How to keep my Battery and Engine Secure?

[Deadman70]

Hey Guys need a little Help.

I just got back from vacation and I walk out to my truck to start it up and find that someone has flipped the hood and stolen my battery (just after I replaced it and installed a new battery holder, etc). A couple of questions.

1. Is there a way to lock the hood? A part or some kind of Trick?
2. If not is there a way to secure that battery so its next to impossible to pull out.

I would rather secure the hood since I have started putting money into this to restore it. I have A 1973 K20.

I was thinking about cutting some razer blades and putting them right where you life the handle... but I would probably get sued if the guy lost his fingers.

[rcbildr]

Was the battery bolted down? Easiest thing to do is remove the battery and put it in your shop/garage. I do that on all my parked/project vehicles if I know they are going to sit for a while...have a lot of tweeker speed freaks roaming around where I live. When I was in highschool a friend of mine used 2 pieces of chain and a padlock to lock the hood on his chevelle. IIRC one piece was bolted to the hood and the lower piece was bolted somewhere on the lower part of the core support.

[Blue72slab]

There are a couple of options that I have heard of. There have been a few discussions about it over on Team Camaro. Keeping people out of the engine compartment is also one of the best ways of making it hard to steal your truck as well. The easiest method is chain the hood closed and lock it. The other method is get a universal cable that you can install that won't allow the hood latch to move when engaged and it locks inside the cab.

[xrcr]

I used coated cable and a padlock on my camaro, then I moved...

[motornut]

chain and lock not pretty but it works

[jitteryguy]

if you dont mind hood pins stick'n outa the hood you can put lock's on them, also you can get hood pins that are lock's but there more exspensive.

[muthstryker]

http://hoodpins.net/cart/index.php?m...&products_id=3

[RandyP]

I remember back in the 80's a lot of the car alarms came with a hood lock. It was basically a bracket you bolted to the underside of the hood that had an eyelet in it. When closed and the alarm was set, a rod would engage and go through the eyelet in the bracket making it impossible for the hood to raise. I seen them go as far as to install it where the rod actually went through the latch where they had drilled a hole, making it where the latch could not release while it was engaged.

[Deadman70]

Thank guys,

I think I will have to go with some type of cable or lock. I had the battery in a tray with one of those brackets I got of LMC. So it was kind of in there but nothing that you couldn't twist and get off. At least the jerk left those in there when he took it. I like the Hood pins but the hood is one of the things that is going to need to get replaced so don't want to head that route.

Removing the battery would be great however, I live in a town home so I half to move the Truck when I want to work on it. So its not some place I can store it. However, at least they can't steal the whole truck.

I had another car that I had parked in the same spot and some guy busted the window and stole my cell phone. I actually called the guy and he answered. I told him there was a gps chip in the phone and that cops where coming to get him,lol. Of course they where not, but I did feel better.

Thank guys, Have a great Christmas.

Deadman

[john_p]

a simple blinking led on the dash next to a web cam may help.. wire a switch that pulls a locking relay and just holds the horn down.. might scare someone off.. sorry for your lose, guess i am lucky living in the country..

[INSIDIOUS '86]

surprised anybody these days can find the hood latch up front these days...

[Goldfinger]

hook a solar electric fence to it?

[BigBlocksRule]

Bicycle lock, coated cable is the best. If they can't lift the hood, they can't steal your battery.
I've had 'em steal carburetors, starters and radiators. I now have everything locked up in a chain link fence with barbed wire around the top.
FYI, if you have an Interstate Batteries distributor close, buy "BLEM" batteries from them. They're about $40, I've got 'em in everything I own and have never had an issue with 'em.

[njlimbaugh]

It's possible to build a locking pin that's pulled with a regular choke cable to open the hood. Electric locks are OK, but if your battery goes down, how the heck do you open the thing?

[Sillyoldman]

I dug this up for you. Hope it helps http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=407682

[Dunenutt]

I used one of these on my 69. It's a little pain to get it set up, but works like a charm.

Amazon.com: Megatronix - HL6 - 6 Foot Mechanical...

[Dunenutt]

OOPS, link bad. You can buy them at Amazon.

http://www.megatronixusa.com/product...tems/hl/hl.htm

[Deadman70]

Hey A lot of good Ideas, One thing that didn't seem to come up was are there any good aftermarket alarms that are not to hard to put on that would protect the truck in General. Looking for Recommendations?

[space wrangler]

maybe one of these to keep the battery secure. ..you can lock down the top.

http://www.artecindustries.com/Batte...nts_c_134.html

[tucsonjwt]

On my old beater 73 I cut a hole in the hood support on the front edge and ran a coated chain through it with a padlock bolted through the bumper bracket - very crude but the hood had the typical "Chevy hood crunch" of that era and the chain helped keep the hood down. I like the padlocks through a bracket installed in the latch area in the other thread noted above. I would prefer the factory inside the cab cable and hood latch lock if you can make it work.