Most of you here (except some of the R-Speed guys) don't know me, but to make a long story short many attempts have been made on stealing my car, thank God none were very successful. My local police have been very helpful in providing me with information about local car theft rings and keeping an eye out for my car. In a routine stop tonight the officer asked if my car had an imobolizer, I told him it did but it doesn't to that much cause they can change the ECU to get around it, then an idea popped into my head. Would it be possible to weld some kind of plate over the ECU to kind of like prevent it from being accessed? Is the metal in that area even weldable? I know the car can still be towed away, but what do you guys thing about this ideas as a way to add one more layer of security to my car?

-Rob

 

Any metal is weldable, as long as its free of paint, oil, etc. Sounds like a good iea, but its gonna be a PITA if you wanna change ECUs.

 

yea im aware of the pain it will cause if i want to change ECU's but i really dont see myself doing that, aside from the stock one dying on me, but that is another story. I only have the basic bolt on with no real engine mods planned, so a diffrent ECU wouldent be necessary.

 

Not all metal is weldable, but all of the steel around the ECU is.

You'd have to do a really good job, and lock the ECU and the engine harness connectors in a box somehow. I can't see how you could really do this without melting the wiring and making a big mess. You would want the metal to be thick, because you could just cut through normal sheet metal with a dremel. ITR thieves seem to be a particularly motivated bunch.

It would really suck if you ever need to replace the ECU though. Hehe.

 

..did you say a police officer on a routine stop (pulling you over) asked you this, or they were routinely stopping by your house to checkup on your situation? Having difficulty distinguishing what you meant.

 

Why weld it?
Isn't a good idea to use rivets so whenever you need to change the ecu, you can have a less difficult access to it. Just rivet the plate around the area you need to protect.

 

Or just put a post-it on it that says "Don't mess with me"

 

Sorry i wast to clear, I told the police to feel free to pull the car over if they see it on the road to make sure its me driving it. So they did pull me over (its was like 2:30am and i was headed hom from a friends house) I live in a pretty small town so the cops have been very nice in helping me keep my car.

I like the idea of the rivets also, does anyone else have any other ideas on securing the ECU?

 

How about just moving the ECU?

Pull the dash out, undo any clips holding the wiring and then mount the ECU up under the dash (Maybe right above the Heater Core)

 

Very cool of them! Unfortunately, I was quoted by a trooper friend of mine that, "I can always tell its you... wait til a corner and the downshift --> acceleration is good we know you're coming." Jesus hates my exhaust.

 

Why not just glue or epoxy the wiring harness to the ECU?
You cauld also epoxy the ECU cover plate and bolts that hold it down.

Will be a real bitch if you ever need to change it, but ...


[Modified by zygspeed, 4:49 PM 2/2/2003]

 

i guess this is kind of relevant but maybe a stupid question. ill be using a p28 ECU with my hondata s100, will this cancel out my immobilizer? i know if they want it, theres not alot you can do, but id like to know what "security" concerns ill have when swapping ecu's for an OBD 1.
I like the sound of finding a way to move my ECU or "put it in a box" but if its not neccesary since, i dont want to go through all of the trouble.

 

If you're replacing your stock ECU, then you've removed your immobilizer as well (because that's where it's located).

 

hahahhaahaa....

lil jonny: "officer you can pull me over any time!"
officer: "can we throw you on the ground and beat you senseless too?"

lol ..all jokes aside, to the cop to aaaaR thieves