914 driving light and horn installation?

[Windisch]

My '74 has several wires emerging from the car's wiring harness on each side of the front body pan (behind the front bumper, in the space back of the horn grill), the wire colors being obscured by overspray with body color paint. My understanding is that this "pre-installed" wiring was standard practice on all 1973 and later cars, so that the optional driving light 'package' could be easily added, should owner wish to affix them and the matching grills.

It's difficult to determine which is the brown ground wire (due to paint overspray) and which is the (+) power wire. I have two Hella horns that I wish to install, in addition to the driving lights. Any tips or pointers on how to go about this in advance would help immeasurably. I will probably be able to eventually stumble upon the answers to these questions on my own, but as I said, I'm sure a few others have gone this route in past and their inputs would help save me unnecessary effort. Thanks.

One last thing: where is the stock 914 horn relay located? Is it on the relay tray (that holds the voltage regulator) on the driver's left side of the engine bay...or somewhere else?
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1973 Standard Beetle, 1974 VW/Porsche 914-4, 1.8 liter
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Der Volkswagen ist ein Ausdruck der deutschen Kultur der Allrad Art ...

[The only irrefutable evidence we have that intelligent life truly exists elsewhere in the Universe is the fact that so far it has NOT contacted humanity...]

[[email protected]]

horn relay is on the back of the fuse block. Wipe the wires with lacquer thinner, brown wire is always ground the white with yellow stripe is the hot for the driving lights

[Windisch]

[Windisch]

OK, further questions arise in this regard. I was able to use lacquer-thinner (as Dr. 914 suggested) to get the paint overspray off the wires exiting from the the body, behind the front bumper, well enough to be able to plug the new driving lights into them, and also install the new Hella dual-horns.

However, the next logical question seems to be that given the fact that my car did not come with an accessory lights on-switch (as it didn't have the optional accessory appearance package, when new) , I need to find out where to look for the pre-installed wires that are intended to be hooked up to such a switch (that still needs to be installed).

Dr. 914 says that the OEM driving lights relay is above the fuse panel, but how would one go about connecting and completing the circuit? Anyone have a diagram or existing documentation of such a process to resort to?

I have the standard '74 Porsche 914-4 owner's manual wiring harness diagram for all OEM circuits, but I'm uncertain whether or not the previous owner altered or removed some of the wiring circuitry. Does the answer to this question perhaps lie on that wiring diagram?
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1973 Standard Beetle, 1974 VW/Porsche 914-4, 1.8 liter
----------------------
Der Volkswagen ist ein Ausdruck der deutschen Kultur der Allrad Art ...

[The only irrefutable evidence we have that intelligent life truly exists elsewhere in the Universe is the fact that so far it has NOT contacted humanity...]

[Nitramrebrab72]

The key is possibly in locating the relay emplacement and from there you should find the wires going towards the factory optional light emplacement if they are still there and possibly the wires that go from the relay towards their switch location or maybe just buddle up as regards to the switch wires if they were factory installed and still in situ. Possibly the switch wires were not pre fitted.

[Windisch]

[Windisch]

Just in case any one is wondering what the outcome on this 'project' is, I've installed the two Hella 'SharpTone' horns and also a set of refurbished OEM 914 fog amps, with a fog lamp switch on my dash instrument panel where it should be (left of steering wheel and next to emergency and lights switches).

Thanks for the various replies and inputs from other forum members. It was quite a problematic process, given that I ran into a few unsuspected stumbling blocks along the way, but both horns and lamps are now installed and function well (I have them wired to operate independent of the main lighting system). The two horns should wake the living dead (they are LOUD!) and I'm about to reinstall the front bumper and its skirt.

This whole process can be viewed on '914World', where I've detailed everything, but I really wish that some likely lad would write up a COMPREHENSIVE tech article on 'How to retro-install horns and fog lamps', complete with ALL the seemingly mundane details and procedural steps, mainly because most of the existing tech articles on this subject seem to skip over a lot of basic (but unclear) details that a shade-tree mechanic might have questions regarding.

The lamps are of the Tungsten bulb type (BA20s F2 bulb, 35 watt) but I would recommend , if you take on this sort of project, that you use the Quartz Halogen type type 55 watt lamps (such as are used on the 911).
_________________
1973 Standard Beetle, 1974 VW/Porsche 914-4, 1.8 liter
----------------------
Der Volkswagen ist ein Ausdruck der deutschen Kultur der Allrad Art ...

[The only irrefutable evidence we have that intelligent life truly exists elsewhere in the Universe is the fact that so far it has NOT contacted humanity...]

[[email protected]]

YOU could be the lad, and I the Dad for many many tech articles. You could move here, be our tech guy, and I will help you write and video every article ANY 914 guy would want to see, no problem. We have the cars, the parts, the mechanics and the filming area

[Windisch]