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  #1  
Old May 23rd 2004, 15:29
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boygenius boygenius is offline
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Question Which wiring harness???

What wiring harness is the best for a beetle. I don't plan on putting in a huge stereo or tons of gauges. I will be doing some custom wiring with my 914 gauges that I just bought. What is the best wiring harness for the money???
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Old May 24th 2004, 00:50
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NO_H2O NO_H2O is offline
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For the $$$, the one that is in it will work fine as long as it is in good shape. You can make an aux. harness for gauges/ect. and run it along the rt side of the car in the channel used for Rt. hand drive cars. You might as well run some extra wires in the harness for later use.
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  #3  
Old May 24th 2004, 10:59
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boygenius boygenius is offline
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Well there is no wiring harness left in the car. It was so bad I have to replace it. The car suffered from a bad case of spaghetti wiring. There must have been 5 splices for every wire... So I should order a stock replacement one...
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I love my money pit, uhm, err, I mean my car.
1969 beetle in the works... 2.0 type 4 DTM...
2004 Suzuki GSX-R 1000 crashed
www.volksport.net Volksport Kfer Gruppe
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  #4  
Old May 24th 2004, 18:52
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VWader04 VWader04 is offline
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Im looking into Painless Performance Products for my car...I am running wiring for the necessary systems only....lights, ignition,guages, etc. No extra clutter.

www.painlessperformance.com
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  #5  
Old August 16th 2004, 21:43
flat_iv flat_iv is offline
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I ran a complete Painless wiring harness in my 74 Ghia. Wasnt as bad as I thought it would be. I used the 18 circuit universal.
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  #6  
Old September 23rd 2004, 16:45
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Bill K. Bill K. is offline
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I used the American Autowire kit sold by Watsons Streetworks. The materials are great -- new style fuse box, labelled wires, good connectors. The instructions are okay -- they look nice, but don't address stock bug light switches and other bug specifics so you have to do some integration between the OEM wiring and the Watsons plan. I like the tiered design of the Watsons wiring layout -- makes more sence than the OEM setup.

The Autowire and Painless stuff are KITs not harnesses. You make the harness from the kit. The flexibility of the kit was nice, but took extra time designing as I went. I went with it for the fuse box, pre-labelled wires, and modern electrical layout. I bought additional wire, looms, and connectors as needed. Also, you need to buy a crimper for the open barrel connectors that come with the kit (~$50).

The Autowire fuse box comes with a mechanical flasher relay. I changed it out for an electric flasher. The electric responds much faster so you get a blink as soon as you hit the turn signal -- good for quick lane changes. Also, the electric unit works regardless of load -- good for LED bulbs.
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  #7  
Old September 28th 2004, 17:26
hybrid_john hybrid_john is offline
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Thats good to know because I have to replace the entire wire harness for my 69 standard, it had the same problem as your Brendan, and I may have fried the system as well. I was welding on the car and the battery wasn't disconected! Oh well things happen and then you deal with them.

But the info you provided, Bill, was really helpfull as I was wondering company to get a wiring harness from that could handle up to 2400 watts of power, this isn't my GL so I goin huge in the stereo system.



John
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  #8  
Old June 14th 2007, 01:28
djmatio djmatio is offline
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Question for those using Painless 18-circuit universal:

Since I am pretty much electrically inept, if you use the Painless product, how do the old VW relays (for blinkers, etc) fit into the equation? I have a 1972 super and most of it (wiring wise) will be to the stock items.

Thanks
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  #9  
Old June 14th 2007, 09:08
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Bill K. Bill K. is offline
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Both Painless and Watsons have fuse boxes with turn signal relays and flashers built in, so they replace the VW ones. Other switches and relays are kept. If you want custom install with modern fuse box, go with kit like these. If you want to replace old wires without redesigning the wiring scheme, go with a replacement harness.
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  #10  
Old June 15th 2007, 22:29
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GL-Aussielooker GL-Aussielooker is offline
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I used the Watson street works setup.... very easy to install. great looking too. I did mine over 4 days working on it about 3 hours each day.

Had no problems and everything was there. I am a computer geek and did it, so it can be done by anyone.

I am very glad that I did the upgrade.
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  #11  
Old June 28th 2007, 08:41
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Dasdubber Dasdubber is offline
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I too used the watsons kit on my old ragtop - a few pics can be found here:

http://www.manxgallery.org/gallery/album228

Took a while but was worth it even for someone like me with no previous autoelec experience.
Alan
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  #12  
Old June 29th 2007, 04:22
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Chris Percival Chris Percival is offline
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Chop a good one out of an old car. The original wiring loom is very hard to beat in terms of quality and functionality..
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