New to the board with a wiring nightmare

[Bugman_Jeff]

I recently picked up my first T3, a 71 Fastback. Solid and straight, though orange isn't my color. But it's so much cooler than the Baja it replaced.

Anyway, I won't get into the story leading me up to this point, other than the frustration of having the car 4 months and driving it maybe 4 times. The rest of the time it has sat while I threw money and parts at it.

Ripped out the ailing FI and put on brand new Weber 34's. Went seveal rounds with the shop that rebuilt my generator about why it wasn't charging. (He kept blaming the electrical system) Sooooo.... I rewired the whole rear of the car after finding a clump of burnt wires near the voltage regulator, only to discover....

A massive clump of wires cooked together coming out of the ignition switch. (D'OH!! Shouldda checked the rest of the system first I guess. ) Dunno how it ran actually. The PO was in there recently since the ignition switch appears new.

And then the biggest problem surfaced. The wires out of my ign switch don't exactly match my wiring diagrams. I have a copy of the diagram from a Mitchel's manual, and I have the Bently book on it. And these wires were burnt bad enough that I am uncertain if they were in the right places in the first place. And the books have discrepencies to each other and to the car!

So to be certain, I pulled the column apart. The wires I have on my switch are as follows:

Circuit 30 (12 ga Red) - Assuming this is bat power into the sw.
Circuit 50 (14 ga Red/Bk) - Clearly went to the starter (My only absolute)
Circuit "X" (Blk/Yel) - To hazzard sw?
Circuit "S" (Blue/Brn) - To the dimmer sw?
Circuit 15 (blk) - To the fuse panel for keyed power?
Circuit "P" (grey) - Mystery wire.

Can anyone help me sort out this mess? I'm about to just finish wiring the car "my way". (The rear already is. Who needs those 1000 or so German engineers and their years of research? ) And if anyone has rewired one, any advice? I'd like to mount the fuses in an easier to reach location, and use ATC blade style fuses. And have room for expansion, like stero equipment, power accessories, additional lights, etc. But before I go that far I'd do the alternator conversion on it of course.

Any help that you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Jeff

[blankmange]

[tomnotch]

Have you looked at the wiring diagrams here on this site?
_________________
Tom

DVKK

DSD, Dark Side Disciples
Progenitor

[Mr. Bubblehead]

[blankmange]

[Russ Wolfe]

[seans67]

Sorry I can't help you with your wiring, I hate electrical problems/
But I will be number 4 in line for any bits that are left from the FI.
_________________
Sean

'71 Squareback '71 Porsche 914 ‘80 Camper '87 Syncro Weekender 1.8T '87 Wolfsburg Weekender '97 Toyota Land Cruiser ‘03 Audi A6 Quattro 3.0 ‘04 Audi A4 Avant Quattro 1.8T ‘05 Audi A4 Quattro 3.0
‘06 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S

[Bobnotch]

[Air-Cooled Head]

Welcome to the board Jeff, and the wonderful world of old T3's.
Wow, you made some of the most knowledgable folks on here fight over your FI without answering your questions. Not that I am. I'm going through exactly what you are, maybe just a little ahead of you.

The "P" mystery wire is for parking lights, and goes to the fuse block.
Black 15 is from the coil, also to fuse block.
S is T/S indicator, goes to flasher relay
Blk/Yellow should be H/L to fuse block, but you could be right.

Hope this helps.
_________________
Everything known to man has been written.
Readers are Leaders!

[Russ Wolfe]

[Bugman_Jeff]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone. For the record, I'm not new to VW's. I built a couple of pretty cool Bajas before deciding they aren't so practical for the DD. Pops drives a beautiful orange 74 Westy, and my older brother has 2 71 Westys (one I sold him), one of which is slammed. I'll post some pictures at another time.

So if I have this right, my wiring should be like this, with remaining mystery questions highlighted:

Circuit 30 (12 ga Red) - Battery power in from fuse block
Circuit 50 (14 ga Red/Bk) - Clearly went to the starter (My only absolute)
Circuit "X" (Blk/Yel) - To fuse box, but where, keyed or battery power?
Circuit "S" (Blue/Brn) - To somewhere on the flasher relay?
Circuit 15 (blk) - To the fuse panel for keyed power. I assume this is power out then?
Circuit "P" (grey) - Key buzzer. (Makes sense, sicne I found one of those and park lights sould be a function of the headlight sw,.... I think )

I had scoped out the diagrams here, but they appeared to be from the same sources as I already had, which were contradicting each other and my car. But I appreciate the timely response. Gas for my Scout (current DD) is killin me! And sorry guys, I'm hangin on to the FI stuff. One never knows when the technology will come that will allow us all to return to FI. I know I would rather run that, but it has to be reliable.

[Russ Wolfe]