What's wrong with this picture? :(

[markswagen]

a touch over $2k in parts to make this one whole again, one owner syncro westy spends 99% of it's life locked in a garage, thankfully insured by haggerty, who are covering the cost of the replacement parts, with luck they'll cover my time to put it back together.

parts from gowesty are already on their way.
_________________
markswagen {mobile mechanic} san diego area all early VW's cared for.

619 201 0310

[Wellington]

Amateurs.
Lucky they just took the cat and not the whole van.

[DanHoug]

huh. wonder what the street price for a Vanagon cat is?
_________________
-dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.

'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd

Past projects can be found at--
www.thefixitworkshop.com

[Glenn]

[Crooked Designer]

Glad to hear Hagerty is covering it.

Interesting deterrent: CatStrap
_________________
'85 Westy full camper, Subaru 2.5L, 5 speed SubiGears + 5speedbus shifter kit

[Ahwahnee]

That strap appears resistant to cutting but if it's installed with steel zip ties and muffler clamps it would appear to be easy to remove.

Mark's example notwithstanding, isn't the cordless angle grinder the tool of choice for cat-nappers? That would make short work of the hardware that attaches the CatStrap.

Sort of like relying on 'The Club'. It's indestructible but the steering wheel is easily cut.

[Crooked Designer]

[ledogboy]

[syncrodoka]

I have an old bad cat and after calling around to recyclers they won't even buy them any more. I don't know what their value is to the meth heads

[Abscate]

We have shut down a lot of cat thefts by making the people responsible for the recycling of the metal liable for their sources. Guys showing up with 100 pounds of cat innards need traceable documents as to where the stuff came from.
_________________
🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🍊 🍊 🍊

[Crooked Designer]

[do.dah]

That might be a claim for a stolen cat, but the exhaust pipe leading to where the cat should be, looks like it rotted out, not sawzalled. And, the valence right at the input side of the cat, is all sooty, like it was leaking.
Hard to see, but the pipe at the muffler doesn't look sawzalled, but more like it a typical rotting out of the pipe.

I don't know, but I kinda think somebody' up to something.....

[syncrodoka]

[Glenn]

[crazyvwvanman]

Now that you mention it, I don't see where those photos show any clear exidence that the cat was removed by cutting at either end.

Also, what was the coat hanger used for? Was the cat already broken free at one end and then the coat hanger was used to try to keep it from falling off?

Mark

[jlrftype7]

After several failed attempts for thieves to steal the Cat out of one of our Nieces car, an older Honda CRV, she had to replace the cat and new pipe going back to the Muffler when they finally succeeded in stealing it.
With all the new parts installed, I made a hardened steel cage from Tool Steel I bought from Mc-Master Carr. It easily stopped Sawzall regular blades, but as noted, would not have stopped an abrasive blade on a grinder. I used Flat bars welded. then bolted it to the body.
BUT, those make way more noise than a Sawzall, so not the weapon of choice apparently. Once installed, no one ever messed with her replaced Cat. Just looking at the mess under the vehicle was enough for them to look for an easier target....
Shops and dealers that she went to for Service took note of the DIY Cage that I'd made. I got props from all those guys for taking care of Family. Which was cool...
_________________
'68 Westy- my first VW and vehicle/Bus- long gone.- sold it to a traveling Swiss couple....
'67 Type 3 Fastback, my 2nd car- gone
'69 Semi-Auto Stick Shift Beetle-gone
2017 MINI Coopers, our current DDs
‘84 Tin Top - Hilga....Auto

[RoryGirl]

38 million


Link

_________________
1991 Twin Slider VR6
1985 Audi 4k

[markswagen]

it was cut at one end, and snapped l think at the other, the white wire is one of the two white wires for the O2 sensor, at least that's where it went up to, when l traced it.
l don't know if her premiums will go up next year.
FWIW the van passed smog may 23rd, l'd hope they looked at it then.

[4Gears4Tires]

[kamzcab86]

Thieves suck.

Cat converter theft ring caught in AZ in 2022: https://apnews.com/article/politics-arizona-phoenix-theft-eac0922b2874c956720a1523f5f035d8