TheSamba.com :: View topic - best way to prevent a bus from being stolen?

Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:42 pm

I was thinking of a extra fuel valve to shut the gas off .
they gett 100 feet or so and then run out of gas , they would most likely leave it right there .
Either that or Lind's half starved , rabid pitbull . :lol:

Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:44 pm

dms wrote: I was thinking of a extra fuel valve to shut the gas off .
they gett 100 feet or so and then run out of gas , they would most likely leave it right there .
Either that or Lind's half starved , rabid pitbull . :lol:
your bus is already equiped with one. just hope that a thief doesn't know how to use the three position reserve switch. stock on all pre '62 buses.

Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:59 pm

Lind wrote: dms wrote: I was thinking of a extra fuel valve to shut the gas off .
they get 100 feet or so and then run out of gas , they would most likely leave it right there .
Either that or Lind's half starved , rabid pitbull . :lol:
your bus is already equiped with one. just hope that a thief doesn't know how to use the three position reserve switch. stock on all pre '62 buses. Your right , if he knew nothing about VW's he would never guess that was the fuel reserve tap :lol:

Fri Mar 07, 2008 12:45 am

Fri Mar 07, 2008 1:52 am

How about taking your steering wheel with you ..... that's if you can get it off :lol:

Fri Mar 07, 2008 2:53 am

Hi.

I was planning on replacing the turn signal swith with one that opperates the high beam and then making the standard high beam switch on the floor into a kill switch.

Will this be difficult as I am no electrical genius.

If anyone has done this any useful tips.

Many Thanks

James

Fri Mar 07, 2008 3:56 am

Live in it.

Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:11 am

leave a great big narley bastard of a dog in it..

Fri Mar 07, 2008 6:19 am

Lind wrote: a half starved rabid pit-bull helps also.

...with Aids.

The best one so far was move to Michigan. Once you get outside of CA, AZ, & WA I think for the most part you are pretty safe. I may have to mail order almost everything but I have never had to worry about having any of my busses stolen.

Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:03 am

Riff Raff wrote: I have gone one step further and built a false coil wire out of vacuum tube. It looks just like the real coil wire I have in my pocket if I'm concerned about theft. My thinking is that if the bus won't start for a thief, it would be an easy diagnosis if a coil wire or rotor is missing. If it looks complete, they have no idea what is keeping the bus from starting.
Be careful with that. If you push the vacuum tubing too far into the boots, where the ends make good contact on each end, the engine may still start and run.
I had the same idea about the false wire and had made one up. Someone posted over at RAMVA and said that about it still being able to run.
I thought !!!
So I tried it and the engine fired right up. :shock: I then drove it around the block in my neighborhood like that. :shock: I didn't get brave enough to take it out on the highway to see what it would do at higher speeds.

Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:41 am

Slowlow wrote: toad wrote: Don't paint it ?? Then isn't that an OG paint job,, making it worth even more .. :shock: :roll:

Not to a theives eyes! Especially if its patina'd they would think it was a rusty pile.

Prime example: HDF's bus. :roll:

This subject has been discussed many times before, but hey, it's the "new and improved" samba.com so who cares! :lol:

Anyway, if there's some ass after your bus bad enough, he'll get it. With today's technology the best "solution" is the GPS tracking in order to recoup it fast enough so as to not lose much of it. :?

Hidden kill switches can work but are not theft proof. Case in point: a cousin of mine had a badass '67 Cougar, fully decked out, mag wheels, the works! Had a kill switch inside the ashtray at the back end of the center console that you had to pull out the tiny ahstray bucket, stick one finger into the little hole and flick the switch wich wasn't even visible as you had to "feel" for it. One morning after parking it in the lot at college, came out to find it gone! :o Well, a couple of months later it was found, STRIPPED! However, they never got it to fire up as the kill switch wasn't activated. :?

Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:50 am

Wasn't there a banner ad for one of these a while back?

It seems like it would serve as a deterrent.

Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:51 am

I guess thats one advantage or disadvantage of lowered buses hard for wreckers to pick them up.

Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:43 am

air ride always parked on the frame rails

Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:46 am

A theif will steal it if they really really really want to, I guess. But the best idea is to make it harder to steal.
1) lock it up. lock it up with locks that actually all lock. And this means the front door windows have good seals and the wing windows lock closed too. Make it take some time (or noise) to get into the bus. It is notoriously easy to open the sliding windows from the outside, if the seals are bad and/or the latch has no spring. Even with new seals if the windows aren't adjusted properly when put back together.

How about a steering lock? Makes it trickier to steal the bus if you can't trurn the steering wheel. You can hot wire it, but not turn the wheel. Harder to get it onto the tow truck, etc.

Club?

Parked inside a locked garage?

(behind a barbed wire fence...in a bunker underground lol :) )

NRA stickers make it more likely for your car to be broke into by tweakers looking for guns.

Talking about HDF's bus, how was it in terms of locking up? Did it have any anti-theft devices?
Greg always puts the club on the bus when in California, except for buses with steering locks. He just installed a steering lock on our '56 westy.

Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:03 am

Clara wrote: A theif will steal it if they really really really want to, I guess.

Talking about HDF's bus, how was it in terms of locking up? Did it have any anti-theft devices?

The reference was on the old paint, patina, and for that matter, primer, bonbo and rust look. May not have been in the best condition of "locks" but it was supposedly in a lot WITH security! :roll:

Yes, we must secure them as much as humanly possible. At the last Bug-In I ended up volunteering to be the security guard (nearly all day) as they had us park about a quarter mile from the event at the far end of the lot. Even with good locks and all, I simply would not let all our buses just sit back there without anybody looking after them. [-X

Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:45 am

what you can do is:
every time you park simply pull the engine, unbolt the clutch assembly and then you can either hide it somewhere in the bus or just carry it around with you, like in your pocket or something. it works like a charm! :twisted: :roll:

Fri Mar 07, 2008 9:58 am

http://www.ronfranciswiring.com/groundingandcharging.php

Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:18 am

a jumper wire with a couple aligator clips will work around a hidden kill switch from either the cab area or the engine compartment. for it to be truly effective, you need a locking decklid and the switch has to be wired downstream of the fuseblock.

Fri Mar 07, 2008 10:41 am

Anyone tried the Gene Berg shift locker? I heard it works great and shifts real nice? Drove a bus that had one on and it shifts like a honda.