UPDATE!!! Coiled protective metal sheathing on the horn wire

[npbusguy]

I got my new aluminum wrapped horn wire in the mail today.
Astute forum readers may remember that I used to make these, but I stopped and didn't have any left.
Fortunately, Evan started making them using my secret recipe, so I and the rest of the bus community can beep our horns confidently.
Anyway, these things look great, thanks Evan!

I got two "just in case" I ever get another bus...

If you need one for your own bus...
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2115103

[62DoKaGuy]

[BulliBill]

Damn! That cladded wire looks spot on! Nice torch-carrying Evan!

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!

[easy e]

Was finally able to produce one!
I'll check status of materials this weekend & see how many I can make.

Old haggard one on the left... new on the right.

_________________
aka: Evan
Spreadsheet for Bus RPM, based on gearing & tire size (Excel format)
Searchable, click-navigable 1958 Bus Parts List

[npbusguy]

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.

[62DoKaGuy]

[BulliBill]

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!

[easy e]

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

[62DoKaGuy]

[Who.Me?]

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

[62DoKaGuy]

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.
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,,Wenige Menschen denken, und doch wollen alle entscheiden.'' -der Alte Fritz

[npbusguy]

Gone! Thanks everyone.

Bill, Joe, Joey, Danny, Paul and everyone else, thanks for wanting correct looking wires on your early buses.

Neil

[BulliBill]

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!

[thewalkingdude]

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 !
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the other Joe

[BulliBill]

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!

[BulliBill]

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!

[BarryL]

[BulliBill]

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!

[commercial air]

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

[56reddy]

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.
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New Vintage Specialist.
1974 ghia convertible
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