Ignition Lockout

[Moreyel]

Now that I've got my 72 Blazer back on the road, I'm nervous about taking it into the city (and other places) and parking it without being able to keep an eye on it.

Has anyone seen, or invented, a good ignition or battery lock out or some similar way to keep a thief from easily starting it?

[BADAZ chevy guy]

You can wire a relay into the coil feed wire so there's no power to the coil.
What I did on my old CJ5 was got a Ford (Spit spit spit, Excuse me) starter solenoid and mounted it under the battery box. (Out of sight) Cut the positive battery cable and ran it through the solenoid to the starter. Unless the switch inside was ON, there was no power to the starter.

[BADAZ chevy guy]

OR have a small computer where you need to enter "there, their and they're" CORRECTLY in a sentence.
No one could EVER get it started!!!

[Moreyel]

The solenoid idea sounds great. Especially since I was thinking of running a wire from the outside terminal on the starter solenoid to a switch under the seat. Your idea sounds much simpler and time consuming for a potential thief to figure out. What other wire to you hook to that solenoid to to control the switch inside?

And, are you serious about the computer? If so, how do you mean?

[BADAZ chevy guy]

Originally Posted by Moreyel

The solenoid idea sounds great. Especially since I was thinking of running a wire from the outside terminal on the starter solenoid to a switch under the seat. Your idea sounds much simpler and time consuming for a potential thief to figure out. What other wire to you hook to that solenoid to to control the switch inside?

And, are you serious about the computer? If so, how do you mean?

Ford starter solenoids have two large and two small wiring lugs.
Run a cable from your battery to one heavy lug, then from the other heavy lug to your starter. (Red wires on diagram)
Run power from fuse box to your switch of choice (spst Toggle works best) then from that switch to the "S" terminal on the solenoid. (Green wire on diagram)
Solenoid is self grounding if mounted correctly.
Disregard the Black "Alt" wire on the diagram.

Just joking about the computer. Although, if people today had to use the English language correctly to start a car, they'd be walking a lot. lol

[pound41]

I just cut the wire going to the coil brought it into a toggle under the seat and ran it back out. used some of the shrink wrap on the wires really hard to tell what it is

[BADAZ chevy guy]

Originally Posted by pound41

I just cut the wire going to the coil brought it into a toggle under the seat and ran it back out. used some of the shrink wrap on the wires really hard to tell what it is

That will work also.
The reason I went with battery cable cut is so someone can't just run a jumper wire battery to coil. OLD School!
And if you mount the solenoid under the battery box, no one can tell that the cable was cut.

[Moreyel]

Badaz, I don't mean to sound stupid. What's the spst toggle? Is that a toggle switch I have to hide?

I did put an electronic distributor in.

[BADAZ chevy guy]

Sorry. spst = single pole, single throw. Basically it's just an on-off toggle switch.
Now that you have the electronic dist, pound41's idea of just cutting the power wire to that and running a switch would be an easier solution.
Just curious, what did you use for a power source to the elec dist? The power that went to the coil originally wont give you the 12+ volts you need to power an Elec dist. That original wire was a resistor wire to drop voltage.

[Moreyel]

Before I got it, for some reason someone had removed the resistor wire (still using the original points dist.) and there is a 12 ga in it's place. I just used it and with about 50 miles on the new motor, seems to be running fine.

I really like your idea with the Ford solenoid, but I think Pounds idea of the hidden switch from the coil wire may be the ticket.

[BADAZ chevy guy]

Cool. Either way is good at this point.
Have you checked the voltage at the dist?

[Moreyel]

I will tonight and let u no. It should be a full 12 volts. Correct?

[DeadheadNM]

You can use a Bosch relay to creatively wire power such that the K5 won't start unless the cigarette lighter is plugged in, brake pedal depressed, radio turned on, etc. These are easy to do and diagrams are found here: http://www.the12volt.com/relays/page2.asp

Years ago I wired the coil power to a keyed switch I installed in the clutch plug plate on the firewall (it was an automatic K5). Not only was the kill keyed it was hidden by virtue of its location but easily accessed.

[Moreyel]

Pete, the 12 volt .com you linked is great.

What did you mean by clutch plug plate and it being hidden? That would mean a second key switch or maybe it's hidden enough for a toggle or something?

OK, I'm not the smartest, but I can hold my own. On those starter interrupt diagrams, it shows some with 2 and then 4 of what I believe are the key switch. The ones with the #'s 85, 86, 87, 87A, etc. What am I missing where it shows multiple ones wired together? I'm sure I'm not adding another. So what am I not reading right

[DeadheadNM]

Originally Posted by Moreyel

Pete, the 12 volt .com you linked is great.

What did you mean by clutch plug plate and it being hidden? That would mean a second key switch or maybe it's hidden enough for a toggle or something?

Good deal hope it helps. Automatic K5s in at least 71-72 have a metal plate that covers the firewall hole for the clutch. I took this plate, drilled it out, and through it added a keyed switch wired in line with the power to the coil. To deactivate power to the coil so the truck couldn't be started I just reached under the gas pedal, pulled back the carpet a little to expose the keyed switch on the clutch hole plate then turned the power off using the key. After that, I placed the carpet back so the switch wasn't visible.

[Moreyel]

OK. As you explained it, I saw it! Great idea. I'll look at it this weekend. If it's hidden by carpet, I may decide to put a push button switch there that I can foot operate! It's so simple sounding that the most important part, in my mind, would be hiding the splice in the coil wire.

yeah, the Ponderosa's done. Cocaine got the best of them. I followed their progress from the late 70's through to where the son's took it over and away it went. It's amazing how many businesses go that way after the parents worked so hard to make it successful.

Oh well. I'll find us someplace nice to have a beer.