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BulliBill Samba Member
Joined: July 09, 2004 Posts: 4572 Location: St Charles, MO
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Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:50 am Post subject: UPDATE!!! Coiled protective metal sheathing on the horn wire |
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On the earlier Split-Buses the brown-covered horn "ground" wire exits out of the bottom of the steering box and for a short distance had a coiled metal protective covering over the plastic-coated horn wire. It is very tightly wrapped around the brown "ground" wire and doesn't appear to be able to slide onto and off of the plastic-coated wire. Know what I'm talking about? The following photo is of a remnant of an original piece of horn ground wire with the coiled metal protective sleeve over the brown horn ground wiring...
New wiring harnesses these days don't have this coiled metal covering. They come instead with a extra plastic protective tubing, similar to shrink-wrap tubing. Has anyone (I know that Neil Pickett figured this out) else found a supplier of this covering or something similar? Perhaps Neil can enlighten us as to how he did it on his incredible Deluxe! Someone must have and hopefully still supply this stuff... Man these little details are just KILLIN' me!
Bill Bowman _________________ I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton
Thanks for any help!
Last edited by BulliBill on Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:49 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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easy e Samba Member
Joined: May 28, 2008 Posts: 3931 Location: 1 hr north of Santa Barbara
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easy e Samba Member
Joined: May 28, 2008 Posts: 3931 Location: 1 hr north of Santa Barbara
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Stocknazi Samba Member
Joined: June 18, 2004 Posts: 5150
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Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 5:40 pm Post subject: |
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Cool thread.
I have a couple of these that I was hoping to replace the wire and use.
Bummer that you can not pull the old wire out and replace. _________________ WANTED:
58 Westfalia cabinet knobs (3 needed), roof rack, and (7) privy tent poles (silver painted).
"When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty."
"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."
Thomas Jefferson |
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56reddy Samba Member
Joined: October 22, 2005 Posts: 774
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2014 5:45 am Post subject: |
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Try John Henry over in the split beetle forum. He makes wiring harnesses for early beetles and that aluminum wiring cover is part of the tail light harness. _________________ New Vintage Specialist.
1974 ghia convertible
1981 Vanagon Westfalia
Making VW’s Fun Again.(MVFA) |
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commercial air Samba Member
Joined: July 19, 2005 Posts: 230 Location: Driving in the crumple zone...Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 8:36 am Post subject: |
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I use standard choke/throttle cable from the hardware store. The stuff commonly found on old lawnmowers, gas engines, etc. Just pull the solid wire out and feed a small gauge ground wire in.
Chris _________________ Northern United Transporter Society
www.nuts.commercial-air.com |
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BulliBill Samba Member
Joined: July 09, 2004 Posts: 4572 Location: St Charles, MO
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:09 pm Post subject: |
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I just dropped by my local bicycle shop to see about what they had in the way of bike brake cables. I picked up a few 14" chunks of cable to experiment with to get close to the correct look of that protective sheathing over the brown horn ground wire. Bike cables have an outer plastic sheathing over the coiled metal cable cover, then an internal plastic or nylon "inner" sheathing to make the bike cable slide easier. We easily cut off the outer plastic sheathing, and apparently you catch a bit of the inner nylon in a needle nose plier and you can then pull out the inner sleeve (or so says the bike shop mechanic). Then you and feed a brown horn wire through the cable.
This process will end up with a larger outer diameter metal cover over the wire, but something is better than nothing... Also unfortunate is that this metal bike sheathing is so well made and strong that it will not bend sharply as needed coming out of the bottom of the steering box cover.
Oh well! When I get under the old DC I'll snap some photos.
Bill Bowman _________________ I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton
Thanks for any help! |
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BarryL Samba Member
Joined: November 01, 2004 Posts: 14269 Location: Casa de Oro, California
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 1:49 pm Post subject: |
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commercial air wrote: |
I use standard choke/throttle cable from the hardware store. The stuff commonly found on old lawnmowers, gas engines, etc. |
This ^^^^. It comes already naked. Lawnmower shop, too. Stuff like old Briggs and Stratton roto-tiller reverse cable.
I didn't know you'd accept steel, though, when I saw mine. |
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BulliBill Samba Member
Joined: July 09, 2004 Posts: 4572 Location: St Charles, MO
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 2:00 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, this stuff I picked up today appears to be steel, not aluminum. This is just an experiment so far, if someone has even better stuff, I'm listening and want about a foot of it!
Bill _________________ I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton
Thanks for any help! |
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BulliBill Samba Member
Joined: July 09, 2004 Posts: 4572 Location: St Charles, MO
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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Well, the experiment may have ended before it began!
I got a call today from a little vintage VW elf, the one who tightly "hand-wrapped" the aluminum sheathing around the brown wire to accurately reproduce the original early ground wire seen on Neil's Deluxe Bus. The elf had made 5 or 6 of those covered wires for some special Buses a while back, a simply perfect reproduction of a cool little detail!
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/692676.jpg
Inspired by my search for the "right stuff" for my Double-Cab restoration, the elf suggested that he might come out of retirement temporarily and knock out a few more of these aluminum sheathed horn wires, so I've already made arrangements to get two. There "may" be a few more available in the upcoming small run for some of you "detail perverts" out there. If interested in scoring one for your Transporter, quickly send a pm to the elf's best buddy, Neil Pickett for more details and a reservation!
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/692677.jpg
I can't wait to install mine!
Bill Bowman _________________ I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton
Thanks for any help! |
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thewalkingdude Samba Member
Joined: May 07, 2008 Posts: 152 Location: where am I now?
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Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2014 7:39 pm Post subject: UPDATE!!! Coiled protective metal sheathing on the horn wire |
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Received one from the elf myself. Was just like unwrapping a xmas gift you truly wanted but never got. Can't wait to snake it in and hear the horn for the first time. Rarely need one here in Olympia with our 'rush minute' traffic.
That 'elf' is going to have to get to work and make more of these.
Hi Ho, HI Ho ! _________________ the other Joe |
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BulliBill Samba Member
Joined: July 09, 2004 Posts: 4572 Location: St Charles, MO
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Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2014 6:32 am Post subject: |
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Allrighty! So another cool goodie showed up on Monday (eight days ago) in the mail from our buddy Neil "Npbusguy" Pickett. Here are two freshly reproduced (by Neil himself) brown horn ground wires used on early Transporters.
This ground wire is protected for part of it's length by tightly spiral-wrapped aluminum cladding. The protective aluminum cladding starts as the brown ground wire exits the bottom of the steering box and continues all the way to just before the wire enters the rubber horn boots on the screw-terminal 6 volt horn.
A by-product of a wire he wanted to duplicate for the restoration of his awesome '58 Deluxe, Neil set out to duplicate it as closely as possible to an original. After seeing the quality of his reproduced wire on his Bus, he knew I wanted and needed one. Sure, I could have lived with the less exact new wire provided in my Wiring Works harness. But Neil recently went back into a limited run of these wires and I got two, one for my Double-Cab, and another just in case the original one on my '59 Double-Door Panel ever gives up the ghost. Apparently he knocked out about twenty of them and after folks saw earlier in this very thread that he was making me one, they are all spoken for. Just today he said that he is going to make one more run of them for which he already has some of them purchased. If you even think that you might need one, get on his list now! He has an ad for 'em in the classifieds. They'll be gone fast! And he says that is it!
Here is my buddy and helper Ted "ThorBus" Morris checking out the new wire right out of the box. He is already on the standby list for the last batch for his '59 Bus. Notice in the background, that my DC is mobile after 6 months in the air in the garage, it was an exciting afternoon around here!
So we crawled under the nose of the DC and had the Wiring Works version removed in a minute or so, and here I am installing the Neil version onto the old Blue girl...
You can see that the aluminum cladding ends just before the brown wire enters the rubber horn boot to be screwed to the screw terminal connection.
Opps! Ted has fallen down, and he can't get up! But while down there, he admired the beautiful handiwork that Neil provided to another VW "nutjob" like himself.
Thanks again Neil for hooking me up! I hope that you enjoyed the Grossglockner VW Bus event up in the Alps this past weekend!!!
Bill _________________ I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton
Thanks for any help! |
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npbusguy Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2006 Posts: 1658 Location: Budapest, Hungary
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Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 3:06 pm Post subject: |
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Gone! Thanks everyone.
Bill, Joe, Joey, Danny, Paul and everyone else, thanks for wanting correct looking wires on your early buses.
Neil |
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62DoKaGuy Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2011 Posts: 1276 Location: Surprise, AZ
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 7:33 am Post subject: Re: UPDATE!!! Coiled protective metal sheathing on the horn wire |
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Three years later nearly, but is anyone re-producing these at all? Trying to find that small of an id coil sleeve with or without the brown wire (I'd settle for orange even) has become damn-near impossible, especially when looking for as-close-to stock appearing coil as possible. Any updated suggestions or resources for someone making these like Mr. Bill has shown above? Cheers. _________________ ,,Wenige Menschen denken, und doch wollen alle entscheiden.'' -der Alte Fritz
EverettB wrote: |
...I went at it from both ends but going from the rear didn't seem to do anything, although I did spray some rust breaker in there... |
4/62 Double Cab
5/61 Panel (sold)
4/59 Single Cab (sold) |
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Who.Me? Samba Member
Joined: July 14, 2014 Posts: 2211 Location: UK (South)
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 11:21 pm Post subject: Re: UPDATE!!! Coiled protective metal sheathing on the horn wire |
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Zar Werks sell the tail light loom that 56reddy described above. It's got a black wire in it, but presumably you could replace that, or maybe ask if they can supply it with a brown wire. Not cheap though...
http://www.zarwerks.com/cloth_wiring.htm
Scroll down to taillight harness...
They say they're made in Germany. _________________ Andy
Looking for info on my truck's history. Are you from Campbell California or nearby. Do you recognise it? ... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=636786 |
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62DoKaGuy Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2011 Posts: 1276 Location: Surprise, AZ
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Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2017 6:15 am Post subject: Re: UPDATE!!! Coiled protective metal sheathing on the horn wire |
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Who.Me? wrote: |
Zar Werks sell the tail light loom that 56reddy described above. It's got a black wire in it, but presumably you could replace that, or maybe ask if they can supply it with a brown wire. Not cheap though...
http://www.zarwerks.com/cloth_wiring.htm
Scroll down to taillight harness...
They say they're made in Germany. |
Yea, I saw that one in my searches too and appreciate the recommendation, but is it so important that I should spend so much for it? haha _________________ ,,Wenige Menschen denken, und doch wollen alle entscheiden.'' -der Alte Fritz
EverettB wrote: |
...I went at it from both ends but going from the rear didn't seem to do anything, although I did spray some rust breaker in there... |
4/62 Double Cab
5/61 Panel (sold)
4/59 Single Cab (sold) |
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easy e Samba Member
Joined: May 28, 2008 Posts: 3931 Location: 1 hr north of Santa Barbara
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Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 12:34 pm Post subject: Re: UPDATE!!! Coiled protective metal sheathing on the horn wire |
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Good news horn wire lovers... our esteemed colleague, Neil, has decided not to make horn wires any time soon.
Why's that good news?
Because after stepping up to the plate and knocking it out of the park with the horn wire.... he knocked it out of the park with the sprinkler head... and now he's working on something else to bring to the table.
The hard work and research can be consuming.
In an effort to continue his current interests, bless the bus community with his great horn wire and have some life balance... he has passed the torch.
I'll get practicing and hopefully be able to have something promising to show in the next several weeks. _________________ aka: Evan
Spreadsheet for Bus RPM, based on gearing & tire size (Excel format)
Searchable, click-navigable 1958 Bus Parts List
Last edited by easy e on Tue Jul 25, 2017 1:12 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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BulliBill Samba Member
Joined: July 09, 2004 Posts: 4572 Location: St Charles, MO
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Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 1:07 pm Post subject: Re: UPDATE!!! Coiled protective metal sheathing on the horn wire |
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All hail Neil! All hail Evan!!! Way to go the both of you!
Bill B _________________ I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton
Thanks for any help! |
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62DoKaGuy Samba Member
Joined: May 22, 2011 Posts: 1276 Location: Surprise, AZ
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Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 1:11 pm Post subject: Re: UPDATE!!! Coiled protective metal sheathing on the horn wire |
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easy e wrote: |
Good news horn wire lovers... our esteemed colleague, Neil, has decided not to make horn wires any time soon.
Why's that good news?
Because after stepping up to the plate and knocking it out of the park with the horn wire.... he knocked it out of the park with the sprinkler head... and now he's working on something else to bring to the table.
The hard work and research can be consuming.
In an effort to continue his current interests, bring the bus community with his great horn wire and have some life balance... he has passed the torch.
I'll get practicing and hopefully be able to have something promising to show in the next several weeks. |
Looking forward to it, Evan! Keep us posted! _________________ ,,Wenige Menschen denken, und doch wollen alle entscheiden.'' -der Alte Fritz
EverettB wrote: |
...I went at it from both ends but going from the rear didn't seem to do anything, although I did spray some rust breaker in there... |
4/62 Double Cab
5/61 Panel (sold)
4/59 Single Cab (sold) |
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npbusguy Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2006 Posts: 1658 Location: Budapest, Hungary
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Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2017 9:32 pm Post subject: Re: UPDATE!!! Coiled protective metal sheathing on the horn wire |
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Evan, thanks for stepping up and helping the bus community with this necessary repro that I no longer have the ability to make.
For the record, I have already ordered two of these wires from Evan and I know how to make them, but it is a pain in the neck and i don't have my "stuff" available where I am now.
Support the hobby and buy from the boutique makers, that is the only way that cool new and needed reproductions will get made. |
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