In these days of asset forfeiture, where any law enforcement agency can seize your property on the thinnest of justifications, I’ve decided I don’t want my stuff auctioned off to make money for the county. I’d like to rig my vehicles to self-destruct on command, but I’m having a little trouble deciding on a trigger mechanism. I thought I’d run a couple of wires from the battery into the gas tank, connected to a switch along the way, but I’d really hate to have that switch accidentally get pushed. Then I thought about using a remote like people use to lock and unlock their cars to activate the switch. That way I could be way far away and blow up the car, but I’d sure hate to accidentally sit on the remote…
Yes, I know actually performing these modifications is probably illegal, and no, I don’t think I’ll actually do it. Just a theoretical exercise at this point.
what you need is a form of “dead man” switch, which only activates if you fail to perform some action. you want to be able to reset the time function (overnight vs. two week vacation). an example: an employeee at a “new economy” outfit suspected a purge; company conducted a fire drill to get everyone out without suspicion; however, when his name failed to appear on the payroll, all records were deleted - nobody got paid for weeks. (possibly apocryphal - check urban legends)
So you want a bomb in your car that you’ll carry every day in the expectation you’ll need to ignite it on a moments notice? The easiest and safest system is probably to carry a stick of dynamite in the glove box. Trigger mechanism: the lighter you keep next to it. Added bonus: portability, as I suspect if you have no problem scorching your own earth, at some point you’ll probably have need to scorch somebody else’s.
BTW, your phrase “the thinnest of justifications” is probably equally applicable to your rational for this modification.
FTR: Booby traps are illegal, whether in your home or in your car.
I can think of several effective trigger mechanisms, but I won’t post them here. The mods will probably lock this thread anyway.
There was a related discussion recently in The Register. MI5 has been embarrassed by a rash of thefts of laptop computers carrying classified data. They were considering boobytrapping the laptops with a small explosive charge that would destroy the machine’s hard disk, which they considered the only sure way to destroy the data. The proposal was that if someone did not enter the correct password after a certain number of times, the machine would self-destruct. But the proposal was nixed by their tech support people who pointed out that their #1 most common tech support call was from people who could not remember their passwords. They concluded that the boobytrap was overwhelmingly more likely to cause grief for legitimate users rather than thieves.
So no matter what you do to boobytrap your car, you’re just going to end up blowing yourself up.
I have though of a self distruct mech. (SDM for now on) for my old car. What I came up with was to use what was there. Basically cut the return fuel line from the carb. and start the engine. Gas would be supplied to the car to run and pour over the engine at the same time.
Never got to try it out as the timing belt broke and the engine never started again 
Four Words: Future Darwin Awards Contestant.
Screw that. Winner.
Good luck.
Where’s an MI-6 armorer when you need him? Maybe I’ll just shoot it with a .50 cal Barrett from way far away…
While I’m normally an avid proponent of big-ass explosions, it seems to me that simply rendering the car permanently inoperable is almost as good as completely destroying it, albeit less fun.
So why not carry a long-necked funnel and a couple pounds of sugar in your car? If you’re looking for a more versatile, remote solution, I’m sure you could modify your gas tank with a remotely operated sugar dump.
Another option might be to install a car alarm with the remote startup feature. Combined with a remote oil-pan drainer, you could theoretically destroy the motor while it was riding on the back of a tow-truck. An oil pan drainer might consist of something as simple as a zip-gun aimed at the pan or as complicated as an explosive bolt rigged to fit the drain.
Sugar in a gas tank is an old Wives Tale/UL. It doesn’t do anything special in itself… other than maybe glog up your strainer/filter assembly eventually. You would have just as good of luck using sand or dirt.
Well, if you do decide to booby-trap the vehicle and someone dies from it, be sure to let us know how you far ein your murder trial, okay?
Oh really? Can you point us to a source with the information that leads to your conclusions? Here is one you might like: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msugargs.html
Personal experience. I have done it.
Sugar in itself doesn’t do anything magically bad/destructive to your fuel delivery system. The symptoms that were given would be the same that would happen if you dumped a load of dirt into your gas tank… other than maybe being a bit sticky. If memory serves it doesn’t dissolve in gas worth a crap… I don’t necessarily buy that “sticky” mess either, since I have actually tried it. Either way, enough fine dirt/sugar you strip down the system and clean it out.
If you don’t believe me, give it a try! I think you will be most impressed with the results. Fine dirt will disable a vehicle quite effectively.