Battery kill switch

My78truck said:

connect to toggle terminal, connect another length of red wire to same terminal

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should be a different terminal. If it's to the same terminal, then your just making your wire longer. you got a pic or make and part # of the switch?

Think of it like this, you'll have an input terminal and an output terminal. If you put them on the same terminal, the switch will never open or connect your wire.

Maybe I understood him wrong. I do better with pictures instead of standing in a store feeling stupid and confused. Don't get me wrong, he was really nice. I just do not have the confidence of mucking around with something as important as starters and solinoids. I have attached a pic of the switch.

I found this video. Rather than ignition wire, he uses the solenoid wire. Also, he uses a double throw switch that not only kills the power, but also uses a horn as a alert when ignition is turned. Kind of a nice idea. I know enough about wiring to know you do not go smaller when attaching 2 wires. I bought 14G wire, and he states in the video that the solenoid is a 12G wire, which means my wire is smaller and will get hot.

See, I am a mess. I think I need a beer...........................

yup, just cut your purple wire and add wire long enough to get to the location of your switch. Hook each to its own connector on that switch.

So will the 14 G wire work? I couldn't find anything that tells me the gauge of the purple wire.

Should I use the solenoid or the ignition? I know the ignition is a purple wire. I think the solenoid is black? Have to look at wiring diagram again.

yes 14g will work.

The neutral safety switch signal is purple. If it's not in park or neutral the vehicle will not start. By putting the switch on the purple, you will now have to be in park or neutral AND the switch turned on to start.

Camar068 said:

yes 14g will work.

The neutral safety switch signal is purple. If it's not in park or neutral the vehicle will not start. By putting the switch on the purple, you will now have to be in park or neutral AND the switch turned on to start.

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Okay, Putting on the purple is for safety reasons - hence the neutral safety switch which probably isn't a good thing to mess with. So, weather permitting, I am going to suck it up and do this tomorrow. Just have to make sure I have appropriate size butt connectors that heat shrink.

Thanks for all your help and answering all my questions. Fingers crossed for success.

My78truck said:

Thanks, but will need some installation instructions. Unfortunately anyone with a coat hanger, or a slim-jim, can get into these trucks. I have an inside hood release, so wouldn't anything connected to the battery be fair game to disconnect to by pass? Of course, after saying that, that takes time and most non-professional thieves want the quick get-away. I totally understand a "kill-switch" is just a deterrent, just like locks and deadbolts on a house. If they really want it, they will get it. I forgot to state that my steering wheel is a locking one, if that helps, or matters.

What is really sad, is that WE put so much time and effort into maintaining and restoring these trucks and we have to worry about them getting stolen. I am also considering a tracker.

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Is this really an issue where you live, and to the extent that you wouldn’t trust your mechanic or whoever works on it to know where the switch is?
Regardless, doing the wiring is super simple yourself.
Don’t be intimidated by that. Crimp connector is decent and will last quite a long time especially if shrink tube over it.
They also make solder/shrink tube butt connectors (and ring/ spade connectors). Next wiring job I need to do, I’m planning on getting some.

That said, I’m considering doing something similar with the 86.
It’ll be pretty and mean when it’s done and our younger son will be driving it. And plenty of not so awesome areas where they play football. And some of the hockey rinks are in pretty chitty areas.
One of our friends older kid was at a football practice and was basically stalked and while on the field, his gear bag on the sidelines was swiped. Just his and he drives a nice 4 door Wrangler. Got his keys phone wallet etc.
while he was waiting for his parents to show up after practice , they remote started the Jeep. No one could see them. But he and a couple buddys ran over and staked out his Jeep or it would have been gone.
I’m thinking rather than an interrupt that doesn’t allow the vehicle to start, because if someone has time and or cover and is any sort of car thief they can find the typical interrupts.
But what does most car thieves do? I don’t imagine they sit around and warm up the engine. It’s start, in gear and get gone.
I’m thinking fuel interrupt. Carb will run for (however long) without the fuel pump. My truck is easy because it has an electric fuel pump ( but normally wouldn’t) but the concept is the same with a manual pump. Could use an inline electric solenoid fuel shut off valve.

Truck starts, makes it out of driveway or parking lot onto a street and dies and won’t restart.

seems like the best bet as I’m guessing car thief isn’t going to get out pop the hood and try to “fix” it.
Best case scenario. Thief abandons vehicle before they get very far with it.

Question is where does one put the switch that is convenient, not obvious for the authorized driver to operate and relatively creative?
Everyone has heard about the cig lighter kill switch.
Dummy switches on the dash? first thing I’d try.
Look under dash for switch? That seems fairly obvious too.
I’m thinking under the seat on seat frame. Easy to reach under after getting in without being obvious.
Or an old school dimmer switch on the floor. Too obvious to be considered as a kill switch. (Unless the thief really knows squares and that an 80s model don’t have a foot dimmer.)

Here are a couple other ways to use a switch.
- instead of a toggle, use a push-button momentary-on switch. It only makes a connection when you hold it down, so you would need to push the switch in and turn the key at the same time. Thieves would have more trouble figuring that out.
- Use a relay powered by the lighting circuit. When you pull out the light switch in the dash (or some other device that always has power) it would activate the relay, connect the purple wire, and the starter would work.

You can also interrupt the wire to the HEI battery terminal instead of the starter wire. The truck will crank, but never start.

One good point about using a fuel cutoff is that the truck will usually start because there is fuel in the float bowl. However, it will only make it a block or two, and then stop in the middle of the street. Most thieves will just abandon it at that point.

Grit dog said:

I’m thinking under the seat on seat frame. Easy to reach under after getting in without being obvious.
Or an old school dimmer switch on the floor. Too obvious to be considered as a kill switch. (Unless the thief really knows squares and that an 80s model don’t have a foot dimmer.)

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Hey Grit dog, I think the under the seat trick is a well known place for a switch. It is bad we have to get more crafty about hiding these switches. I would love to have something that can be removed like is rigged up in this video. y

Or there is this. Someone else suggested this to me. Is pricey, but I guess how much is peace of mind worth.

https://www.ravelco.com/index.html

So, my question is, what is the difference in tapping the solonoid wire versus the IGN wire? Isn't the end result the same - the vehicle cannot be started? Is the IGN wire easier to get to on the column? Just something rolling around in my head.

Grit dog said:

Is this really an issue where you live, and to the extent that you wouldn’t trust your mechanic or whoever works on it to know where the switch is?
Regardless, doing the wiring is super simple yourself.
Don’t be intimidated by that. Crimp connector is decent and will last quite a long time especially if shrink tube over it.
They also make solder/shrink tube butt connectors (and ring/ spade connectors). Next wiring job I need to do, I’m planning on getting some.

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Hey Grit dog, Although I live in a rural area off a main highway, we have had cars stolen in the area as well as catalytic converters sawed off feet away from the owners homes as well as a half dozen taken from my mechanics lot, including a couple of their own vehicles, and they have security cameras. As far as having my mechanic do this, I did put in a call a couple of days ago asking if he would do it. I know he doesn't like wiring which I why I had to go to Crutchfields and have one installed. I never received a call back, so I take that as a no. I do have a home "alarm" system for things that may happen here at the house. It consist of security lights and 2 Rotti's. I know that "system" works as they have alerted me to the local roaming Yogi bear.

Also, I do venture out into the not so real world for shopping and just want the added feeling of security. Hmmmmm, maybe I should just put the male in the passenger seat! Problem solved!!!!!

Depends what you're looking to do. You didn't specify in your original post whether it was to prevent battery drain or anti-theft. If its just battery drain you're looking to protect against look around for a low voltage disconnect system. It will disconnect the battery when the voltage drops below a certain level, ideally to leave you with enough juice to crank it and get it going.

I'm with ReklessWOT. Generally, I'm not for adding a bunch of electronic crap to these older trucks. I take an exception to my distributor. It is bluetooth controlled from my iPhone (androids work, too) and allows me to create my own timing tables and manually adjust my advance curve and really dial in your timing, but that's a topic for another thread. It looks completely stock, except no vacuum advance can since the timing is all electronically controlled. No external brain box to mount. I bring this up because it has an anti-theft feature that will allow you to lock out the distributor from your smart phone or tablet. If someone tries to steal your square with the dizzy locked out it will just crank, but never start because there is no spark.

I put a blinking led under the dash(very little draw). They see it , they don't know what it is and they move on to another vehicle to steal.