Shift Lock for the Bus

One thing VW Buses are not known for is theft prevention features.  Lets face it...sliding side windows, pop-outs, accessible electrics; not the characteristics of a car with a high degree of theft deterrence.  That isn't too much of an issue where I am, but in Southern California, and Arizona, where many rust free buses live and play, they apparently get up and walk away on their own quite often.  I don't want that to happen to my bus so I want to do everything I can to make sure it is where I parked it when I come back to it.

This is the Wolfsburg West replica "Sperwolf" shift lock.  The goal if this little beast is to lock the transmission in gear and prevent the bus from moving when the lock is engaged.

On the inside, a smattering of plates pawls and teeth.  The key spins the toggle at the top and pushes down on the cam directly below it, which then contacts the plates and interrupts the natural motion of the gear selector when the lock is engaged.  Simple and effective.

Installed and working.  The black paint is POR15 rust inhibitor, as the recessed area around the original gear selector base and the original base itself were very rusty, probably from 30 years of wet little suede 'earth shoes' dribbling puddle water on the cab floor after a trot through the Math Building parking lot in an afternoon downpour.  (This bus spent quite a bit of time on campus at USF in Tampa.)

And with the boot and the floor mat back in place.  The original mat did not survive the shift rod coupler replacement procedure last month, as when I tried to remove it it just came apart in my hands. The replacement you see here may very well be an OEM mat, as it has VW-Audi markings on it and not some other markings from the usual suspects like Wolfsburg West or West Coast Metric.  The Sperwolf lock requires the gear selector hole to be enlarged, and I debated for a while about whether to order a repop mat and trim it instead of trimming what may be an original German mat, but I passed and just used the OEM mat.  At the end of the day, which is better, to save the OEM mat wrapped in a blanket under my bed where it will never see the light of day and probably dry rot to dust while never being used, or I can press it into duty and enjoy it, bigger gear selector hole cuts and all.

 I opted for the latter.

Purists feel free to cringe.