JBugs Video Series

1971 VW Super Beetle - Wiring Series - Part 2:

Electrical

Video Overview:

The installation of a new wiring harness in our 1971 Super Beetle continues as we work our way from the back of the car to the front. We’ll end up at the front after addressing the modifications needed when switching to an alternator, and adding a main fuse to the wiring harness. A new turn signal switch will be installed and in the trunk we’ll begin wiring up some of the wiring there as well as modifying our harness to adapt to our new ATC fuse box. Follow along as we continue the installation, one wire at a time!


Video Tips:

Tools used in this video:
Side Cutters
Wire Stripping Pliers
Wire Crimping Pliers
Ratcheting Crimp Tool
Heat Gun
Small Flat Blade Screwdriver
Flush Cut Pliers
Open Barrel


Other Parts Used:
Shrink & Glue Butt Connectors
Shrink & Glue Terminal Ends
Female Open Barrel Terminal Ends
Piggy Back Terminals
Male Open Barrel Terminal Ends
Terminal End Covers
Resistor
Heat Shrink

Video Transcript:

00:00
Hi! Sam here with JBugs.com and we're continuing wiring up our 1971 Super Beetle.
00:10
We start this portion of our video at the engine compartment where we'll yank the brown wire from the engine harness and pull it out of the harness all together.
00:19
Our engine has an internally regulated alternator so this brown wire that connected to the generator and the voltage regulator, won't be used.
00:28
Inside the car, at the left quarter panel where the voltage regulator would have been, we'll continue modifying our harness.
00:35
Originally, the green wire would go to the DF terminal and the blue wire would go to the 61 terminal on the voltage regulator.
00:43
Those two wires operate the warning light on the dash and would tell us that the generator wasn't charging.
00:50
We could just plug the two wires together using a shrouded connector but there would be some excess wire hanging loosely.
00:56
We'll cut the wires to length, strip the ends, and connect them with a butt splice.
01:03
I like using shrink and glue connectors.
01:07
Once we've got our wires connected and crimped, we heat up the connector which shrinks down to the wire size and glues to the wires to provide an extra secure connection.
01:17
So we don't confuse our various thick red wires, we pull the one red wire coming from the harness that has a quarter inch female spade terminal.
01:27
It will plug into the starter wire with a shrouded connector, we run it through the floor pan and install a brake line grommet around it.
01:36
We'll need to connect the other two red wires in the harness that would have attached to the voltage regulator, they are power wires.
01:42
One would have come from the generator and connected to the D+ terminal.
01:46
The other would connect to the B+ terminal on the regulator, along with a wire from the positive side of the battery.
01:53
That wire in the main harness, provides all the positive power to the front of the car and is not fused.
02:00
In the interest of safety, we're going to run a main fuse that will run in line from the battery to our power wires.
02:08
Something as simple as a AFS fuse holder, usually used for car stereo amplifiers, can be installed and will protect the main harness.
02:16
Since in our car, we're going to be installing a couple of amplifiers, we'll use a multi-terminal maxi fuse box
02:23
which will allow us to have a fuse for each of our amplifiers as well as a fuse for the main power of our electrical system.
02:31
Now, with a plan for hooking up all the main battery power, we'll connect the two wires in our main harness to a shrouded T connector.
02:38
The connector has 1/4" terminals, so we cut off the ring and 3/8" terminal ends from our wires, strip the ends,
02:46
crimp on some 1/4" shrink and glue connectors, and plug them into the T.
02:52
Once we get the battery and our amplifiers installed, we'll mount the fuse box and wire up the main power connection.
03:00
Working our way forward in the car, we install our new turn signal switch, reroute the wires from it [into] the ignition switch wire sleeve,
03:09
and run all the wires up through the original wire grommet at the bottom of the trunk.
03:14
All the wiring is tucked up cleanly along the steering column and now we can move up into the trunk.
03:22
Here we start by routing the additional wires for our gauges up to and along the back side of the dash to the corresponding gauges.
03:31
The green wire will hook up to our tachometer, the blue wire will hook up to our oil pressure gauge, and the purple wire will hook up to the oil temperature gauge.
03:41
After we cut, strip, and then crimp on original style, open barrel terminal ends.
03:50
Next, we'll hook up the ground wire for the turn signal switch.
03:53
Since we aren't using a stock speedometer, we'll need a ground for the; left, right, and high beam LED indicator lights.
04:01
We hook up the ground wires for all four together, crimp on a terminal end, and plug the wires into a chassis ground tab.
04:09
Continuing with the steering column and indicator wiring,
04:12
we twist the black wire up with the positive wire for the left turn signal indicator, and we do the same for the black/green for the right side.
04:21
We'll cut the wires to length and crimp on terminal ends later, once we get the rest of the turn signal switch wires in place.
04:28
Next, we'll set our fuse box in place so we can get an idea of how we want to run the battery power from the fuse box to the ignition switch.
04:36
Since we swapped out to an ATC fuse box, we also flipped it around so it would be similar to earlier models
04:42
with power coming into the back side of the dash and coming out at the front.
04:48
We run the wire along the back of the dash, then up to the box, cut it to length, crimp on a new connector, and plug it into the fifth terminal from the right side at the back of the box.
05:02
We hook up the black wire, from the ignition switch harness, to the third terminal from the right on the back side of the fuse box.
05:08
The jumper wire from it would normally go to the bottom of the speedometer to provide power for the indicator bulbs.
05:14
We don't have a stock speedometer so we're going to plug it into the voltage gauge to provide ignition power to the gauge.
05:24
The last wire from the steering column harness we'll hook up now is the black and yellow wire which plugs into the X terminal on the headlight switch.
05:32
Later, it will plug into a red/black wire with a shrouded connector but for now, this keeps the wire out of the way.
05:40
The rest of the wires will be hooked up as more of the harness and components get installed.
05:45
Now, we can get to work on our main harness and if you've watched any of our past wiring harness installs,
05:50
you've seen us go step by step and by the book for the most part, only making minor modifications as needed.
05:57
In this car, that isn't the case.
05:59
Since we flipped our fuse box around, we're going to shorten the main harness a bit as once we trim back the wiring sheath, you can see an excessive amounts if wires.
06:10
With our aftermarket gauges and indicators, our dash will be packed with additional wiring so eliminating the bulk will be helpful in keeping the wiring somewhat clean.
06:20
With the length of wire now loose, just past the tangs, we pull the thick red batter power.
06:26
Don't confuse this with the smaller gauge red starter wire.
06:30
We route it to the dash, at the back of the fuse box, to the fourth terminal from the right.
06:35
Cut it to length, strip it, crimp on a new connector and plug it into the fuse box.
06:41
This same process of cutting, stripping, and crimping on an new terminal end will be followed anytime we refer to "shortening" a wire.
06:49
Next, we pull the thick black coil wire from the harness, shorten it, and plug it into the first terminal at the back right side of the fuse box.
07:00
Then, we install a shrouded wire connector on the red/black wire from the ignition switch
07:05
We route it up along the back side of the dash, towards the main harness.
07:09
We shorten the red starter wire and plug it into the shrouded connector.
07:16
The white/black and white/red running light wires, from the main harness,
07:20
are routed to the far left terminals of the fuse box, at the front side and plugged in there once shortened.
07:28
Next, we'll work on the blue and blue/green wires from the main harness that connect to the warning light indicators.
07:34
Originally, these would plug into the oil pressure light and the generator light on the speedometer.
07:39
In our car, those lights are now LED indicators.
07:43
We crimp on a male terminal end to the black ground wire for the LED's.
07:48
On the charging indicator, we also install a small in-line resistor so that our LED will work with our internally regulated alternator.
07:58
Plastic terminal covers slide over the male terminal ends for protection, once the wires are shortened.
08:04
The blue/green wire plugs into the oil pressure indicator.
08:08
The blue wire plugs into the battery indicator.
08:12
We have to power these LED's and since they'd normally be powered by a tab on the speedometer, we follow suit
08:18
and plug a split terminal adapter into the power terminal on our new speedometer.
08:23
So now we have an extra power terminal.
08:26
We crimp a terminal end onto the two LED power wires, and plug that end into the speedometer.
08:33
And we'll take a break here.
08:35
Next time, we'll still be in the trunk continuing the installation by adding the dome light harness, the front wiring loom and more wiring there.
08:45
Thanks for watching!
08:46
Let us know if you have any questions or comments.
08:48
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08:51
And when you need parts or accessories for your vintage VW, head over to JBugs.com