Dang would be thieves!

I have my Maverick parked across the road from my house at my pa in law's house under his carport. I can look out any of my front house windows and see it. I guess they and I weren't home, or I could have seen the would be thieves!

Today was a nice, cool , sunny day, so I decided to get it out and drive it a bit since it hadn't been touched since early December. Weather has just been too nasty when I was off, so it sat. Anyway, I got in and hit the starter. Heard something go clang clang clang, wtf? Raised the hood, and my top stainless radiator hose was off at the manifold, hitting the fan! Apparently the thieves got scared off before they got any farther. I had the car nosed in, now I have it backed in facing the road. It will be a lot harder now to mess with it and not be seen.

Funny as how the hose was the only thing touched. Looks like they would have unbolted the battery. I guess they wanted a radiator or hose. Just glad they got scared off!

 

Copper radiator? Maybe looking to scrap it. If the scum will cut up a good AC system for a little copper I guess they'd steal a radiator.

 

These days a decent security camera setup really doesn't cost much!! or even cheaper, the blinking and rotating fake ones from harbor frieght

 

Thieves would take your entire plumbing system out of your home to buy drugs - a car radiator would be easy pickings

Good thing they quit before they caused real damage to your car

 

An excellent deterrent!

 

Dirt-bags.

I knew a guy who's girlfriend had her catalytic converter stolen off her truck last year.
Since a truck has ground clearance, it's easy to crawl under. It was parked outside of the apartment complex she lived in.

When she started it up the next morning, it was very loud.

 

not to sound like an insensitive smartass here.. well.. at least not this time since I once had a tunnel ram/twin 650 setup stolen off an old 350 Chevy powered speedboat many years ago.. but maybe get a hood lock?

As soon as I put major bucks into any motor I build.. it get's locking gas caps and hood locks right away.

At least you didn't lift the heads by driving it too far.

 

Next time I go to Pull A Part, I'm going to be looking at some inside hood releases. I've been wanting to take that head skinner off of the hood since the last time I hit my head on it, and now I've got another real good reason to do it.

The car didn't fire off before I heard the fan hitting the hose, so nothing was damaged thank goodness.

I'm thinking this was done after dark one night while we were all gone. With the car nosed in the dark space, you could raise the hood unseen. With it backed in, it will be harder to try anything on it.

It probably happened the same night around Christmas that my next door neighbor's house was broken into and all their guns were stolen. There has been a rash of break ins and burglaries in our county in the last few months. They pick out houses that they know nobody is home. I have so many vehicles in my yard that it's hard to tell when we're here and when we're not. Plus we have house dogs, and that might scare some of them off, too.

I was hoping to start building a shop this year to keep my toys and tools in, but since I had to get another truck last year, that has been put on hold for another year or two.

 

that sucks..good thing they didn't damage anything or manage to steal something..i also don't live in the best town when it comes to theft..we have a garage and yes i feel safe when it's in there but when i go to the mall or even to a movie when it's summer time i am very nervous about someone popping the hood and taking stuff or damaging something. as it's very easy to do..someone can make off with 500 dollars worth of stuff in about 3mins.
if you manage to come across a latch from inside the car that will work with the mav..please let us know as others will like to do it. no one likes theft or damage when we work so hard and invest tons of money into our cars.

 

I've had my house broken in to so many times when I lived in bad parts of town, I don't leave anything in my car except my rusty harbor freight tools that I use for junkyard hunting and emergency fixes. I don't even have a radio in the car because I don't want to worry about it. Always leave the doors unlocked too. I'm gonna put in a hood lock when I start putting money into the engine bay. But, I've already got 1 security cut-out for the engine in the cab, and 1 under the hood that I can disable when I go out of town or something.

But dang if I wouldn't be mad if my radiator got stolen. That's a big chunk of change. I may have to re-think the time table on a hood lock.

 

Look at late 80s to mid 90's econoline vans (BFVs are good for something else). The hood latch is the same bolt pattern as mustang/ maverick/ torino. They will swap exactly for 69-70 Mustangs. Since you are considering moving the latch to the core support this may be a good starting point.

 

Will the cable be long enough? I got a Falcon friend that used a hood release from a Ford pickup truck because everything else he had to choose from was too short.

 

I used a cable from a 94-96 F-150, it was the perfect length to fit my Mustang. Haven't gotten to the point of trying with the Mav.

 

Maybe " Pa in law " would enjoy having a companion with a big growl! A dog that sounds off big is a pretty good deterrent to thieves!

 

Nope, Pa In Law has a bunch of cats! He's not a "dog" person.....