Engine fire and the wiring harness on a 72 Bug

[Rmvr53]

Wasn't a bad fire but an engine fire none the less. Is there any way to just replace the rear/engine harness and not the whole thing? I an still working out "bugs" from a full harness replacement I had to do on my Wife's 68 5 years ago. I bought the car with the harness installed but it took me a month to finish it and the lights still don't work correctly. I REALLY don't want to do a full harness again just because of a engine fire

as a secondary question - is a "main" harness the engine to fuse block only? Worst case I'm going to have to buy that to cut/splice it in.

[Cusser]

Way back in 1974 I had to work on a VW with an engine fire. Yes, I unwrapped the harnesses and tapped into the good wires to get it running.

Is that VW still operational 51 years later? I don't know !
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[baldessariclan]

[cjsuner]

I had a 74 catch fire 2 years ago,

As you can see, it wasn't a awful fire, but it was enough to cook all of the wires.

Like you, I didn't want to do a full replacement, just for the few wires that are in the engine, so I cut it back until I had clean, not crispy wires, and spliced in new wires from there. Now, for me at the time, my buddy had a parts care, and I was able to take it's wiring loom out, and put wires into here, but I still ended up cutting and splicing the new wires on, instead of doing a full replacement harness.

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71 Super Convertible (Orange)
74 Standard Beetle (Light Blue)

[OldSchoolVW's]

This would be an opportune time to install a terminal block with quick disconnect terminals something like this.

https://ceautoelectricsupply.com/product/terminal-...7Qvf3-aflk

A single location to disconnect all the engine wires when pulling the engine. Just be sure all the wires are tagged and/or colors match on both sides of the block.

Just a thought.
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Tom

"Following distance is proportional to IQ."

"If you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older when you do." Warren Miller

"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing." Wernher von Braun

'63 Beetle Sedan
'69 Beetle Sunroof
'70 Beetle Sedan
'73 Type 3 Fastback

[Rmvr53]

Tom
close to what I was thinking. I was actually considering similar but using new "old style" clear 4 wire connectors so it kinda looked like it was supposed to be that way. '

[diamondblue1969]

They do make a repair harness

https://www.cip1.ca/c16-w-1001/

[Glenn]

Let me guess, plastic fuel filter?

_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

Member #1009

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עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי

[OldSchoolVW's]

[cjsuner]

[Rmvr53]

[Rome]

The stock-style connectors shown above would look best, but you still should solder on the wire "female" ends for optimal electrical connections. Another wiring connection possibility is this style, similar to VW's own black-colored terminals used thru '60. This style does not need the wire end have a female terminal, though for best connectity the wires' bare ends should be "tinned" with solder to keep all of the individual wire strands together.

If you select this style, it'd be best to mount the strips vertically (wires come in from the sides) so that any water does not run into the wire chambers if the strips were mounted horizontally with the wires inserted vertically.

The now nearly defunct Radio Shack stores used to sell these terminal blocks with 2 hole sizes- the smaller ones for "thin to medium" wires such as up to 16 gauge, and a larger one for "larger" wires such as 12 gauge. So if you pursue one of the above blocks, make sure the chamber holes have large enough diameters for your car's thickest wires such as the B+ at the generator/alternator.