Shaved handles emergency option!!?

Hey guys,

I'm thinking of shaving my door handles and trunk. THe only problem I have with this is that if my battery dies, how in the HELL will I get in without breaking my window. Does anyone know of a way to have an emergency "door-poper" button hidden so that if this does happen, I can just hit the button, or pull the lever to pop open by door. ....is this possible with the stelenoids in place??? Has anyone done this??

Any and all of your advice is VERY helpful...Thanks!!!

ICE

[94_AcCoRd_EX]

You don't want an emergency door popper... someone will find it and pop your doors. There might be some way to relocate to unit that the key goes in so you could use that in an emergency.

Otherwise, yeah, you have to break your window.

Your probably right on that.....!!

Relocating the key-unit sounds like a good idea, but also sound tricky. Being that a key lock is mechanical and not electric. Some strategic planning will go into it, but sounds like it is worth it. Thanks !!!

ICE

[Onyx]

how about placeing a connetion under your car where u could hook jumper cables to if your batt goes dead that would give u the power to pop one of your doors

Are there any backup 12V batteries that are small enough to mount easily in your car? You could put a small backup battery and have a switch somewhere that you could access it and switch to backup power to get into your car. It doesn't have to be able to provide enough cranking amps to start the car, but could just provide enough juice to get into the car.

The jumper cables options sounds like it could be good as well. I'd probably put them on a switch or find a way to guarantee there won't be a short between the terminals.

b

[Onyx]

I am sure with a little ingenuity u could find a way to cover and secure them to keep them dry and from shorting together should be pretty easy the only problem I see is finding a place to locate them if your car sits real low

Hey guys...

You are coming up with some great ideas. I am really liking the idea of placing a second set of terminals so that I can jump my car.

But like you said, finding an actual spot to do place them??? Do you think I could find a place up behind my front bumber maybe? I figured it wouldn't be so close to the gound, and still kinda hidden too. I would still be able to reach them with jumper cables.

Any suggestions??

ICE

[4jacks]

DUDE !!!

Just crawl through your Trunk ! Don't be lazy... you don't have to build your car into a Transformer. **Starts Singin "more than meets the Eye"**

well Anyway.. iF your not Shaving your trunk as well, you climb through your trunk. If you are shaving your trunk. Then you go tot the auto alarm place. They sell a small battery used to power your alarm incase that the thieves cut power. This will easily fit in your dash.

[Onyx]

well if people are going to start placing tramsformer logos on there cars we might as well start building some.

behind your front bumper should be find as long as you can get your arm with a set of jumper in there.

I have never had problems with lossing batt power to my alarm so I didn't know thay made them kind of batts how do u hook them up so the doors or alarm aren't always pulling from there.

I still think that if I was going to shave my doors and trunk I would want a sure fire way to get in that extra batt could always do dead

I'm not sure about all alarm systems, but some of the alarm backup batteries are actually a backup alarm with the backup battery...a pretty simple noise maker with its own battery. If the main alarm looses power while going off then the backup one will make noise. The backup battery doesn't actually power the main alarm. The reason is that if they find the alarm itself and cut the wires to it, then it will silence the alarm....but that will trigger the backup.

For the pads, you only really need to mount a positive terminal, no? Since you hook negative to the chassis, there's probably plenty of chassis mount points under your car, so you'll only really need one terminal for positive. I don't see any reason why you can't cover it in such a way that it's not a hazard.

If you ride too low, then maybe you have room in one of your wheel wells for a small terminal?

Another possibility would be to install a cable latch system to pop the hood from underneath the car. Just make sure you install a hood lock so that a theif can't just open your hood from underneath. In fact, I know that some Civic models are already rigged such that you can reach from underneath and pop the hood, and for those it is highly recommended to have a hood lock. I hear that a number of Civic owners have lost brand new batteries as a result of that design flaw.

b

[Onyx]

do u know which model civics?

Sure don't. I heard about that problem thru CarTalk. This lady always parked her Civic in the same spot at work, and one day she got out and the car just wouldn't start. Popped the hood and the battery was gone. So she got a new battery, and a week later the battery was gone again. The guys at CarTalk said that was a common problem with Civics, and people would do it just to get the new batteries and sell them....so they recommend getting a hood lock.

I heard this one probably about a year ago or so, but I didn't pick up on the model of the Civic.

b

[Onyx]

thanks I guess I need to look in to that. Want to make sure I don't have a release hanging around where I don't want one.

If you put in a hood lock then you could install a cable release that you could access from underneath the car, in which case you could jump the car normally without having to do any extra electrical work.

A hood lock usually helps with insurance, too....maybe you'll save an extra $.02?

b

i agree on the trunk. if you only shave the doors, you can still access your trunk. maybe install an alternate popper in the trunk. i'm 5'5" and it was a hell of a time getting through that damn ski rack hole when i locked my keys in the car!