucks range is great on this thing and it looks like a normal small pager. Best 80$ bucks i spent on the alarm

11: Install Glass Break Sensors... its a small mic that listens for the sound of broken glass... cost about 20-30 bucks.... alot of times car thives use "moon rock" to break your window ( all it is the white part of a spark plug broken into little rocks ) Anyone how have seen this thing work, knows what I mean. The glass just breaks without ANY Noise the glass even stays in place until he moves it. Or sometimes they use a metal punch and press hard onto the glass, since the glass is tempered the glass doesn't break but it cracks all up into little blocks. No noise can me heard and your standard Shock Sensor WILL NOT pick it up.

12: Make sure you have the hood pin switch and Engine lid switch installed, most shops just ignores them. Don't forget your truck pin switch.

13: Hide ALL Wires with Black Tape!! If you stick your head under your steering wheel and you see your alarm or any of its wires your should re-do your alarm.

14: Get a back-up battery installed $30 bucks max, or use a cheap 12 volt camcorder lead battery from radio shack $10 bucks if its on sale.

15: Dis-Connect your engine lid lever if you want to prevent engine parts being stolen. Just pull on the bike cable yourself if you want to open your lid.

Well I know I have more Ideas but this is about it.... These Tips will Only Help your car from being stolen but you know what they say.....

"If a theif really wants your car, they will get it" you just don't have to make it easy for him

Be smart about where you park, these tips are some questions you can ask your alarm installer to do when getting it done at a local shop.