I recently realized that my key cylinder looked a little messed, which means that someone was probably trying to force their way into the car. This prompts me to want to disconnect the whole key cylinder, as I have keyless entry anyways.

But, after reading some of the guides here and on TI, I can't find a how to! Suspendedhatch mentions it in his writeups, but I can't find the details exactly.

 

Pull the door panel off the inside of the door, and you'll see how the rod attaches to the cylinder.

Or, you could do what I did and just break the **** off when I was trying to unlock it with a slim-jim because I locked my keys inside... I got it stuck inside the door, and when I pulled hard, it broke the connection on the cylinder. Lock plunger goes up & down and door still locks and unlocks with the alarm, but key doesn't work.

 

Hrmm, I just disconnected the metal rod, and it doesn't do anything--the cylinder still works. I thought this would be a mechanic unopening of the door, but I think its an electrical connection. I have no idea what that metal rod does though

 

Ok, figured it out. For anybody with 98+ integras:

There's this teeter-totter piece of plastic, connected to the key cylinder, which sends a signal to the actuator to lock/unlock the doors. One of end this teeter totter is connected to the arm which sends that signal. The other end connects to a metal rod which strangely enough, does the exact same thing, but mechanically. I'm guessing it's a backup for when your battery is dead.

In order to disconnect the key cylinder, look near the mid-bottom of the door for a 2 pin plastic connector. Disconnect that, it'll keep the signal from reaching the actuator. But, the metal rod will still actuate the door lock. Sooo, disconnect that and zip tie it somewhere.

Someone posted a guide on how to take off that metal rod, but I don't think it's possible unless every_single_rod on the actuator is disconnected. With a nine year old car, I'm not going to gamble with brittle plastic.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by erikiksaz1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">There's this teeter-totter piece of plastic, connected to the key cylinder, which sends a signal to the actuator to lock/unlock the doors.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I believe that's only used for unlocking all the doors when you hold the key in the unlock position for a second or two. Normal unlocking is done mechanically.