JBugs Video Series

1966 VW Beetle - Vehicle Rewiring - Dashboard Switch Wiring:

Electrical Interior

Video Overview:

A 1966 Beetle’s wiring replacement is nearing completion, with most of the main and subharnesses installed, our tech begins installing all if the individual wires at the dash. The work in this video starts with the dome light harness and by the end, the ignition switch, headlight switch & relay, turn signal switch, emergency flasher switch and relay, wiper switch and wiper motor will all be wired up!

Dome Light Harness Installation: 1:00
Dome Light Wiring: 1:37
Dome Light Harness Wiring: 2:07
Door Jamb Switch Wiring: 2:49
Flasher Relay Wiring: 3:16
Headlight Relay Wiring: 4:31
Headlight Switch Wiring: 5:49
Wiper Motor & Switch Wiring: 7:05


Video Tips:

Tools used in this video:

Knife
Stiff Feed/Fish Wire
Flathead Screwdriver
Phillips Screwdriver
Needle Nose Pliers
Electrical Tape

Video Transcript:

Hello! I'm Sam with JBugs.com
In our last video, we finished up wiring the front end of a 1966 Beetle 
connecting the headlights, turn signals, horn, and master cylinder. Now we'll get to work on the dashboard, hooking up the various switches, relays, and wiring that all sits at the back of the trunk. That process starts by running the dome light harness from the dash up to the dome light. 
This job is made more difficult in our case since the original harness 
was removed and the headliner was already installed.
We start by cutting the headliner at the dome light opening 
and then run a stiff wire forward to the A-pillar. If you're lucky, the wire may be able to find its way all the way down and into the trunk. We weren't but fortunately, the headliner in this area is slightly loose so we were able to grab the feed wire here. 
In the trunk, we attach the dome light harness to a headliner bow 
and feed the harness up the A-pillar to the loose portion corner of the headliner. 
The headliner bow is pulled from the harness 
and the harness is attached to the stiff wire coming from the dome light hole and the harness is pulled through to the opening.
The stiff wire is removed and a new dome light assembly is hooked up. 
The red wire is attached to the terminal that is opposite of the switch 
and the brown/white wire hooks up to the switch side of the dome light. 
Early harnesses don't have a separate ground wire 
as the dome light assembly had a self-grounding position on the switch. 
The reproduction assembly in this car does not have a self-grounding terminal 
so either terminal on the dome light can be used but the light will only work when a door is open.
Inside the trunk, the dome light harness is routed across the dash 
and the brown/white wires are directed down to the left and right door jambs. 
The dome light harness has a black wire with a loose pigtail that will plug into one of the terminals ends 
at the bottom side of the first fuse at the right side of the dash. 
The red wire also has a loose pigtail and it is plugged into one of the terminal ends 
of the bottom side of the first fuse at the left side of the dash. We have it plugged into the top at the moment to keep it out of the way; it will be moved to the bottom later. 
The pigtail ends of the black/red wires will plug into the turn signal relay in a moment 
the long end of the black wire will plug into the wiper switch.
At the door jamb, the brown/white wire ends are fed through the door jamb opening. 
Inside of the car at the door jambs, new dome light switches are fitted with new seals, 
the wires are plugged into the switches, and the switches are set into place into the door jamb, and held in place with a screw. From here on out, all of the wires we deal with will be in the trunk and we'll start with the flasher relay.
The black/green pigtail from the right turn signal T connector 
is plugged into the VR terminal on the relay. 
The black/white pigtail from the left turn signal T connector 
is plugged into the VL terminal on the relay. The red pigtail from the fuse box is plugged into the 30 terminal on the relay. The black pigtail wire from the fuse box is plugged into the 15 terminal. 
The loose, 18 inch long blue and brown wires are connected to the emergency flasher switch 
on the dash. The brown wire connects to the S terminal; the blue wire connects to the K terminal.
At the relay, the brown wire is connected to the S terminal, 
we install a piggyback terminal at the 49A terminal on the relay, and the blue wire connects to it. 
The black/white/green wire from the turn signal switch 
is connected to the piggyback terminal as well. 
The short, lose blue/green wire is connected from the KBL terminal 
the turn signal indicator bulb on the speedometer. 
The flasher relay grounds out through the mounting screw which runs through the relay 
to the dash brace behind the speedometer.
Next, we'll install a ground terminal ring at the speedometer mounting screw 
so we can plug in the brown ground wire from the turn signal switch. 
The brown/white wire, from the turn signal switch, 
is hooked up to the S terminal on the headlight relay. Next, the loose white/black wire with the red pigtail, hooks up to the headlight relay at the 56 terminal.
If you have a 5 prong headlight relay, 
the red wire will connect to the 30 terminal. 
If you have a 4 prong headlight relay, 
cut the red pigtail off. The loose white wire connects to the 56A terminal. The loose yellow wire is connected to the 56B terminal on the headlight relay. The headlight relay is mounted to the dashboard brace behind the speedometer.
Next, the yellow wire is connected to the middle terminal at the top of the fuse box. 
The white wire from the relay is plugged into the second terminal from the right at the top of the fuse box. 
Original fuse boxes have a secondary terminal for the high beam indicator bulb 
but aftermarket fuse boxes do not. 
We add a piggyback terminal at the white wire terminal connector on the fuse box 
and plug the loose blue/white wire to the terminal there. The other end of the wire is plugged into the high beam indicator bulb on the back of the speedometer.
Now, we connect the red wire from the main harness 
to one of the 30 terminals on the headlight switch. 
We also connect the loose red wire 
to one of the 30 terminals on the headlight switch as well. The loose red/white wire, with 3 terminal ends, is connected to the 58B terminal. The white/black wire, from the headlight relay, is connected to the 56 terminal. The loose gray wire is connected to the 58 terminal. 
The red/white wire ends are connected to the dash light bulbs on the fuel gauge 
and the speedometer.
The short red wire, from the headlight switch, is connected to one of the top left terminals at the fuse box. 
The gray wire is connected to the top of the fuse box at the second terminal from the left. 
The loose, 7-inch red wire is connected to the 30 terminal on the ignition switch 
then to the remaining terminal at the top left of the fuse box. 
The loose black wire with 3 terminal ends, is connected to the 15-54 terminal on the ignition switch 
then to the remaining terminal at the top right of the fuse box and then to the terminal below the 3 indicator bulbs at the bottom of the speedometer.
Now we get to the wiper motor and switch wiring. 
This Beetle has a later model, 3 position wiper switch 
that is used with 2-speed wiper motors, which this car has as well. 
The back wire from the fuse box, that is part of the dome light harness we installed earlier, 
is connected to the 30 terminal on the wiper switch. Originally, this wire would go to one of the 54 terminals on a single-speed wiper switch. The loose black/brown and black/red wires are connected next.
The black wire connects to the 53A terminal on the wiper switch. 
Originally it would connect to the second 54 terminal. The black/red wire connects to the 53 terminal. Originally it would connect to the 54B terminal. 
The brown wire connects to the 31B terminal on the wiper switch 
the same as it would on an original switch. 
At a single-speed wiper motor 
the brown wire connects to the 31B terminal, the black wire connects to the 54 terminal, and the black/red wire connects to the 54D terminal.
On our two-speed wiper motor, 
the brown wire is connected to the 31B terminal, the black/red wire is connected to the 53 terminal, and the black wire is connected to the 53A terminal. We have two more terminals that need to be hooked up. So, with some loose wires and terminals end, we make a green and a green/black wire. The green wire is connected to the 31 terminal on the motor and then the switch. The green/black wire is connected to the 53B terminal on the motor and then to the switch. 
Once that is done we will finish up the wiring and get on to testing all the wiring 
and troubleshooting any issues that come up.
Thanks for watching!
Say hello or let us know if you have any questions in the comments below, and when you need parts for your vintage VW, head over to JBugs.com