worried about theft

[93hatchDX]

Should I be concerned about theft?

i have a 93civic hatchback DX auto Stock.
faded paint and bone stock interior.
I don't have any security system, kill switch, removeable steering wheel etc.

I feel worried about being able to drive this car to the movies and then coming out to a empty parking space.

I hear this car is high on the list of stolen vehicles....Thoughts?

[SVOboy]

No one is going to steal a stock auto civic unless they're stupid, seeing as how it's worthless for parts,

[93hatchDX]

haha...thats funny. And great news to me. I intend to keep it bone stock with perhaps a VX drivetrain swap in the future.

thanks for the help...I gather that people steal them for the high performance parts then.

[SVOboy]

Yeah, that's the truth. I became slightly worried with my vx swap since I now have a vtex valvecover, but I leave it unlocked and whatnot so possible thieves and pop the hood and see that it's really not worth the effort, *shrug* Used to worry a lot but not really anymore.

[ttoyoda]

I hear this car is high on the list of stolen vehicles....Thoughts?

Smear some bondo on the bottom of the doors. Leave this bondo unpainted. Spray grey primer and red primer (alternate) from a can around the rear wheel wells. Maybe a few additional spots here and there.
A blob of bondo on the hood, and one on the hatch lid. That takes care of all the panels someone could sell as parts.
People used to do this (the paint) with their thousand dollar bikes in boston. The bike would look like krep, till you got close enough to realize the crankset was campy...

[Gone4]

Originally Posted by ttoyoda

Smear some bondo on the bottom of the doors. Leave this bondo unpainted. Spray grey primer and red primer (alternate) from a can around the rear wheel wells. Maybe a few additional spots here and there.
A blob of bondo on the hood, and one on the hatch lid. That takes care of all the panels someone could sell as parts.
People used to do this (the paint) with their thousand dollar bikes in boston. The bike would look like krep, till you got close enough to realize the crankset was campy...

We still make our bikes look like crap and some even make games out of it
One popular mod is to add a rust affect to some fenders or use real rusted fenders, then the bike can still look decent. Of course, those with fixies need to worry even less.

More possessions, more worries.

[93hatchDX]

hahah...i actually thought about that...painting the fenders to look like it is rusty even though its not...funny.
Part of me would like to get a descent paint job so I can admire the car and the other part of me thinks its more practical to keep it looking distressed even though its in perfect working order. I'm more interested in keeping the body rust free and light than blinged, and showey.

The peace of mind in knowing that people will overlook your car is priceless.

What do you guys think about replacing body panels on your cars with fiberglass versions? I priced out fiberglass 1. front fenders 2. hood. 3 truck lid 4. doors and it came to about 1300.00 for do the swap. A full carbon fiber version would be around 2400.00 but carbon fiber would be too showey.

1 benefit of it is ofcourse less weight and 2nd is fiberglass doesn't rust.
I'm not sure how much weight I would save in steel vs. fiberglass.

Thoughts?

[Gone4]

How long would it take to recuperate $1300 in gas savings from those few lbs? I'm willing to bet you won't in the life of the car unless you drive a lot, it is city driving, and you don't practice good driving technique. Weight savings don't add up all that quickly unless you are in stop and go scenarios. This is of course all moot if you need new panels.

[93hatchDX]

I'm not worried about the 1300 so much, I was planning on getting a second part time job and using that money to swap out fiberglass piece by piece. I'm in no hurry. It could take 9 months to change over.

But what I have been looking for is actually lighter rims then my stock 13 inch steel rims...http://wheelweights.net/
This site has a nice chart to quickly find lightest weight rims for your vehicle.
I read that every pound of weight you remove from the tire equals 2 pounds anywhere else in the car.

I would love to see at least 300,000 miles on this car. As far as I know replacing the timing belt, changing out the head gasket and regular maintenance is all I need to get there.

[ttoyoda]

We still make our bikes look like crap and some even make games out of it
One popular mod is to add a rust affect to some fenders or use real rusted fenders, then the bike can still look decent. Of course, those with fixies need to worry even less.

Good to hear. I once saw a 1960s vw bus that had been camoflaged, The owners had created fake bird droppings out out acrylic? artists paint. The simulated rust had been painstakingly created out of grains of sand. A real work of art.
Of course the inside of it was immaculate, and when the engine was apart for rebuild they had each piece of it painted a different color..(only the outside parts )