How does a car-bomb work?
You hear things in the news regarding people placing explosives in a car which are rigged to explode when the engine is fired up, but how do they work? I'm pretty interested in the idea of timed explosives and rigging things up in a particularly clever manner, so this would be a good thing for me to know 
Comments
That's the thing - wiring an explosive device from a spark-plug wire all the way to the fuel tank... Is that even possible? And if it is, how effective would it be?
Doesn't seem to be the most sensible thing to do though
In movies, they usually just stick it in the engine somewhere.
As for initiating the charge, it would be as simple as building a traditional electric blasting cap with a primary HE (Secondary base charge optional) and electric match, and wiring it in parallel with the vehicle's starter motor. Turn the key, and 12V DC is sent to the e-match. The nichrome wire heats up and ignites the pyrogen, in turn detonating the primary and initiating the booster and main charge. Big boom.
A proper car bomb would probably need 20kg+ of explosives to be effective.
What's the best explosive to use, and how long would this take to wire up?
Rigging the brake lights is actually another cool idea - would this work or wouldn't there be enough power there to make a good enough spark? I wish I wasn't such a retard where explosives are concerned :facepalm:
A guide could be made, but I'm not so sure I want to link my name to something that could be used by actual terrorists to kill people, even if it's written in a purely hypothetical sense.
The best explosive would be whatever you can get your hands on in large quantities. If it were me (Which wouldn't be the case, since I'm not a terrorist), I'd probably use about 25kg of standard ANFO made from fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate and No.2 fuel oil, boosted by 500g or so ANNMAl, and detonated by a No.6 or No.8 equivalent blasting cap.
Wiring wouldn't take long if you have the right equipment, but for most vehicles, you'd need to open the hood to access the starter assembly, and that could prove to be a pain in the ass if you were trying to rig a random vehicle to explode.
The arabs love to fills cars with artillery shells.
This.
Beat me to it
That said, the basics are covered in my IED guide, and just the simple fact you can rewire a car so that the ignition sparks inside a petrol canister = BOOM.
Not too difficult. Especially if the Irish can do it.
All 4 parts are linked in the "how to" section of this thread.
http://www.totse.info/bbs/showthread.php?t=9962
http://www.totse.info/cms/how-to-make-an-improvised-explosive-device-IED