It Started With A Fizz

[stirlingmoz]

It's bugged me that in my short period of ownership of my KG the interior light didn't come on to welcome me into the car.

It's my day off today so decided to investigate the problem. I thought it would be either a blown or a sticky door switch.

What could possibly go wrong

Now I should add that I knew when I bought the car that it was electricly challenged.

I always intended to rewire it with a new loom at some point.

Anyway..I unscrewed the left side door switch. What followed was a fizzzzzzz and a little puff of smoke from the switch as it earthed out on removal.

I think the wire must have shorted to the body as what followed was white smoke and lots of it. It poured out from under the dash and then from under the bonnet. I could see wires melting before my eyes.

I now know this was one of the many unfused circuits that the previous owner had built in.

In my blind panic at the thought of losing the car, I popped the decklid and cut the battery negative cable.

Fortunately damage is confined to the wiring.

I have a new loom and the fitting has now been brought forward.

The moral of this story ?..Always disconnect the battery even when performing a seemingly simple electrical task

I nearly payed the price

[stormin]

Wow, that was a close call.

Glad you're in one piece too.
_________________
Before marriage a man YEARNS for a wife, afterwards the Y is silent.

[stirlingmoz]

I'm good but it made me jump.

I've been using the car every day up to now and enjoyed every journey.

It was always intended to be a rolling restoration but I suspect this may have sidelined him for a while.

All being well I will start to remove the old wiring tomorrow. As you can see, behind the dash needs a good tidy and a lick of paint anyway.

Incidentally, I spoke to a local auto electrician just to see if he would take the job on. He was more than willing at £48 per hour plus VAT !; and he reckons it's a two day operation.

I'm in the wrong job !.

The instructions that came with the loom seem straightforward enough. Everything is clearly labeled and colour coded.

I'm determined to have a go and see what happens.

After all; what could possibly go wrong

Stirlingmoz

[steve]

Under your dash looked like mine did until I ripped it al out
as I said on the phone if I am not
working tomorow I will give you a had .
_________________
steve

[andythepaint]

oh dear.... you see why im abit worried about doing the wiring on the lolwlight.....

[stirlingmoz]

Well today I bit the bullet and read the instructions with my new wiring loom.

First step.

Remove old loom from back of car pulling it through from the engine bay.

Insertion of new loom is reversal of step 1.

Seems straight forward enough to start.

I laid the new loom out next to the car. As you can see it's longer than you may think.



Whilst stripping out I chased a melted wire back to the ignition switch. As you can see all the insulation has melted off. A new switch is hopefully on the way from VW Heritage. They assure me it will fit.



Next step was to chop the loom in the engine bay. That way all the wires leading to the engine / alternator etc stay in place. The idea is that I will transpose the wires from the new loom.

No going back from this



This (not a very good shot) is the new loom being fed into the car.



And this is the loom all the way in with just the engine bay wires remaining.



First mystery. These wires are under the back seat on the nearside. Where do they go ?. There are clearly two wires and only one on the new loom. Hmmmmm



Here is the new loom being pulled into the car. I taped the new loom to the old one to pull it through.



And lastly for today. I moved all the rotten old stuff to one side and pulled the new loom up into the under bonnet area.



That was it for today. A little progress. I plan to fit the new fuse box next and connect up some of the new wires.

Hope this is of some interest

Stirlingmoz

[northern soul]

Full credit to you Stirlingmoz !

I wouldnt know where to start

it'll be really interesting to follow your progress on this one mate , Im sure the people on here will help you along

mick.

[Clive]

Good work.
Just looking at the pictures, is that expanding foam in the side / wing of the engine bay? Not sure if this is a fire resistant material and also wonder if it could trap moisture causing rust from the inside. Anyone else got any thoughts?
Clive

[steve]

it looks like the stuff
_________________
steve

[stirlingmoz]

It certainly looks like expanding foam to me.

It's surprisingly hard.

Whatever..I'm going to rip it out. It looks horrible and I too fear it may be a moisture trap.

It's in the offside rear wing too.

Anyone know what disolves foam ?.

This is one of those jobs that just leads to many others but i'm determined he we will back on the road soon.

Stirlingmoz

[keithb]

It looks like your having lots of fun with all of those wires. Can I ask where you got your new loom from? I think re-wiring my car is something on the 'to do' list!

[stirlingmoz]

Keith..I bought my wiring loom from these guys.

Fast pro service which I can recommend.

http://www.airheadparts.com/products.asp

Just enter your model and year of car in the top left corner of the web page and put 'harness' in the search box.

Hey presto, a suitable loom for your car should appear.

No work on car today due to it being outside in sleety rain

Stirlingmoz

[stirlingmoz]

Got a little bit done this morning but not too much as the weather was so bad here and the car unfortunately lives outside.

I cleaned up the under bonnet area. The inner wings and bonnet floor were covered in a black waxy substance (waxoyl ?).



Unfortunately as you can see the bonnet floor is a bit corroded either side of the area where the brake pipes go through. Not sure what to do about this at the moment.

I have also now fitted a genuine used VW (beetle) ten spot fuse box and have connected up the first four wires.

The new ignition switch arrived today, so if the weather is bad I can work inside the car tomorrow rebuilding the wiring around the ignition switch / steering column area.

Stirlingmoz

[keithb]

[matthew]

You think $343.50 is cheap?
PS I am a Yorkshire man. :lol: