Fuel Theives

[Dallas]

On my Pete, IH and Mack I had strainer cups installed. These are cups that fit down inside the filler neck and have a bunch of 3/8" holes in them. This allows high volume fueling with no foaming back up the filler tube.
The nice thing about them is that if you really needed to get at the fuel for something like priming an engine, you can get a piece of 3/8" plastic airline through the holes and siphon enough fuel to do the job, but no one will be able to get a large volume out quickly, which is the goal of most fuel thieves.
Mine were welded in but I suppose you could install them with rivets too, since once the tank is inside the skin of the bus it would be really difficult to get to them to remove them.
I don't know if Freightliner handles those, but maybe TomC could check and see who the manufacturer is.

Dallas

GO BUSSING!

[DavidInWilmNC]

Maybe the best idea is not to try to keep them out of the filler door (on an MCI, anyway).  Perhaps a stud (bolt) could be put through the right side  of the compartment with a piece of steel pipe over it.  If a nut is welded to the other end of the pipe,  a bolt can be screwed into it through a hole drilled through the wall dividing the fuel compartment and the battery compartment.  I'm having a hard time describing what I'm thinking of, but basically a metal bar or pipe blocking the filler cap is what I'm talking about.  It would require that the battery compartment be opened and the bolt removed to fuel the bus.  It wouldn't be all that much trouble to remove and replace for a fill-up.  Mainly, it would prevent the theft of fuel (hopefully) without anybody damaging the bus trying to steal the fuel.  I have some 1¼" square tube that I used for covering the window openings that would work nicely for this, so I may try it.

David

[JackConrad]

David,
   I like your thinking.  I'm thinking maybe bolt a pipe flange to the bulkhead between the fuel tank and front tire. Then drill a hole in the bulkhead between the fuel tank compartment and the battery compartment just large enough for a piece of pipe to slide across the fuel cap and thread into the pipe flange. If you wanted you could add a lock on the pipe in the battery compartment.  Jack