So.... engine fire.

A couple of weeks ago, my old '74 Super Beetle decided she hadn't had
enough attention lately and caught fire at a traffic light.

Got the fire put out, got the car towed back, now all I have to do is
replace all of those wires and tubes in the engine compartment.

I'm trying to decide if I want to buy a premade harness by mail order
(yes, there's someone actually making them for the 74 Supers now), or
just go ahead and do a from-scratch loom by hand. The harness would
probably be a lot easier, but the homemade one would cost about a
hundred bucks less.

Any suggestions?

Or, more to the point, any tips on where to get connectors for the
various important parts (generator, etc)?

Chad Irby wrote:

> A couple of weeks ago, my old '74 Super Beetle decided she hadn't had
> enough attention lately and caught fire at a traffic light.
>
> Got the fire put out, got the car towed back, now all I have to do is
> replace all of those wires and tubes in the engine compartment.
>
> I'm trying to decide if I want to buy a premade harness by mail order
> (yes, there's someone actually making them for the 74 Supers now), or
> just go ahead and do a from-scratch loom by hand. The harness would
> probably be a lot easier, but the homemade one would cost about a
> hundred bucks less.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Or, more to the point, any tips on where to get connectors for the
> various important parts (generator, etc)?


Make your own. There aren't that many wires and the splices can
all be made under the back seat.

One problem may be getting new wires past the foamed-in
insulation above the left rear wheel well.
Oh.....maybe the fire burned it all out!

Any auto parts store will have all the connectors you need,
plus a good crimping tool. And loads of wire too.

Was the Alternator maybe damaged ('74 didn't have Gen) ?
Coil? Carb elec parts?

Get a diagram of the car he
http://www.vintagebus.com/wiring.html
The most accurate one will be:
1974 1303 USA de Y

It can be hard to follow because of the linear layout.

Look on my web site for details of the Alternator wiring and also
the color coding of the rear tail light wiring.

E-mail works if you get stuck.

Speedy Jim
http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/

No advice, but who is making the '74 Super harness? Mine doesn't need one but I'd like to know where to go if that
eventuality ever came up. I have to get a wiring harness for my Citroen 2CV from Germany.
"Chad Irby" > wrote in message ...
> A couple of weeks ago, my old '74 Super Beetle decided she hadn't had
> enough attention lately and caught fire at a traffic light.
>
> Got the fire put out, got the car towed back, now all I have to do is
> replace all of those wires and tubes in the engine compartment.
>
> I'm trying to decide if I want to buy a premade harness by mail order
> (yes, there's someone actually making them for the 74 Supers now), or
> just go ahead and do a from-scratch loom by hand. The harness would
> probably be a lot easier, but the homemade one would cost about a
> hundred bucks less.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Or, more to the point, any tips on where to get connectors for the
> various important parts (generator, etc)?

In article >,
"Ben Boyle" > wrote:

> No advice, but who is making the '74 Super harness? Mine doesn't need
> one but I'd like to know where to go if that eventuality ever came
> up.

Supposedly, you can get one from California Import Parts:

<http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails....%2D131%2D19 7
4>

"C17-WM-131-1974 - MAIN WIRING HARNESS FROM ENGINE COMPART TO FUSE BOX -
SUPER BEETLE & CONVERTIBLE 1974"

Phone-in/Mailorder Price US $157.45
Website Discount Price US $149.95

I'm told there are others out there now, also.

In article > ,
Speedy Jim > wrote:

> Make your own. There aren't that many wires and the splices can
> all be made under the back seat.

Hmmm. Yeah, seems pretty simple, now that you mention it. I was
thinking I needed to pull from the dashboard.

> One problem may be getting new wires past the foamed-in
> insulation above the left rear wheel well.
> Oh.....maybe the fire burned it all out!

It did...

> Any auto parts store will have all the connectors you need,
> plus a good crimping tool. And loads of wire too.

I have a local supplier who has the right color coded wire types, and
most of the other gear is already on hand.

> Was the Alternator maybe damaged ('74 didn't have Gen) ?
> Coil? Carb elec parts?

Alternator looks okay - it was mostly a carb/gas/rubber fire. I'll swap
that out if it doesn't work. The carb needs a full rebuild, too.

> Get a diagram of the car he
> http://www.vintagebus.com/wiring.html
> The most accurate one will be:
> 1974 1303 USA de Y
>
> It can be hard to follow because of the linear layout.
>
> Look on my web site for details of the Alternator wiring and also
> the color coding of the rear tail light wiring.
>
> E-mail works if you get stuck.
>
> Speedy Jim
> http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/

Thanks - one of the things I'm planning with the "self repair" method is
to make a whole new diagram based off of a scan of the "official"
diagram I got a couple of years back. Hacking out the self-test wires,
leaving off the seat belt interlocks (those are already bypassed on this
particular car), et cetera.

You can splice in the part of the wiring harness from a parts car, on a
74 I would spice from under the back seat and use spice conecters and
shrink wrap, found at any auto parts store. This would be a great time
to get the foam out of the rear quarter area. Good reminder time to
CHECK YOU FUEL LINES!!

Mario
Vintage Werks Restorations

Hi!
You might be able to get an engine compartment wiring harness or just
the main harness from aircooled.net.

If you need the big engine compartment seal, I think you can still get
a German seal at oeveedub.com.

What caused the fire?
Was it from a missing rubber firewall grommet that the metal fuel line
passes through that might have made a hole in the fuel line?

You might want to pull the engine.
Paint the engine compartment semi gloss black.
Give it a new engine compartment seal and an engine compartment wiring
harness.

In article . com>,
wrote:

> What caused the fire?
> Was it from a missing rubber firewall grommet that the metal fuel line
> passes through that might have made a hole in the fuel line?

Naah - from the looks of things, it was just a hose that came loose.

I always put clamps on my hoses.

For simplicity's sake, I would suggest getting a new harness from
Wolfsburg West. They are based out of California and I have had
nothing but good experiences with them over the past 6 years (and $6000
in parts) of my '66 restoration. Many of their parts are made in-house
and are vastly superior to those you might find in a local bug shop.
It looks like their '74 main harness is $142

The website for their harnesses is:

http://www.wolfsburgwest.com/wolfsbu.../wire_loom.cfm

Tony