Well my poor dash was well and truely overdue for some attention.
I first gave it a make-over when the bug was resprayed back in 2001 and aside from constantly changing gauges it hadnt really been touched since and had held up amazingly well, it was mainly just the dirt that made it look shit.
I had a few changes I wanted to make to it so I got stuck into it this weekend
First up it needed cleaning and recolouring, I went abit lighter this time, trying to avoid that batcave feel of a dark Lbug dash and tinted windows
And as a few people know already Im starting to fit A/C aswell.
Lbugs are a pain to air condition, there's no room for an underdash consol which look like crap anyway and there's no room behind the dash for some mainstreamer car evaporator to be fitted.
They were actually designed to have integrated A/C from the factory and a very large percentage of them were sold in the US with it, nearly all the late 70s cabriolets had it which always seemed like an oxymoron to me.
But the LHD system isnt easily adaptable and the only RHD part of the world that sold superbeetles with A/C as a common option was Japan
So aside from an original RHD setup which are as rare as rocking horse shit the only other alternative was sell a kidney and get a Gilmore system which suits a RHD Lbug, but I'm too mean for that
With a big thanks to Kuchster who parted out what i suspect was a Jap import bug I now have what can safely be said is probably one of the only original RHD Lbug A/C setups in the country and one of only a few left in the world truth be known.
although Im only using all the outlets and dash ducting from it, as I'm going to run a new modern evaporator unit, the originals were way too undersized.
So heres how my dash looks refreshed with the A/C ducting in.
All neat and factory looking.
The original middle vent is replaced with a bigger fold out style outlets and the 2 outside vents fit where the factory indentations were
so some of the other changes......
I"ve gone back to the original Lbug switch panel which Ive modified to have just 2 gauges
and then carbon fibred.
and yet another gauge swap.... this makes gauge set number 4
I wanted to minimalise my gauges and get rid of the tacho on top
so Ive got a pair of DEFI style 2" tacho and water temp.
the water temp is good cos i can set a warning on it so as soon as it hits the temp i set it for it starts flashing red and beeping
I'll make a new center consol for the oil temp, pressure and voltmeter gauges later on.
I also ditched the indiglo speedo face, too bright at night.
so the new view is much less cluttered.
I also went back to Lbug rocker switches.
I needed an extra switch for my new heater fan so a second blank hazard switch will do that job
Ive wired up the night glow illumination on them both too which makes them just glow faintly when switched off but the lights are on.
I've also fitted a Porsche 944 headlight switch, it has the connections for the eurolight system and also has night illumination backlighting as well
and now Im using the bug abit more as a daily driver i wanted a lighter socket back in for my phone charger
so another reason for putting the original hazard switch back in as it was in the lighters spot before
I bought an A/C system from the US for my L-Bug but never bothered attempting to install it as it wasn't suited for RHD......so it still sits under the house. Certainly isn't a 'neat' accessory as it requires holes to be cut in a number of places.
As people know I love to tinker with electronic gadgets in my cars and intermittent wipers has been on my to-do list for ages
Up till the engine conversion the bug has always just been a fair weather toy but i use it alot more regularly now and given the stupid amounts of rain we've had here recently it was really starting to shit me not having it
I've probably just been too spoilt by the mainstreamers having not only intermittent but variable delay as well, hell even the cruddy 95 S coupe had variable
Last time i priced the universal kits by hella they were $180 which is a joke for a relay and an ugly remote mount controller
Lbugs had the option of intermittent in the US so i figured i could adapt something from a newer car and make it work
It took alot of frigging around but I now have the Bosch/VW "Easytronic" system in and functioning
and heres how it works
be sure to turn captions on for extra lols
But for the people who don't Youtube its the programmable intermittent setup from most upper-spec early 90s onwards VW and Audis
I got mine out of a MK4 99 Polo
heres the little black box that performs the magic
I had one spare relay spot left on the fuse box
My bug only had the 2 standard relays (headlight dipper and indicator flasher) when I bought it, poor thing now has 14
I was also lucky the new wiperswitch I bought a while back had the intermittent provision too
Before anyone asks it was a pain in the arse job and unless you have a pretty good understanding of how auto electrics work I would do some real research before having a go
It would have been only a moderately fiddly job if I had of settled for a toggle switch to turn on the intermittent but me being fussy wanted the stock intermittent function on the wiperswitch to do the job instead which was where it really got tricky
The standard bug intermittent works totally the opposite of what the modern stuff does
The new relays just need 12volts to the int terminal to turn on the timer where as the original bug ones have ground there to keep it off and go open circuit to start the timer
Also the new relay has the wash/wipe function as well but the washer contacts again did the opposite to what i needed and would create a dead short so i had to remove the contacts and add a micro switch
But the end result is i have intermittent that can set from 2-45 second delay and a wash/wipe function without having to add any extra switches or controls
just move the wiperlever down one click now and its in intermittent
The stock delay is 6 seconds but its changed by turning it off, waiting the amount of time for the delay and turning it back on
I bet alot of new VW owners dont even know their cars have this feature
Are you kidding?
I love rubbing into dad that his 1600 VW only has 1/3 the power and averages 10L/100km 😂
Still trying to convince him to let me put an EJ18 in it so i dont have anymore VW engine maintance to do, just a couple of oil and filter changes a year
I think 255hp in a 460kg vehicle would be a bit to much of a handfull and probably not even legal in NSW but would be fun
Karstens the guy who originally built them had one of Pobjoys 1916 steroid motors in his and could carry the front wheel in the air for over 100m
I got pics some where of the engine showing how worn his crash bar was from dragging along the road
May still end up with it in my bug, dunno yet depends how much longer it sits around
Joel wrote:I think 255hp in a 460kg vehicle would be a bit to much of a handfull and probably not even legal in NSW but would be fun
Karstens the guy who originally built them had one of Pobjoys 1916 steroid motors in his and could carry the front wheel in the air for over 100m
I got pics some where of the engine showing how worn his crash bar was from dragging along the road
May still end up with it in my bug, dunno yet depends how much longer it sits around
When I looked at how much cutting it would require, and then the vacuum control stuff.... it will be sitting there for a while... you also then add a fair bit of wight with a cooler, more exhuast... its fun stuff. I'd go for it, if i want a poorby and considering getting a waterpumper for a bit more reliability..
I'm liking the dash by the way! Had any luck moving the 1776 on??
nah not in a mad rush to get rid of that one
Dads eyeing it off for his but im trying to get him to go EJ18 or EJ20 instead
anyway ummm lights....
Living out in the the sticks and doing alot of night driving where I regularly come up against roos, koalas and the occasional escapee cow so I need really good lighting on my cars
I've got a set of f@@k off spotties on the mainstreamer but really dont wanna ruin the look of the bug with spotlights on the front
I had a pair of 7" narvas on the front of my first Sbug and they just ruin those classic beetle lines and below the bumper is just too low to throw forward a good beam, especially on a lowered car with rake.
I already had exceptional headlights on my bug, they crap all over most new car lights that aren't projector or HID Xenons lights
For people wondering how a vw with good headlights is possible Ive got new semi-sealed style lights that the 75-93 bug, kombi and golf used with 100/90w super platnium bulbs and relays with power running straight from the battery
I've had them on it since 2001 and was really happy with them but there was one major problem with them when on low beam
Can anyone pick it from this pic?
Being from overseas they had a LHD pattern lense so on low beam they threw a side beam up at oncoming traffic
obvious mirrored pattern difference when compared to an original headlight
But the lenses after nearly 10 years were starting to get some stone chips and the obvious other problem so it was time for an upgrade.
You only have to look around to see that 99% of new cars now come with projector headlights
Projectors for those that dont know are basically magnifying glasses for the bulbs
nearly all cars with 7" headlights all use the same mounting system and all those replacement inserts are a universal fit and fit everything.....except vws of course
I loved the look of those crystal prism inserts but lets not even go into how shitty those are and to fit them i had to adapt some sealed beam mounting buckets from another car
I used Lucas ones from a Morris Minor, but Minis, early holdens etc have same layout or if moneys no issue you can buy new setups from hella and narva
Anyway all bugs from 67 in the US all had sealed beams so all gaurds after that had the mounting points in them but in aus bugs they just bent them over flat
they look like this once there bent back out
The bucket mounting plate screws to them
I forgot an inbetween pic but the cradle part bolts to that, the insert sits in then the retainer over the top to hold it in place
I had to go back to my original plastic headlight rims, the brazillian metal ones i had just wouldnt clear all the mount parts
Low beam with these new lights isnt too crash hot, beam is a bit scattered
but still lights up well
currently they only have some cruddy stock 60/55w bulbs i got outta one of the tractors, but ill probably fit some platnium plus or even the 6000k HID Xenon kit i have laying around i may try in them not sure yet
But High beam it pretty impressive
real definate pencil beams
My camera sucks at night time photography but they have an excellent range probably around the 250meter mark
Each of those trees is 5meters apart so that should give you an idea of the range
The brand is Neolite and i got them through Ebay but something fishy was going on with the seller
I first spotted them about 6 months ago, he seems to list about 20 at a time but they sell like hot cakes and I missied out first time.
None were relisted till about 2 months later, exactly the same listing but a different seller, I picked some up this time and all went well but about a 2 weeks after he was no longer a registered user and relisted them again after that on even another different seller account... go figure
There is a slightly different set from another seller but theyre based in the US but postage is only $30
As I said in the last post I was going to upgrade the bulbs, the current ones were just ordinary 60/55w H4s so were fairly average and left one of the tractors with no eyes.
but before I get into that here's the missing pics I forgot to take while I have them apart again.
This is the cradle part that bolts to the bucket by the 3 brass screws which are actually the adjusters.
There's 3 square cut outs around the rim, those are for the locating lugs on the back of the inserts.
All sealed beam inserts and most semi-sealed use these exact lugs to make sure they mount in upright
Then the chrome retainer ring just sits over the insert to and screws to the cradle
So for the bulbs I was originally thinking of going for platinums again but then overkill sounded good, and as they say you can never have too much overkill
Lighting the way now are 130/90w H4 halogens
And before anyone pipes up yes I know theyre not ADR approved but neither are any HID kits which are not factory installed either which is why I havent bothered fitting mine
The cops around here really pick on people with illegal HIDs cos they are really annoying and dangerous to other drivers
I forgot to mention that these projectors are ADR approved
I need to wait for a nice foggy night again so I can tweak the adjustment alittle bit further but all I can say so far is they are f@@king awesome
Camera really does not do them any justice at all
Even lowbeam now is acceptable, but could do with some more spread, might have to put my projector foglights back on
Ive set the cutoff height just above back bumpers on most cars at 6meters, which is not dazzeling to on coming cars
going to get a strobe light kit for the parkers too? thats what it takes to be hektic this week, no wait that was months ago, ahh well, looks good though, good thing to mention about the adr approval of the housings too 👍 hopefully people care/pay attention to that
EDIT, grrr its not her its me, thats it im signing her out
I've been sussing headlights lately to put into my square when it gets rebuilt. Might have to get a set of these instead of what i was considering previously... They look good!
DAM! thanks for the heads up on the HID stuff... thats a pity.
There was a second hand complete HID kit from a skankline that was at 99c with $20 postage on egay. Wouldn't have climbed more than that... and you can pick up new kids from australia on ebay for $99....
ah wellz... I'd probably just fit a set of H4's or sumfin...
Its a pommy vid, but the laws are the same here.
I've got one of the H4 hi/lo drop in 6000K kits and found in my laser its exactly like the video shows,
The only safe way to run them is with projectors, but nearly all the projector HID kits are LHD layout
theses are good for a long range beam down the road but not much side spread
the stock semisealed VW lights that you can get from places like classic that bolt straight in tend to throw good wide spread beams but dont have good long distatnce range on them
Also, I've yet to see a pair of those 3 chamber lights (which arent really chambered) that has a RHD pattern lense
that makes complete sense. what happens though if you transfer the HID light housings from a stock HID car.. like the whole lot including projectors, such that you, well for 'instance', fit new bmw mini HID headlights to stock vw fenders?
I spose it would be the same deal though, unless some auto light technician can somehow give a stamp of approval...
I guess really though the gains wouldn't be worth the effort.
The brand is Neolite and i got them through Ebay but something fishy was going on with the seller
I first spotted them about 6 months ago, he seems to list about 20 at a time but they sell like hot cakes and I missied out first time.
None were relisted till about 2 months later, exactly the same listing but a different seller, I picked some up this time and all went well but about a 2 weeks after he was no longer a registered user and relisted them again after that on even another different seller account... go figure
There is a slightly different set from another seller but theyre based in the US but postage is only $30
