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luc.tor
Samba Member
Joined: September 04, 2023
Posts: 38
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 Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2025 5:25 am Post subject: Cables to be changed in the engine |
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Hi friends,
I have a 1967 Beetle with a 1500cc H engine.
Can you tell me where these cables, indicated by the arrow in the photo, originally ran?
They look very unsightly and messy.
In the second photo I found online, I see they're much neater.
Can you also tell me what type of replacement cables these are, and if there's a code or specific specifications?
Thanks
My beetle:
Photo found online:
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zerotofifty
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2003
Posts: 4200
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| Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2025 7:36 am Post subject: Re: Cables to be changed in the engine |
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This is a color wire diagram...
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/bus_67_USA.jpg
Blue/ green from main harness to oil,pressure switch.
Black from main harness to the spark coil terminal 15 then black to the carb cut off valve, auto choke heater and to the fuse and back up lamp switch then to back up lamps.
Green from spark coil terminal 1 to the distributor.
The main harness is supposed to be sleeved in smooth plastic.
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Sorry About That Chief.
Give Peace a Chance.
Words to live by. |
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ashman40
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2007
Posts: 16766
Location: North Florida, USA
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| Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2025 9:12 am Post subject: Re: Cables to be changed in the engine |
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Here's a pic from Speedy Jim (I think?) that shows a simplified view of the engine wiring.
Basically one wire coming from the harness to the ignition coil and many wires coming off the ignition coil.
You can put a bit of effort into neatening up the wires, but they need to remain connected and not be so taught as they don't allow for engine movement/vibrations.
A common thing to do "back in the day" was to wrap the long ignition point wire around a pencil to create a coil to take up the excess slack.
In addition, there are the wires running between the VR under the rear seat and the generator:
This was part of the harness I can see in your pic. Again you can neaten up the wiring but you don't want them too tight.
There is one last blue/green wire for the oil pressure switch not shown in either pic. It comes out of the same harness as the ignition wires but runs down to the oil pressure switch in the case just below the distributor. This wire comes from the OIL lamp in the speedometer and is grounded by the oil pressure switch to turn the lamp ON.
The last group of wires (and there are many) are the taillight wires which runs to either side of the engine compartment and connect behind the tar paper with the harness of wires coming from the light assemblies. Here are pics of the junctions hiding behind the tar paper.
In '67, the reverse light wires ran along the bumper mounts as the reverse lights were bumper bracket mounted. I imagine they followed the harness of wires into the fender wells and then ran along the bumper bracket... but I'm not certain of this path.
| luc.tor wrote: |
| Can you also tell me what type of replacement cables these are, and if there's a code or specific specifications? |
In the above diagram example above you can see numbers at the end of the wire paths and numbers inside the wire paths with commas. The '67 wiring diagram linked above has these same numbers.
The numbers at the end of the wire runs are terminal numbers. Many electrical connections will have a number on the devices or switch to indicate which terminal is for which wire. Match the colored wire to the terminal number they connect to.
For example, the green (field coil) wire running between the VR and generator connects to the "DF" terminal at each end.
The "1,0" in the green wire indicates this wire is a 1.0mm^2 wire. This is the metric designation for the cross sectional surface area of the wire. The D+ wire is a much thicker "6,0" (6.0mm^2 cross section) wire that carries the high current from the generator to the VR.
Looking at the stock wiring diagram you can apply this same method to identify the gauge/size/color of wire you need to replace existing stock wires.
Here the conversion table for metric to AWG wire sizes if you live in the states where metric wire sizes are harder to find:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wireconversion.php
If there is no direct matching size, go with the next thicker wire.
_________________
AshMan40
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'67 Beetle #1 {project car that never made it to the road  }
'75 Beetle 1200LS (RHD Japan model) {junked due to frame rot}
'67 Beetle #2 {2019 project car - Wish me luck!} |
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