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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Easy fit anti theft?


The Sprite has become my everyday driver and now lives in the street, hoping someone can suggest a cheap and simple anti-theft device.

I'm pulling the rotor arm off at the moment each night, but hoping for something less awkward, I know I'll end dropping the rotor arm down the drain or something equally stupid!

Andy
a borris

a couple of hidden isolation switches, one in the live to the fuel pump, this can be anywhere from behind the dash, under the seat, in the boot etc. And another in the LT ignition circuit... if they spot the ignition one (or hotwire it) , it will start and run on what's in the carb then die just as they try to drive off. They'll usually abandon it in a rush at that point...
David Smith(davidDOTsmithATstonesDOTcom

Metro(brand)steering lock. A highly visible deterent - police recommended.
Alan Anstead

A fuel pump switch is a very good one to do as David says. Especially if the switch is in the circuit near to the pump. Thus to hot wire the pump would require someone crawling underneath the car in the middle of the night, not me thank you!
Bob (robert) Midget Turbo

I woundnt go the fuel pump switch...yeah its easy, and will work just fine....But Id be more creative, and install some kind of razor knife and spike system that would come up thur the driver seat bottom....or maybe several 12 gauge shot gun shells aimed right at the family jewels (think of how much better the world will be if scum cant breed) just put it in a locking system so you have 30 seconds to turn it off after the engine starts...

IMHO...Its not just enough to prevent scum from stealing cars...you got to make them want to avoid stealing cars.

prop
Prop

Ah Prop - glad to see you have joined the Democrats over there and are now refraining from death at every opportunity.LOL
Dave
Dave Price

Prop - false alarms would be a real bitch.
Rick Bastedo

The fuel pump is good. You'd get a few hundred yards and appear to run out of petrol. The wiring runs along by the drivers (RHD) seat and you could try a rocker switch in the sill behind the trim.

Alternatively a hidden switch on the LT side as suggested. If you have the appropriate wiring (white/black to the tach) you can simply ground that. Engine turns but never fires.

My fear these days is not so much theft but petty vandalism :-(
Dean Smith ('73 RWA)

Hey dean,

I agree with you hole hearted-ly....if not vandalisim then Car-Jacking.....we have had several of those in my small town in the last several years....but are really prevalant in St. Louis, mo. where gyrf lives......

I have been thinking for a while about making a switch in the fuel pump wire that has to be (pushed -in) and held until the car starts....If the car is shut off, you would have to re-push the switch inoredr to run the fuel pump.....that way in a car jacking all you have to do is turn the car off and as your getting out of the car, tell the SCUM, its almost out of gas, and he will need to get some with in the next 20 miles or so.......after the Scum takes the car call the cops and walk the 1/4 mile or so and get your car....

The problem is I dont have enough electronics know-how to actually make the switch, but appeartly its do-able as several people have told me how to make one...but I have no idea what they where saying.

prop
Prop

false alarms would be a problem...lol.

this is an area that really gets my dandruff up, people that steal or worse vandalise other peoples property, I just have no compassion, or empathy for....I say they get what ever happens to them, worse the better


off with there hands....
prop
Prop

Prop, Why not just get a huge bag of dog "stuff". Put it in the floorwells and that would keep anyone from sitting in the car for very long. Cheap, super easy to find. :-)
Clive Reddin 76 Midget

Andy,

Sshh - don't tell anyone.
You know that seperate instrument light switch that Spridgets had from the Mk 2 Sprite onwards? I've wired my fuel pump through that, and permanently wired the instument lamps to the sidelights circuit.

It just looks like all of the other anonymous switches on the dash - and only by pure fluke would a naughty robber discover it.

It's a good game to see how well you can anticipate how long the fuel in the float chamber(s) will last by flicking off before you reach your destination.

Also gives you the opportunity to say out loud "ignition, pump, contact!" in a Battle Of Britain scrambling Spitfire pilot manner.
Steve Clark

if you are driving a later midget then the wire that comes in for the tacho can be grounded (black and white wire - don't do this if the wire is primary white). This will just hold closed the points and from the engine bay side the car is totally standard.

Coupled with a choke cable this should be enough to convince any would be theif that they don't know how to start cars with manual chokes
Will Munns

Then of course, once you have fitted said kill switch how long will it be before you forget to activate it yourself and then wonder why the car won't start/dies? We have fuel pump switches on all our Midgets and the B, and forgetting to turn it back on is a frequent ritual, so much so that we now have an instinctive reflex action to flick it back on. If we fined ourselves each time, it would be a great Christmas party fund raiser!!
Paul Walbran

I have some alarms and immobilisers to get rid of!! I will be taking them to gaydon

Mick - nearly ready to paint

I fitted a toadkey immobiliser to mine (wiring available via the net), does fuel pump and coil. No need to drill holes, uses an ariel wire and a fob which you flash in front of the ariel, which can be placed anywhere. and means cannot be bypassed and is Thatcham approved.
Brian

a previous owner made a nice fuel pump inhibitor in my midget

It's a big jack plug (al guitar players will know) that makes the contact for the pump
So no switches that can be found etc
All that you see is a hole in the dash above the ignition switch.
And what thief carry's a jack plug around?
o Könemann

Hey Steve,
My 1960 Mark I Sprite has a switch for the dash lights, too. Someone had to point it out to me as it is a small slide switch in the lower lip of the dash. Shows in the wiring diagram, so it isn't the work of a DPO. In an LHD Bugeye, it is near the left ennd of the dash, so no telling where it would be in an RHD Frogeye. I don't think I would be comfortable running the amperage of a fuel pump through it, however, although it would be adequate for grounding the tach signal which a Mark I should not have ;-)
David "Bugeye with electronic tach" Lieb
David Lieb

I fitted a battery cut off with removeable red key behind the dash,its positioned just to the side of the choke cable and is invisible. The key is chunky enough to insert by feel, with the bonnet up you would need to look pretty hard to notice the battery earth isnt quite normal.I replaced the 10mm wide dash to bulkhead stay with a much wider one that will take the unit.Pass the battery cable through the bulkhead to the switch and back again to the earth point.
cost was about a tenner(UK) for switch and cable, though make sure to get a spare key!
Mike
mike

My suggestion is to mount a floor mounted type dip switch as ysed on the MGA up on the toe board just where you can barely reach it with your toe and run the ingnition lead or fuel pump power through it. A quick tap of the toe and the car won't run or at least not for long and no parts to remove or forget. Most young lads will have never seen a floor mounted dip switch and won't be looking for one or know what it was if they saw it.
Bill Young

I've got the same battery cut off as Mike and think its brilliant. As well as being anti theft it stops you accidently leaving lights on and running down the battery.
I also use a auto lok so there is a visible deterent, its gear stick to hand brake so a lot smaller than the steering wheel locks when your driving and need to store it behind the seats.
Do all midgets use the same ignition key? discovered today by accident that mine 2 do.
L Drew

Fit a concealed battery isolation switch, nothing works if its not switched on, good to keep the battery fresh too.
B Richards

One way to stop most thieves cold, is to convert your hand brake to a fly off type (ie. pull up on the hand brake without pushing the button to release) as used on the MGAs and earlier MGs. It is something that none of them will think of and they will finally give up (particularly when the engine dies due to the fuel pump switch while they are trying to release the hand brake. Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Forgot to mention the other advantage about the removeable battery isolator is you can very easily disconnect/re-connect the battery if you need to work on the car. I did have a gizmo called "dis-car -nect" (gedit?) which did the same thing but sat on the battery teminal. worked fine but you have to lift the bonnet every time which is a pain and a bit of a give away.My problem with the fuel pump route is OK, the thieving gits only get 100 yards down the road, but its 100 yards too far for me.
mike

Mike,

I actually like the idea of thieves being able to go a hundred yards. This happened to me when I parked my car, using a pump cut out, in a quiet dark street with few people walking past. If the car did not start (with an ignition or battery anti-theft device) they would have time for a quick look and bypass it. With the fuel cut out they drive out of the park into the traffic lane and then the car stops. All the other cars start blowing their horns and within minutes the police arrive.

Mick
Mick Anderson

>>>and within minutes the police arrive.
=== not in the UK they don't :-(
David Smith(davidDOTsmithATstonesDOTcom

They don't arrive to help you, but to give you a ticket for blocking a traffic lane, but the the result is the same, the thieves take off as fast as their legs can carry them.

Mick
Mick Anderson


Dave was right Mick.

In the UK if you're lucky a traffic warden may arrive and put a ticket on it. Then about two days later a community support officer will arrive (following numerous complaints from locals) and make a report about a car blocking the road. A week later the council will tow it away and send the registered keeper a fine.

In this time the car will have been stripped, torched and hit several times by the w*nker drivers passing.

Prop had the right idea. Although half a dozen venomous snakes in the cockpit might be more stealthy and less of a mess. At least they could jump out to die in the gutter.

Sorry all, having a bad day...
Bob T

And if they are caught they get a free car maintenence course or similar, what a deterent! I say make em suffer, some really miserable, demeaning, thankless,soul destroying, knuckle grazing task, like assembling midget doors or changing a midget starter through the "access" hole in the drivers footwell, hangings too good for em!!
mike

BOB T...congrats

You have been american-ized...in the south they will love the way you think....venomas snakes...thats a great one.

Althogh I like the logic that "mike,italy" suggest BUT with an added suggestion.... after they make the finally completions, they must drop throu, present there small worm to top radiator support, and DROP hood(bonnett) from full heitgh position, as final peneance...lol.

prop
Prop


Thanks guys, some good ideas and some I might use!


Andy
a borris

I just have a battery cut off switch wired to the battery, you remove the huge orange key and its almost impossible to hot wire because you would have to fabricate a new wire from the battery to the solenoid because the ones to the kill switch are to short. I also put a photo of my and my HKG3 and sprinkle a few spent rounds of 7.62mm NATO around the car.

I need to post a video of my and the G3 on youtube, all I have the the AK and the Mosin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXXJ3zZ1ZWs

Stefan
Stefan

Just to get this right, when I get to Gaydon, I will need a red key from a battery isolator, and a couple of ignition keys, just one question, where will I park my transporter, and can some of you guys give me a lift getting all the aforementioned cars onto it before I head to the coast??

Only joking, but if I can read this, so can a theiving scumbag

Cheers
Neil
Neil Williams


I think that if someone is to go to the lengths of researching Midgets then you have pretty much lost the car. These methods are only really going to stop oppertunists
Will Munns

I had a switch in the LT circuit and one for the fuel pump. If you can park outside your house I suggest dry door hinges. The noise they make at night would wake the dead.

My Diesel Landie has a solonoid in the fuel line. I can go about a mile and a half before it splutters. One day I will investigate what this device is and replicate it for the Sprite.
Clive Berry

if I used a fuel pump shut off with the HIF the damned thing would prolly be alf way to John ' O ' Groats before it emptied its rather large float chamber

better to disable the LT side of the ignition but make sure you do not use a cheapo switch, or you WILL be let down whilst driving

How do I know? 28 years as an AA patrol teaches you what burns out at what inappropriate time.

And yes I once owned that tee Shirt!
Bill

I doubt if any self respecting car thief would even consider stealing a Sprite-Midget, or any old British sports car for that matter. The cars themselves are the perfect anti-theft device. They might be a target for vandals, but few thieves would find it worth while to steal one. Kind of like stealing a horse&buggy.
Berry Price
BTP Price

I bought a wheel clamp years ago, although I'm afraid I can't remember where from and usually carry this about. Only takes a couple of secs to fit and it more of a deterrent than an electrical cutout.

Mark
Mark

This thread was discussed between 10/05/2008 and 23/05/2008

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