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Sun Oct 31, 2004 9:07 am

Hi All

My 57 oval had been totally stripped and put on a later pan. I've managed to find an early 58 bug to act as a donor. The 58 loom is perfect, been sat in a garage for 20 odd years, I'm going to install it into my 57. How do I get it following the original route, considering there is no old wiring to use as a lead.

Any help would be great.

Thanks

Sun Oct 31, 2004 11:09 am

Tie one end to the old wiring harness, and pull it through.

(edit) I didn't notice there was no more wiring in the car. I don't know, sorry.

Sun Oct 31, 2004 2:59 pm

A friend of mine used to run cable tv. And they would use conplessed air to blow a jet line from one end to the other to feed the cable with.
Its just a real thin, light line!
Hopes this helps

Sun Oct 31, 2004 7:40 pm

electricians "fish"

Mon Nov 01, 2004 4:49 pm

using air and a light gauge wire sounds like it may work.

you might just have to use your imagination.

a long coat hanger with a string attached to it. a trained lab rat (small one) to run it back there for you. :wink:

once the guide line through there, do what germanpride said. securely tie or tape your new wireing harness to that guide line at the front and slowly pull it through to the back.

good luck.

Mon Nov 01, 2004 11:22 pm

Your going to have an authenticity problem at the least and you very well may not be able to substitute the looms. On the 57 and earlier beetles the loom ran on the right or passenger side of the car. Starting in 1958 the loom was run on the left or drivers side. There are some small differncesinthe looms as well.

Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:36 pm

I think you may be right on the authenticity aspect. I forgot to mention that they are both RHD euro cars, the 58 is only 7 months older than the oval, still has semaphores, oval tank, bat wing steering wheel and the like. I think I'll just have to give it a go, running it down the left side and see what happen. I managed to get a wire all the way from the engine bay to the front compartment, also manged to get a bit to drap the semaphore wires down, sheer luck i reckon.

Thu Nov 11, 2004 2:45 pm

I used a fairly stiff wire and ran it from the rear to the front, tied the loom to it and pulled it through. Worked just fine. Yes, the wiring in a '58 is different than the wiring in a '57. I would suggest just buying a new loom from Wolfsburg West or BFY, it's more than worth the $200 to have nice clean, new wiring. You'll be happy you spent the money.