[tcb] Re: Wiring harness or What I did Over My Thanksgiving Holiday
- From: Dan Martin <danandkatrinamartin@xxxxxxx>
- To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 15:28:36 -0600
I knew old Chuck Studly could "hook you up" without me getting in the
way.
Glad to hear you got it done.
On Nov 29, 2004, at 2:41 PM, Denis Dodson wrote:
> Happy Holidays, boys and girls, I spent the weekend ripping out ALL of
> the wiring in my '63 bus and installing a new harness from Wolfgang.
> Thank God that my brother in law (Mr. Chuck Megasquirt Sirocco Turbo
> Boy) , the ex-volkswagen mechanic of 30 years and an incredible auto
> electrician came up for the weekend.
> First off, the number stamped on the chassis in the engine compartment
> is 1137791. It's '63 right? Well, learned when I bought my front
> spindles that there are actually 3 models of bus in '63. My bus was
> made into a camper by Sundial, it started life as a panel (it has
> additional air vents high in the side rear). I have the small cargo
> door and small rear window. But when I was ordering the harness I was
> told that there was a difference between the '63 and '64. The '64 has
> a big light on the left side of the dash for the hazard light. Well, I
> have that light, so I needed a harness for the '64, I guess.
>
> I was surprised how easily the old harness came out and the new one
> went in. I expected it to be hard to thread it through the channel
> from front to back, but it turns out there really is no "channel". The
> loom goes in to the frame in two places, in the front over the beam
> and in the rear over the axle. It is not so much hard work as it was
> filthy. Laying on your back, even if you work to avoid it, 41 years of
> dirt, rust, sand, dead critters and all fall on to your face and into
> your mouth, eyes (goggles!), ears and through your hair into your
> scalp. We cut the loom in the front and the back, leaving everything
> connected at both ends, then attached a fish (building a house gives
> you tools like an electrical fish) and pulled the loom through the
> channels in two moves.
>
> I had the easy job at the rear, replacing the engine wiring, the
> license light and the taillights. It was more complicated than it
> sounds. Chuck attracted all the spaghetti in front. You have to take
> out the parcel tray and lower the yoke at the base of the speedometer
> and then you find all kinds of mysteries, wires that go nowhere, hot
> wires not hooked to anything, lights missing (I swear that the bright
> headlight indicator light was there and working), splices, bypasses,
> crinkled, crumbled and missing insulation and all painted white by the
> previous owners.
>
> The most complicated part was the turn signals. Since no one makes a
> replacement for the '63 and the vintage ones are way too expensive, I
> use one for a later year, maybe a '65, that is much the same except it
> has extra wires for a dimmer, if I was working on that end I would
> have just killed myself, but SuperChuck figured it out and made
> everything work. We put in all new relays and a vintage headlight
> switch from WayOut Salvage, maybe paid too much, but having installed
> and jerry rigged two later model switches that burned up fairly
> quickly I decided to go vintage and keep my fingers crossed.
>
> Aside from my putting in the loom backasswards and having to take it
> out and run it in right and a small but exciting fire caused because I
> hooked up the wire from the points to the coil wrong, we did a pretty
> good job in one long Sunday and a few hours on Sunday. The only
> problem I really have now is that the license plate light had two
> wires attached and the new harness only calls for one and it keeps
> blowing the fuse. I have removed the bulb holder to clean it up and
> make sure that it is not grounding to the body and hope that fixes it.
> Otherwise I guess the second wire is a ground.
>
> Now all I have to do is rewire and connect all the accessories.
>
> Piece o' cake.
>
>
>
>
Dan & Katrina Martin
1971 VW Bus
H.B.B.
T.C.B.
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