JBugs Video Series

1971 VW Super Beetle - Wiring Series - Part 5:

Electrical

Video Overview:

We’re wrapping up our electrical project, the installation and customization of the wiring for our 1971 Super Beetle. We finish up by hooking up some of the odd pieces like the brake warning light, the reverse light switch and we custom make a fan switch harness. Then we show how we power up the multiple gauges we installed and hook up a halleffect sensor for our VDO speedometer. Follow along as we finish up the bulk of the wiring!


Video Tips:

Tools used in this video:
Small Flat Blade Screwdriver
Wire Stripping Pliers
Wire Crimping Pliers
Ratcheting Crimp Tool
Flush Cut Pliers
Dash Escutcheon Tool

Other Parts Used:
Female Open Barrel Terminal Ends
18 Gauge Wire
Wiring Sheath Material

Video Transcript:

00:00
Hi! I'm Sam with JBugs.com
00:02
We're wrapping up the wiring here on our 1971 Super Beetle.
00:05
I made it our of the trunk but I'm going to be back there in a second.
00:14
But first, we'll enjoy our roomier interior for our moment while we hook up our brake warning light.
00:20
We have the three wires, for the brake light switch, sticking out through the dashboard and since we re-routed our harness, our red wire is a little longer than normal.
00:29
We cut it to match the other wires, strip the end off, and crimp on a new 1/10 connector.
00:35
Then, the wires are plugged into the switch.
00:38
The brown wire plugs into the 31 terminal,
00:41
the red wire plugs into the K terminal,
00:44
and the black wire plugs into the 15 terminal.
00:48
Then, the switch can be placed into the dash.
00:51
So we can continue stretching our legs for a bit, we'll get underneath the car and plug in the reverse light wiring we mentioned in the first video of this series.
00:58
The reverse light switch is at the front right side of the transmission on top of the nosecone.
01:04
It's really not easy to get to or show on camera.
01:07
The two wires from the harness plug into the terminals on the switch and it doesn't matter which side they go on to.
01:14
Now, we'll head back into the trunk where we'll plug in the headlight relay at the top left and the flasher relay in the middle position.
01:22
We would just about be done with the stock wiring for now, if we had a stock speedometer anyway.
01:27
We're going to wire up our fresh air fan and its switch.
01:32
Replacement wiring harnesses don't include any wiring for the fresh air system since they're rarely used.
01:37
We're going to make our own.
01:40
We start by first setting the fresh air box and fan roughly in place, so we can see where we need to end our wiring harness.
01:48
With the ground wire plugged in, we see that the wire for our fan ends in the same area.
01:54
We'll use some lengths of left over black/white, black/green, and black wire that wasn't used on an older installation to make a new harness.
02:03
This is close enough to the original wiring which is the same other than the black/white wire which would have been black/yellow.
02:10
We strip off the ends of all three wires and crimp on 1/10 connectors so the wires can be plugged into the fan switch.
02:17
The black/white wire plugs into the 33B terminal,
02:21
the black/green wire connects to the 33F,
02:25
and the black wire plugs into the 30 terminal.
02:28
We install the switch into the dash.
02:31
Then, we route the black wire along the back of the dash, to the front of the fuse box, to the third fuse from the right.
02:38
We cut the wire to length and then pull the wire back out.
02:43
We install a short wire sheath on all three wires.
02:46
Then we route the black wire back to the fuse box, crimp on a terminal end, and plug it into the terminal at the third fuse from the right side.
02:56
We set the fresh air box in again to check the length of the black/white and black/green wires.
03:01
They are cut to length, we crimp on terminal ends, and install shrouded connectors.
03:07
When the time comes, we can hook up the fresh air fan.
03:11
Now, we can get to hooking up all of our gauges.
03:15
That starts by expanding our daisy chained white/red wire for all the dash lights.
03:20
We pull the wires off the speedometer and move the first terminal to our fuel gauge.
03:25
Then, we work down and across the dash, cutting additional wires to length, and crimping on connectors, jumping from one gauge light to the next.
03:36
We have left over white/red wiring to make the daisy chain which is easy enough to duplicate otherwise with white wire and a red permanent marker.
03:45
Once we finish the dash light daisy chain, we work on a ground assembly.
03:51
All of the dash lights need a ground connection and all of the gauges need a ground too.
03:57
There will be at least two ground wires at every gauge.
04:00
We start by adding a jumper terminal to the light on our fuel gauge, and move the chassis ground wire to it after shortening it.
04:09
This will clean up the wiring and open up the ground tab on the chassis.
04:13
Now, we start making a daisy chained wire that will go from the grounds on the fuel gauge and its lights to the oil temp gauge and light,
04:21
to the chassis ground, up to speedometer, and across to the other gauges, and all of their dash lights.
04:30
Next, we'll expand the dash power harness that we previously ran to our tachometer and oil pressure gauge.
04:36
We cut off the last end, and crimp on another connector and wire, and continue the chain to the speedometer, the oil temp gauge, and the fuel gauge.
04:48
Our voltmeter is getting power from the ignition switch so we don't need to power it.
04:52
However, we do need to hook up a sending unit for our speedometer.
04:57
We'll use and EMPI cable driven Hall Effect Sensor to send a signal to out VDO speedometer.
05:03
We set the sensor and the cable onto the side rail of the fuel tank ledge and route the wiring harness through the speedometer cable hole, up towards the gauge.
05:13
The cable will route down to the wheel just like originally.
05:17
The wiring harness, once its routed up to the speedometer, is wired up with the white wire connecting to the number six and the number eight terminals.
05:26
The red wire connects to the number two terminal and the black wire connects to the chassis ground or the number three terminal on the speedometer.
05:36
The speedometer is powered at the number four terminal and with that, we've wired up virtually everything in the car, as it sits now anyway.
05:43
We still need to install a radio and of course, as the car is assembled further, the wiring for other items will be hooked up as we go.
05:51
We'll cover the installation of those in the future, in the mean time, thanks for watching.
05:55
We hope you've enjoyed this series even though we didn't wire our car as VW did.
06:00
We wanted to show you can modify a stock wiring harness, as needed, for whatever accessories you may have added to your car.
06:06
Either way, you can get most of the wiring and other parts we've installed along with thousands of other parts for your Vintage Volkswagen at JBugs.com
06:13
Again, thanks for watching!
06:15
Make sure to click the like button and the subscribe button.
06:17
And whenever you need parts for your Vintage Volkswagen, head over to JBugs.com