Electrical pp. 1, 2, 3

 

Baja Bug Electrical

The wiring on this VW was a mess, so I decided it had to be replaced. It's a big job, and would be very costly to have it done for me. I found a very good custom wiring kit from Watson's StreetWorks. The idea is to leave out all the non-essential stuff like seat belt warning and test circuits, and add off-road lights, gauges and other "needed" items.

 

 

• Spaghetti wiring

• • This part of the project won't go into detail -- since there is just too much to cover. All VW original wiring diagrams are provided very generously by VintageBus. This is extremely helpful, unless you happen to have the original Service Manual for your particulr year. You want the original diagram even if you are doing a custom job like me. For the 1974 Super Beetle, you will also want to reference Bentley Publishers generic service manual for 1970-79 Beetles and Karma Ghia. This manual will give you the "from August 1973 [1974 Models]" but also the August 1971 diagram, which has the physical location of what is where. And of course, John Muir's "How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive" is essential for everything.

Diagrams and gauges provided by Watson's StreetWorks; 42 Draft Designs for diode lighted gauges and a few odd other diagrams (what does the alternator regulator look like and what are the wires for?) made this project a six-ring circus. I don't know jack about wiring or electrical, other than positive is "hot" and negative is ground. So this rewiring took me A WHILE. I finished in time to tow the VW up to French's, with only a few minor issues (speedometer lights, fog switch and rear window defog need work).

 

 

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