1968-69 Beetle Wiring Harness Installation - Part 2:

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Video Transcript:

For this portion of rewiring our 1969 VW Beetle. We'll be installing the tail light, license light and reverse light harnesses as well as the starter wire and positive battery cable.

With the main wiring harness installed, we're now going to start with the taillights and unscrew the taillight lenses on both sides from the bases and set them aside. Unscrew the bulb holders from the taillight base and disconnect the wire from the bulb holders.

On the back side of the fender, pull the wiring out of the engine compartment and out of the taillight bases. Install the new grommets at the engine compartment and on the back side of the fender and pull the new taillight harnesses through to the taillight base and engine compartment. Each taillight harness has five wires in a white sheath.

The brown ground wires plug onto the bottom ground tab on the taillight bulb holder, and the ground tab on the lower left or right shelf in the engine compartment.

The black turn signal wires plug onto the top bulb tabs on the taillights, and connect to the black white wire on the left side, or the black green wire on the right side, with shrouded wiring connectors.

The red brake light wires plug onto the top terminals on the middle bulbs on the taillights, and connect to the black red wires with wiring connectors.

The white running light wires plug onto the bottom terminals on the middle bulbs on the taillights.

On the left side the wire will connect to the white black wire with a wiring connector, and on the right side the wire will connect to a red white wire, with a shrouded T connector.

The blue reverse light wires plug onto the bottom bulb tabs. The wires in the engine compartment connect to a shrouded wiring connector, and will connect to the reverse light harness later.

Next install the license light harness which is a white red wire in a black sheath. Plug it into the shrouded T connector on the right hand side and run the wire behind the fan shroud, up the back firewall and move it up towards the deck lid. On the deck lid loop the wire through the factory tabs, up the holds behind the license light assembly, and push the wire through the seal at the assembly. Unscrew the license light lends from the base, and remove the wiring pigtail grommet, then push the wire through the grommet, and plug it onto the tab on the license light bulb. Reinstall the grommet and lends, and pull any slack out of the wire down towards the edge of the deck lid. Open and close the deck lid to test that the wire has enough slack, and won't interfere with any engine components.

Reverse light wiring has three separate wiring harnesses. One portion is two black wires in a black sheath. The other harness is a length of black wire with three terminal ends, one at either end and one in the middle. The last is a single sheathed black wire.

The sheathed harness with two wires will push through a grommet in the lower right side of the engine compartment. This is behind the fan shroud and not often easy to see. At this point you most likely have to jack up the car, to hook up the wires underneath the car. If you do, be sure to use jack stands and leave the car up on jack stands as you'll need to hook up the starter wire later.

Underneath the car, pull the two wires past the starter and to the front of the transmission. Above the transmission mount on the upper right side of the transmission nose cone, plug the two wires onto the two terminals on the switch, it does not matter which side either wire attaches to.

Back in the engine compartment; connect one of the wires to an inline fuse which is not included. Connect the other end of the inline fuse holder to the black sheath wire and run that wire on the front side of the fan shroud and connect it to the positive side of the coil.

Lastly connect the harness with the three terminal ends. One end will connect to the left side taillight harness, at the blue wire with a shrouded connector. Route the harness behind the fan shroud and connect the middle terminal to the remaining wire from the transmission harness with a shrouded connector. The other end will connect to the right side taillight harness, at the blue wire with a shrouded connector. The starter wire is a thick red wire in a black sheath. It connects to the shrouded wire connector inside the car, under the rear seat on the driver's side to the thick red wire coming from the main harness. The wire is routed up to the back side of the floor pan, through a grommet and underneath the car.

While we are here we decided to replace our positive battery cable which had seen better days. This step and parts aren't covered or included with the wiring harness. After sliding the new battery cable over the positive cable, guide the cable through the large hole in the back of the floor pan, and slide the grommet in place onto the floor pan. Cut the power supply wire from the old positive battery cable, strip off the end where it was cut and crimp a ring terminal on it. The ring terminal will bolt on to the positive battery terminal clamp bolt. Make sure the power supply wire is clipped in place to the rear seat crossbar, and plugs in to the voltage regulator on the B+ terminal. There are two, it does not matter which one it plugs into.

Underneath the car, pull the starter wire through from the driver's side under the transmission. Unplug the old starter wire and plug the new wire onto the starter, on the number 50 terminal. Unbolt the old battery cable from the starter, and install the new battery cable onto the threaded terminal on the starter and tighten the bolt. The rear of the car can then be jacked up, jack stands removed and the rear of the car can be lowered down. Now the rear of the car is completely rewired. We will move to the front of the car and install the rest of the wires there in later videos.