TheSamba.com :: View topic - Help

Sat May 17, 2014 4:16 am

Start out by introducing myself. I'm Alex, 25, and purchased a VW fiberglass body car (have pics in here) with a 1963 engine... Has an updated 12V electrical and I cannot find the right diagram to get my lights to perform (and could perhaps need new relays) but I wanted advice first.

Under the dash I have these components;
1 - 8 fuse box
1 - vw 311 941 583A headlight relay
1 - headlight switch with vw 8462 on the back
1 - flasher relay (1966) version

Speedometer is original (I believe 63) with just the red and green light and flasher light center..

I replaced the turn signal because the wires were shot and handle busted.. New one came with black,blue, brown wires ( vw had blk,brn, gr/BL/wht etc...) and tried to replicate correct connections... Nothing works.

The car fires up and runs like a dream. But without lights and (radio to come) its going to sit until I figure this out!

My plan is to run brand new wire to the headlights and flashers and rear flash/brake all in one lights... But if anyone could instruct me as to what to do under the dash to make sense of the cause that would be much appreciated!

Thank you

Sat May 17, 2014 6:53 am

I can give you some basic starting points
....Go to the technical section and find the 63 wiring diagram
and duplicate that wiring through your car the colors may be different on the directional switch wires but with a volt ohm meter you can figure out which is grounded and which have voltage in different positions ...by running a fused spare wire from the battery you can simulate switchimg wires around......buy extra white fuses....

If you told us what type fiberglass body you have there might be someone here familiar with it ; that could help

Sat May 17, 2014 8:32 am

Remember: with a fiberglass body, you're going to need to route GROUND WIRES to everything.

VW and (most, back then) other makers used the metal of the vehicle as the grounding circuit.

Sat May 17, 2014 8:02 pm

I have a berry mini t4....

Mon May 19, 2014 10:54 am

How do I know if my VW headlight switch is fully functioning along with the relay that has all the wires coming out of it?

Also, would it be easier to remove the VW 8 panel fusebox and instead use new in-line fuses and then spade the connections back in? The functions I want in the vehicle are the headlights, turn signals and brake lights... then for the dash just the trouble lights, radio and possible fuel gauge.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Mon May 19, 2014 12:45 pm

Your '66 flasher relay is 6V, but you have converted to 12V. 12V will fry that rather rare 9-pin box.

If you don't need hazard lights you can use a cheaper generic relay like a Tridon EP35.

Mon May 19, 2014 1:40 pm

Whoever had this car then didn't do it right then.... The flashers and headlights were the only two things that worked before i took everything apart to see where my problems were with broken wires, etc....

I have purchased a new flasher relay like the one mentioned above.. what do I do with the rest of the wires that are in the 9-pin box?

Mon May 19, 2014 1:56 pm

It may vary depending on what turn signal lever you have installed. Can you take a picture or describe the wires and their colors coming out of the lever assembly?

Mon May 19, 2014 7:26 pm

I decided today that the only way to do this was to remove the fiberglass body... I will post pictures tomorrow of my wire mess I have and of the signal wiring colors

Wed Jul 02, 2014 6:48 am

Going to install a Jensen Am/FM tuner and two speakers - where is the best place to run the power to? straight to the battery or through the fuse box?

Wed Jul 02, 2014 9:36 am

Once you get your wiring sorted out and working, I would install a second fuse box from painless wiring or some other company and wire additional accessories through that, like your stereo. Most of them come with a relay to help protect against shorts and other potential problems.

I just re-wired my 66 bug last year and I didn't want to hack into the wiring, that usually starts a slippery slip of odd electrical gremlins. I installed a secondary accessory fuse block under the rear seat and i have another one I'm putting in my Mega Jolt ignition system.

Wed Jul 02, 2014 10:30 am

I luckily had a european VW guru from Luxembourg come to my farm and fix all the wiring for me. He came to visit his friend who is working for us and went through my whole vehicle so everything is ready to roll with my wiring, etc. But, if the best way is to incorporate a second fusebox i will do that. I still have a fuel sender to install and a couple larger trouble lights that i'm going to splice into the original ones to give it more of an updated look. Getting the fiberglass body painted this week so hopefully by mid-July I will have the car finished and road worthy.

Wed Jul 02, 2014 1:13 pm

bladerunner80 wrote: Once you get your wiring sorted out and working, I would install a second fuse box from painless wiring or some other company and wire additional accessories through that, like your stereo. Most of them come with a relay to help protect against shorts and other potential problems.

I just re-wired my 66 bug last year and I didn't want to hack into the wiring, that usually starts a slippery slip of odd electrical gremlins. I installed a secondary accessory fuse block under the rear seat and i have another one I'm putting in my Mega Jolt ignition system.

On my '65 I had a similar solution and for the same reason... too many changes and added accessories to burden the original fusebox. I bought a second stock fusebox and mounted it on the right hand side, where it goes on RHD cars, so the metal is shaped to accept it-- just make a cutout.

It looks stock, uses stock VW parts, and worked well.

Wed Jul 02, 2014 6:42 pm

YAGZ58 wrote: Going to install a Jensen Am/FM tuner and two speakers - where is the best place to run the power to? straight to the battery or through the fuse box?

A simple AM/FM tuner shouldn't draw many amps. If you don't have the specs you can get a fair idea by how large a diameter it's power wire is, if it's only 16-18 ga protected with a 3 to 5 amp inline fuse then you don't need to go right to the Battery or power it with a relay.

You also have to choose if you want it to play only with the key "On", or play at all times with the key off/out, so that's a major factor.

You don't mention how your friend "fixed" the wiring and whether or not he retained a stock 8 fuse panel, so that's an unknown.

Since they do typically have their own fuse, you can safely connect it in parallel behind the dash in any convenient location to either a constant 12v or +15 switched 12v at your discretion. Some tuners may require both sources of power to retain memory and clock settings, so you may have to connect to both anyway.

Tue Aug 19, 2014 9:38 am

So Up until today I had everything working again... got the body back on went to hook the headlights back into the system and lost all my juice.. replaced fuses and still nothing.. Have brake lights that work perfect but nothing to the front of the car. I may have to resort to taking off the body again and going through the wires myself now without the help of the expert who so nicely got everything working again... I believe it has to do with the fuse box and the fuse box only but I could be wrong.

Tue Aug 19, 2014 2:08 pm

Has anybody removed the old 8-fuse european fuse box and upgraded it to a newer standard one??? I put a secondary fusebox on the car to run accessories and only am using two of the spots for now... If I really felt enthused, could I move the wires to that new fusebox and try to clean up my wiring problem?

The reason I say this is that the fiberglass body that I have - once it is bolted to the frame - I cannot access my fuse panel because of the design of the body.

This is the box I installed for secondary components:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P6FTHC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I want to do this one time and do it right - so if anyone has a good idea for me to alleviate future headaches like the one I am experiencing at the moment that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You!

Tue Aug 19, 2014 5:23 pm

Here is the buggy (I just took the body back off) believe my problem is voltage issues... I think the switch is 6v and the car is setup for 12v now.