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wiring
peter87 - June 28th, 2012 at 08:37 PM

Hey guys,

I emailed an american company regarding the wiring loom for my 63 beetle and apparently i can use a LHD wiring loom on my RHD beetle. I'm not really 100% sold on the idea and was after your opinions.

matberry - June 28th, 2012 at 10:51 PM

Iy won't fit without modification, something to do with wires on the LH side and the steering wheel on the right.

What model car and what's wrong with the wiring? I always try and repair/restore the original.

68AutoBug - June 28th, 2012 at 11:28 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by peter87
Hey guys,

I emailed an american company regarding the wiring loom for my 63 beetle and apparently i can use a LHD wiring loom on my RHD beetle. I'm not really 100% sold on the idea and was after your opinions.


Naturally it won't do the job without lots of MODIFICATIONS.

Firstly North Americian Beetles have entirely different wiring looms to other countries

this could be made to work if the steering wheel and fusebox and brake master cylinder were all on the same side... as USA beetles... but they aren't..

UNLESS...
Now I'm not sure where the loom runs in a 1963 beetle??
If it ran along the floor on the RHS... from front to rear.. then the wires would all be just too long... [as they would be made long enough to go tothe fusebox etc... which is located on the LHS of USA beetles]
which would be OK...

if the wiring loom ran on the LHS of the car...
Its a lot of money to pay for a wiring loom that has to be cut up and extended...
If You can do all that Yourself...
Then make up Your own wiring loom using trailer 7 & 5 wire cables..
Colors will be incorrect naturally, but just mark the wires as You go...

No easy solution I'm afraid...
You could buy a RHD wiring loom from the UK..
If They make them over there...??
as far as i know they used the same wiring loom as We did..


Some one on here said to use TARNOFF on the terminals to clean the terminals and connectors...
but if someone has cut and added wires etc.. best to just renew them... You cannot solder old contaminated wires either..

LEE

peter87 - June 28th, 2012 at 11:48 PM

The wiring i originally had was repaired as the idiots who owned it before me used an extension cord or something. I got a quote from an auto electrician and he said it would cost close to 2 grand to re wire the entire car. The wiring i have at the moment ran through the roof of the car. I'm thinking JK for the wiring loom but it is still a little pricey and can't justify spending over 500 on it. Anyway thanks for your comments guys :)

Peter

68AutoBug - June 28th, 2012 at 11:53 PM

its just a time consuming fiddly job wiring a car...

what side of the roof did the wiring go thru?

LEE

peter87 - June 29th, 2012 at 12:05 AM

the left hand side. The wiring is really crappy and it has so many earths in places where it is not needed.

68AutoBug - June 29th, 2012 at 12:24 AM

Hi Peter

Earthing is what breaks down in old cars first...
I earthed every light fitting etc when I rewired My beetle.
Means My beetles lights etc all work perfectly due to a perfect electrical system

I wired up My Son's 56 beetle using the original wiring and had to earth everything to get them to work properly..
My Son didn't want any extra holes drilled etc so made My job very difficult... and He had a lot of problems early on until I earthed everything.. without drilling any extra holes... lol

so using 5 wire trailer cable You can run it to each tail light and earth each light... and use plastic screw in connector strips [Narva Hella] but use the VW wiring system..
as I wired everything seperate but now I have about 50+ wires behind the dash... lol

wrap a piece of masking tape near the end of each wire with a label or number etc...

an earth connection thru a rusty screw or bolt and contaminated copper wire connection isn't good..
just do one or two wires at a time...

cheers

LEE in Scone NSW

peter87 - June 29th, 2012 at 12:31 AM

i'm going to give it a shot, thanks for the advice again :)

matberry - June 29th, 2012 at 08:38 AM

Grab a used harness from a wreck, fit and do any repairs reguired. I'd do a stock beetle rewire for 1/2 what you've been quoted.

Herbie Down Under - June 30th, 2012 at 10:59 AM

Theres new RHD wiring looms on EBAY. CAme across them the other day whilst I was looking for LHD looms. Brand new in the correct colors. Roughly around $200 to $260

Herbie Down Under - June 30th, 2012 at 11:22 AM

I can't find them at this moment but I have seen them as recently as 2 months ago. Keep checking and I'm sure youll see it soon.

Lucky Phil - July 8th, 2012 at 07:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by peter87
the left hand side. The wiring is really crappy and it has so many earths in places where it is not needed.


You can't have too many earths!