Audio Installation

[MootPoint]

[Love My Westy]

I bent the bracket back and forth until it broke and I removed it.

[chazz79]

Reach through the ash tray hole and bend the factory tail bracket upward. The bracket will now be parallel to the top of your radio as you slide it in. Once the new radio is in place stab a screwdriver through the ashtray hole and bend that bracket back towards the original location. This bends the bracket out of the way enough to reinstall the ashtray.

No special tools needed and completely reversible.
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One day as a lion, or a lifetime as lamb

The green monster in bits and peices: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=332556&highlight=green+monster

[randywebb]

[syncromike]

[MootPoint]

[BillM]

This past weekend I checked out a projector that is a case for
your iPhone. Projects an incredible picture up to I think 26".
It worked ok under the store lights but in a dark area it really
is incredible. Was under 200.00 at Brookstone. I am
trying to decide if it would be a usable product for my
Westy. All I would need for a screen is a white board and
we have bluetooth via the radio or headphones. I cant just
make a snap decision purchase without researching a d thinking
it through. If I do get it will post my set-up and review.
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Bill M
87 Westy

[plummerdesign]

Jake and Randy,

You should do a poll on which task is more enjoyable; running speaker wire or replacing all fuel lines / tank reseal.
.
I still give great thanks to Moot Point for the pointers on speaker wire hell.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=393260&highlight=

Cheers,
Jeffery

(Westfalia travel/camping videos at YouTube link below)
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It is old and green and it makes me grin.
1984 Westfalia 1.9

[Jake de Villiers]

[randywebb]

BTW - it's a mutha drilling a nice sized hole in the metal there

not sure it will be easier...
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1986 2.1L Westy 2wd Auto Trans.

[Tooharsh]

Thanks for the wire access locations above the door. Will make installing much easier!
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1984 Vanagon Tin Top, 69,000 miles, Manual Transmission.

[randywebb]

given the trouble with running the speaker wires down the A pillar, how many have run the wires down the B pillar?

seems like an amp for the rear speakers could go under one of the seats, then have the speaker wires run from there up the B pillar and then to the R cabinet in a Westy...(?)
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1986 2.1L Westy 2wd Auto Trans.

[MootPoint]

Thanks, wcdennis for the photos. I was working forward from the left-hand vent (the left red arrow in your photo) just behind the B-pillar and the wire was binding up somewhere above the passenger door.

But at about 4PM this afternoon I had SUCCESS (Huzzah!) and got the wiring out of the front into the back. What I finally did was solder the old and new wires together (for strength) and then heat-shrink a sleeve over the joint so there was nothing to hang up on whatever was obstructing it. It was still a good tug to get it through and I was afraid I was either going to break the connection or break the wire but it came through. But along the way it picked up a HUGE booger of goo used to glue the wiring harness in place and dragged it along to the vent opening. My hunch is that it was this glue booger (can't think of what else to call it) that was causing the wiring to hang.

I'd already broken one of the original wires on the original tug-a-thon so I only had the one chance to get both stereo wires through. I taped the second pair of wires part way down the first set with Gorilla Tape and then covered it too with another heat shrink sleeve and pulled them through as well along with the first. It worked!

After that, getting to the rear cabinet was a snap. I ran a soft iron wire with a hook bent into the end from the rear AC vent to the front AC vent and hooked the wiring and pulled it to and out the rear vent. Then I moved the hook into the overhead cabinet and did the same thing from the rear vent into the cabinet. Took about three minutes to get it into the back. I wish the rest of the process had been that simple.

Thanks, all, for all the help, suggestions, and photos. Now I have to tackle the rats nest of wiring left over from the aftermarket tape player that I'm replacing but I pretty much have that all sorted out.

The tunes should begin to flow soon.

Thanks again!!
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1984 Westy with tencentlife power!

[wcdennis]

[bjrogers86auto]

Sounds like you're having fun! You have to make the junction of the two wires as smooth as possible. I didn't bother to solder the wires just split tied them and tape. Perhaps I got lucky. You get two chances using the old wires.
One pull each way then I'm not sure what to do. That's not much help now is it?

Good luck, Brian.

[MootPoint]

[bjrogers86auto]

If you remove the vents above the sliding side door you can get at the wiring harness. Once you determine which wires go to rear speakers you can dig them out at the first vent, cut them, tie on to them behind the glove box, lube them up (use your imagination here but dishsoap works) and pull new wires to there. Then from the rear cabinet do the same thing.

Keep in mind what I said earlier...at the rear cabinet the wires are all tied together and I think some heat shrink. You have to free that up. That held me up for a bit. They pull through the A pillar and above the door very easily.

Brian.

[MootPoint]

[Classicvibe]

It never occurred to me once, to try to reuse the stock wire. Time is money, and you could have upgraded to killer wire and run it yourself and felt like you came out ahead. I just skimmed the postings, and perhaps you have a reason for using the old wire, but I can't think of one myself. There are plenty of places to run the wire, even to the rear. FYI. I ran wire to 2 rears (both 2-way speakers), a 5-1/4 set, a 6" set and tweets in the front. My arrangement is different because I mounted an amp behind the front seat, but that was just a little less then 100'. I bought a role of Monster wire for like $40 on sale. It is about a 16g with both pos and neg wrapped, and then the bundle wrapped again. Here, I found a picture:

Huge difference

I hope this is on topic and useful. I think you should make every maintenance event an opportunity to upgrade. Often times, it will cost you a little more, but be easier, last longer, and provide better enjoyment.
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On a mission, the destination is just an excuse.

Syncro Solstice 2022...see you there!

1986.5 Wolfsburg Syncro Westfalia Poptop Weekender Transporter

[MootPoint]

Thanks, Corn. A lot of my 1984 wiring has different color codes but the wiring paths appear to be similar. In tracing the wiring through the dash I found that wiring to the lighter and the silver socket were bundled with the audio wires and that added to the confusion. With them out of the way things were a little less chaotic. I've got all the speaker wires sorted out now so I'm down to power and ground, I think.

I'm going to go ahead, per suggestions from several of you, and run new wiring to all the speakers once I can figure out pulling the lines to the rear of the van.

Again, I'm assuming that by running new lines so as not to have the common ground I can avoid using the big multi-wire unit that came to supplement the CD wiring.

Onward...
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1984 Westy with tencentlife power!