"97" Corolla theft recovery Update.

[GKK]

About a month ago, I posted that my son's "97" Corolla was stolen from our home one evening. The police recovered the car the next day minus the entire front door.

I'm fortunate enough to have a friend who owns a body shop who helps me do my own body and paint repairs.

Well, after working on my son's car a few days a week for about 3 weeks, I finally finished it today! Here are some before and after pictures.

Here's how I received the car back.



All done and ready to drive home.



My son doesn't take any chances now, he uses The Club, Pedal Jack, Shift Lock and a car alarm.

[dlichterman]

JESUS CHRIST!!!!!!!

At least you got it all working and fixed. Can you explain how the pedal jack works.....I still cant understand what it does? Does it hold both together so you have to push the brake and gas at the same time?

[REN69]

That's a lot of keys! you know what you need, a big boa or anaconda in your car like in Gone in 60 Seconds... I be like..

Glad to hear you got the car back to normal again.. I wouldn't wanna take any chances either.

[GKK]

Can you explain how the pedal jack works.....I still cant understand what it does?

The Pedal Jack locks onto the brake arm to prevent the bake pedal form being pushed in so, the shift lever can't be moved out of park.

I found while installing it that this is almost a useless device since you can just grab the handle and swing the Pedal Jack to the left or right out of the way and still be able to depress the brake because it pivots around the brake arm.

Also, the corolla's can be shifted out of gear anytime without the brake pedal being depressed by just removing the little plastic cover on the console in front of the shift handle and inserting a key or stick which releases the shift handle in case the battery ever dies and you have to shift into neutral to push the vehicle.

This is why I purchased the "Woloc Shift Lock" which locks the Shift handle to the Emergency Brake handle.

[dandxg]

I definetly wouldn't F*@k with you car if I was a thief and saw all of that on there, question is will you keep it up or get tired and lazy and stop putting all of those locks on?

[GKK]

Since this is my sons first car, he doesn't want to lose it again. My son only drives the car on the weekends so, it's parked most of the time on the driveway giving the thieves the thought that this vehicle is not in use.

When my son starts to drive on a regular basis, I told him to regularly use the Club and Shift Lock.

Tonight my son printed out a sign that reads, "You Are Being VideoTaped" and put it on the inside front passenger side window. This should make the amateur thieves scared enough to move on.

[redgtxdi]

Very nice work!!!! Looks great!!!! F'n thieves (die, thives, die!!)




Oh, and if you want help gettin' the corner of that passenger airbag cover down...............I just became an expert this weekend pulling one from the junkyard.

Thumb laceration to prove it!!! LOL!!!!!!!

(Actually, hit up your bodyshop buddy to put either an epoxy or silicone under there & put some weight on that corner overnight & that sucker *should* stay put)

[fredk]

why dont you just put a switch on the efi or pump circuit or take the efi fuse rather than go through all that?

[GKK]

why dont you just put a switch on the efi or pump circuit or take the efi fuse rather than go through all that?

When the car was stolen, the thieves never started the engine because of the ignition kill on the alarm. They just pushed the car about 2 blocks away and took the door off on the curb.

I want the transmission locked in park so, the car can't roll or be pushed easily.

[fredk]

and nobody saw any of this?

[GKK]

The car was stolen sometime after midnight and before 7am, not a lot of people out at those times.

[Drifta89]

Congrats on getting the car back in shape. I remember when you first posted the story and how much work went into the car before it was stolen. I don't blame you for taking all of those precautions.

Hopefully you and your son can have some peace of mind and beable to enjoy the car you have invested your time and money in.

Great job on fixing the car up once again.

Drift

[GuJu MaN 89]

GKK, i have the same car but the CE. have u founda tachometer that is easy to install for that car? im trying to find one but i cant find one that is easy to install.

also my car has a really ROUGH idle. the whole car shakes when im stopped at a light or something. happen to u? if so or if not, do u know why?

[Bingo]

GKK: Glad you got it all back in shape. I bought a steering wheel lock because of your experience. Where did you get the shifter lock ? I looked all over for one here in Sac and could not find one. George

[GKK]

I bought the shifter lock at www.autobarn.com $29.95.