International Vintage Volkswagen Forums

My 54/55 Beetle needs rewiring because the insulation on a lot of the wires has gone brittle and it's a fire just waiting to happen.

I'm pretty adept at electrical tasks and in most respects I'm fairly comfortable about the task that confronts me here. From looking at random Beetle wiring diagrams, I don't anticipate problems getting things working overall.

Ideally, I hope to remove the car's current wiring loom intact and use that as a template.

To do the job "properly" I will need to use wiring of the correct guage and with the correct colour coding. I also need to find PVC (or equivalent) sleeving. Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, I want to avoid the Halfords style crimp connectors like the plague. To summarise all of this, I need to source the correct materials -- where can I find them?

Alternatively, a ready-made loom might be a better choice. Wolfsburg West sell that I take to be a LHD loom, are there good RHD alternatives available ready-made?

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I bought a RHD loom from this company for a 1960 Beetle. Very good quality and their prices seem very resonable too.

https://www.vinwire.com.au/index.htm 

I've also rewired a car using cable and heat-shrink sleeveing from this company in the UK.

https://wwww.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk/ 

Lastly, A 54-55 VW doesn't have crimped connections on the wiring loom, just bare, soldered ends to the wires and screw terminals.

Malc

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Peter Good at volksgoods does RHD wiring looms. Can't vouch for the quality, but if their anything like his starter motors & generators then they'll be good. Not cheap tho'. Give him a ring as he's very helpfull.

Can't post a link, but if you google it, it should bring it up.

Chris

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Thanks for all the helpful information.

It turns out that the present loom is in one hell of a mess, and I don't think that remaking the loom based upon what's currently there will give a satisfactory outcome.

By the looks of things, the previous restorer back in 1987 (the car has been barn stored since) hadn't actually restored the car to a running condition. For example, during that restoration a 12v/1600cc engine was fitted but there are no signs if it ever being wired in.

I might have to bite the bullet and buy a ready-made loom, bugger! I'm contemplating installing a 6v loom and making ad-hoc addons for the 12v regulator. These will be removed at a later date when I return the electrics to 6v - does this sound practical?

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Before you buy new contact Ron Richman who lives near Bath, he has done lots of custom looms, holds many beetle & bus loom patterns and is excellent, I have seen a few in split buses and he is widely recommended by the SSVC. I was going to get him to make me up a new one for my split beetle but repaired mine in the end. However in hindsight, the only small problems I had after reassembling the car were related to the old loom, so new was probably a better idea.

richmanr@blueyonder.co.uk

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By the way, I did buy correct cloth bound wire in the correct & almost correct guage, almost all the correct colours & patterns I found available to special order, unfortunately I can't remember now where from :? :oops: But it is out there, so if you get someone to make one up for you, specify they use it. What you wont find is the heavy cotton cloth sheath that binds the centre section, although you can buy a modern black nylon version. Mine was pretty intact so I just gave it extra wrapping in wide black insulation and then duck tape (only where unseen inside pillars/roof) over to save any damage caused when threading it back through the roof section, in particular the semaphores!! :twisted: there is metal plate inside the hidden roof (below gutter) with holes all along that I didnt know even existed. It was fiddly.

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It looks like I have some places to go for the PVC wiring and sleeving (fingers crossed). For the record, and to save others reinventing this wheel, I'll post a followup with contact details in due course.

The old loom came out at the weekend. During removal it became clear just what a transitional state the car's electrics was left in from its unfinished restoration from 20yrs ago. Suffice it to say that a lot of the detail about routing and placement of electrical components was already lost.

Does anyone have (or know of) any pictures of RHD wiring on January 1954 - August 1955 cars? I'm especially interested in the rear of the dash and the general wiring layout under the bonnet.

Even just the (nick)name/car name and hangout place on the web of someone who has taken pics might be very helpful.

Thanks
Andrew

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Thanks for the info. mrsherbie.
The only cotton tape I found on mine was some insulation tape where the loom sat inside the RHS windscreen pillar and some wires had been repaired. Did you find cotton cloth tape used 'as standard' in a Jan '54 - Aug '55 loom?

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No, sorry you are right, mine was in my 50, we have a 54 with og wiring but it is lhd and not cloth as you say!

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