TheSamba.com :: View topic - Re-wiring an April '52

Mon Oct 27, 2025 5:04 pm

Any ideas on how to feed the semaphore wires from the front dash area thru the roof to the semaphore boxes in the B-pillar with the headliner already in place? Can it be done without damaging the headliner?

Thanks in advance for any help with this.

Wed Oct 29, 2025 8:57 am

Is the original wiring still in place? You could tie the new and old wires together and pull it through. If the original is missing completely, it would be a very tough job. I recently installed a new harness in my Beetle - no headliner and no original wiring. Still it was a little tricky. I tied the new harness to a stiff copper wire to help push it up through the A pillar etc. I can't imagine doing it with a headliner in place.

Wed Oct 29, 2025 12:23 pm

time to train the hamster..? :-k

would it be possible to feed a wire that was stiff enough to feed up the screen pillar towards the b post which could then be hooked down by a stiff wire reaching up from the semaphore pocket?

Wed Oct 29, 2025 10:21 pm

Get a good size rag and stuff the rear roof openings completely and well. Then tack a shop vac hose and stick a shop the into the opening next to the dash that goes up into the roof area. Shove it as far in as it will go. Then stuff rags into any air openings next to the hose. You might want to tape up the inner void along the roof as well.

Turn the vacum on.

Get a roll of string. Make the end of the string fat, by tying a few knots. Take that end and with an In-N-Out straw, insert the knotted end into the tube. Insert the tube up into the semaphore opening, as far as you can. Once you think you are in and all is feeling good. Lift your finger off the string, releasing it, into the abyss of the roof.

The vacum will suck the air through the body channel, along with the string. It may need to be pulled back, if it gets stuck, but don’t give up. Try again. Eventually the string will make it through the maze.

Once through tape the string onto the wire and have one person pull as the other one pushes. You ought to see a wire!

That is a close account of how we pull large runs through conduit through industrial building. A string with a small rag on the business end and a shop vac. It works great and can pull a pull line in a few seconds!

Good luck! You just need to mitigate the air openings so that the vacuum can pull a vacuum within the area!

Fri Nov 07, 2025 3:31 am

Hamster - if only. Hooking up with wire from pillar to snake from dash a possibility. Vacuum - creative brilliance!

Thanks all!