On 09/08/2013 08:56, Tim+ wrote:
Nightjar wrote:
On 09/08/2013 06:42, harryagain wrote:
"Nightjar" wrote in message
...
On 08/08/2013 18:35, harryagain wrote:
"Nightjar" wrote in message
...
On 08/08/2013 06:30, harryagain wrote:
"bert" ] wrote in message
...
In message , Bob Eager
writes
On Tue, 06 Aug 2013 17:28:27 +0100, harryagain wrote:

Reading one of SWMBO's crime novels.

The victim is murdered by cutting a car brake line.
Though it was a pre dual circuit car I reckon I would know the
instant
I
wnet to start the engine there was a fault as I always put my foot
on
the brake. Even without that, there are few circumstance wher nor
having a foot brake would kill you.
I can't think of a single way to sabotage a car to guarantee death
short
of explosives.

There's the BMW serial bus hack via the tyre pressure sensors on the
older ones.

Then tell the car to accelerate hard, and put ONE front brake on.



Back in eh 60s some apprentices at an aircraft factory designed an a
antitheft system for the wages van. Unless a hidden switch was flicked
within 3 minutes of starting up the engine would cut out and the
steering
would go hard right. Needless to say they were told to take it off.


Obvious urban myth.
How would the steering in a 1960's car be made to go hard right?

If it had rack and pinion steering, add an hydraulic cylinder from the
landing gear of one of the aircraft. For any sort of steering, fit a
large
motor to the steering column, using a worm drive to prevent anyone from
being able to resist it.

So how would the steering wheel be turned whilst the motor was
unenergised/...

The drive would be disconnected under normal conditions and engaged with a
dog clutch when required. However, bearing in mind this was something
thought up by engineering apprentices, it would probably have ended up
being something far more complex.

And I suppose the victim won't notice their car is missing for weeks whilst
all this is being done?

It was the wages van for an aircraft factory. It wouldn't have needed to
go missing for weeks, nor did they have any need to make what happened
look like an accident. I'm not saying they did it in either of the ways I
suggest, although I think the hydraulic cylinder is a good candidate. I
was simply giving a couple of straightforward answers to your question of
how to make the steering on a 1960s car go hard right. It is not
something that I would consider beyond a group of engineering apprentices
of the period with access to all the equipment in an aircraft factory.

Colin Bignell

Strikes me as implausible because as an anti-theft system it's so obviously
dangerous to third parties. A wages van slewing across the road into
incoming traffic does not seem a smart way to deter or catch thieves.

I would imagine that anyone fitting such a system could find themselves
liable for damages and injuries caused.

It strikes me as exactly the sort of thing a group of engineering
apprentices would have come up with - impractical, dangerous and
needlessly complex.

Colin Bignell