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Wed Jul 23, 2014 5:53 pm

I have a 66 beetle that has been sitting since 73 that i am trying to bring back to life. i have removed all the wiring from the car as it was junk and had been in a flood. i plan to rewire the car as a 12v system instead of a 6v. being i am on a low budget on this build i plan to put the motor of the year the switch was made as it would be the smallest and likely the cheapest, but i am not sure what year the 12v came out so that i can find that motor and also the wiring harnesses for that year. does anyone know off the top of their head??

Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:00 pm

1967 in the usa

Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:02 pm

1967 VW went to 12 volt for most of their product line. From 1963 it was an option.

Just get a repro 1966 wiring harness. It will work with either 6 or 12 volts. You might consider just going with 6 volt. Lots of free spare parts out there since so many already convert to 12 volt.

Wed Jul 23, 2014 6:25 pm

Order the 66 wiring harness the conversion from 6 to 12 has nothing to do with the wires. Those on a really low budget can convert to 8 volt using a tractor battery and adjusting the contacts on the regulator to put out a little more. Its crude but works we've done it. The 12 volt conversion would be better though. As for switching engines you can make any engine 6 or 12 volt. Your 66 bug USA spec would have had a 1300cc engine which easily converts to 1600 and 12 volt. No engine? No problem you can install whatever you want.

If your 66 has the original transaxle ck to see if its been clearanced for the larger 200mm flywheel maybe someone installed a larger engine previously because if not figure on doing that too. But that's a whole other topic.

You could use the search feature here and try to scope it out but easier and faster would be to go to amazon.com and order a book called Tom Wilson's how to rebuild your VW engine it covers what you need including 6 to 12 volt conversions and has good pictures and illustrations .best of luck

Thu Jul 24, 2014 7:19 am

You would be much better off replacing the wiring harness with the correct harness for the 66.

A 6 volt harness will easily handle 12 volts, but much of the harness that went into the latter 12 volt cars can’t handle 6 volts. It’s a wire gauge issue.

As for which engine, it isn’t going to make much difference which you choose. Originally a U.S. spec 66 would have had a 1300cc. But those parts are somewhat difficult to find as it was mostly a one year engine.

1600cc stuff will bolt right in with minimal modifications and could be set up to run either 6 or 12 volts. And you will probably have better luck finding a decent 1600 then you would a 1300 or even a 1500.