Remove your rotor arm!
Discussion
I've posted this in the stolen Jeep thread but felt that if it could help other classic/old car owners then I'd create it's own thread:
For anyone parking a classic/old car anywhere or displaying it somewhere, a tip My Grandad always gave Me was, when you park it, if it has a distributor cap and it is easy to remove, lift it off and take the rotor arm out!
You can easily carry it in your pocket and the chances of a thief carrying a rotor arm that fits the vehicle is highly unlikely.
If this advice only helps save one classic owner from losing their pride and joy then My dearly departed Grandad will be happy that I made good use of his advice!
For anyone parking a classic/old car anywhere or displaying it somewhere, a tip My Grandad always gave Me was, when you park it, if it has a distributor cap and it is easy to remove, lift it off and take the rotor arm out!
You can easily carry it in your pocket and the chances of a thief carrying a rotor arm that fits the vehicle is highly unlikely.
If this advice only helps save one classic owner from losing their pride and joy then My dearly departed Grandad will be happy that I made good use of his advice!
MoggieMinor said:
I always used to do that with my Minis and Moggies until one night I lost the fxxxing thing.
I'd suggest it's better to lose your rotor arm than lose your whole car to a car thief!I used to do this with both of My Fiat X1/9's and never lost the rotor arm once.
Had the owner of the 1943 Jeep in the other thread removed the rotor arm, chances are he would still have his Jeep today.
It's a free method of mobilising an old car that doesn't take that much effort and some owners new to the scene might not think of doing it.
4rephill said:
I used to do this with both of My Fiat X1/9's and never lost the rotor arm once.
When we moved house I had to leave my X1/9 for a few days in our office car park, which was in one of the less desirable areas of High Wycombe, so I removed the rotor arm.My wife questioned what I was doing, and when I told her she reminded me that the car never started anyway, and I was wasting my time. She had a point.
jamesh764 said:
4rephill said:
I used to do this with both of My Fiat X1/9's and never lost the rotor arm once.
When we moved house I had to leave my X1/9 for a few days in our office car park, which was in one of the less desirable areas of High Wycombe, so I removed the rotor arm.My wife questioned what I was doing, and when I told her she reminded me that the car never started anyway, and I was wasting my time. She had a point.
Either I just got lucky with the two I owned or you were just unlucky with yours.
GTRene said:
you also can make a hidden switch somewhere.
Another good tip to help protect your pride and joy from thieves.The whole point of Me starting this thread was to help other classic/old car owners from suffering the same sort of incident that the owner of the '43 Jeep has suffered.
As I have previously posted, some people might not realise how easy it is to immobilise an classic/old car, I just want to help prevent others from suffering the loss of their car, even if that only means one owner!
I used to remove the middle HT lead and hide it. Alternatively you can pull an LT lead off the coil.
Not many thieves 20 years ago knew how to diagnose those kind of faults, and these days who on earth knows what a coil looks like? I have to go back 3 cars before I get to one that had anything resembling a distributor.
Not many thieves 20 years ago knew how to diagnose those kind of faults, and these days who on earth knows what a coil looks like? I have to go back 3 cars before I get to one that had anything resembling a distributor.
I had my first mk1 Golf GTI back in the '90s when car crime was rife.
I used to take the fuel pump relay out and put a broken one in it's place.
I had to attend Teesside University and was terrified of leaving my car parked up.
It had a 16v engine conversion, so I used to remove the ECU as well as the relay!
I used to take the fuel pump relay out and put a broken one in it's place.
I had to attend Teesside University and was terrified of leaving my car parked up.
It had a 16v engine conversion, so I used to remove the ECU as well as the relay!
If on crabs with an electric pump, put a switch on the pump, car starts and moves to an inconvenient place then stops. Many years ago I left my mg in a car park in London, came back to find it moved, it had stopped blocking the exit ramp, attendants pushed it out of the way awaiting my return, thief run away no damage.
mph said:
My grandad used to do the same thing.
Could it be a wartime or military thing i.e. immobilising your vehicle to stop the enemy getting their hands on it ?
Motorists in WW2 were required to immobilise their cars (for the few that had petrol anyway). See https://www.flickr.com/photos/50415738@N04/5963464...Could it be a wartime or military thing i.e. immobilising your vehicle to stop the enemy getting their hands on it ?
Vanin said:
Even better is to replace the rotor arm with a crap Lucas one which has broken down inside so the spark goes straight to the distributor shaft.
The correct answer to Lucas distributors these days seems to be to find the oldest, most worn out rotor arm you can, as that might last more than 100 miles, unlike a bright shiny new one.
Red ones excluded, not had any trouble with those yet.
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