Bus Cab Refit (dash & Wire Harness Loom)

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spacebiscuit

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Hi,

I'm Looking for some advice and feedback on the next stage of restoring the cab in my bus which was destroyed in a fire. I have completed the body work restoration and now about to start re-fitting the dash. At the moment the cab consists of the steering wheel only - the original dash was destroyed in the fire and was discarded. I'm left with a bunch of wires coming up into the cab floor which have been cut.

I have tow options here:

1. Source an original dash that has the instrumental panels attached to a wire harness and join it to my existing hardness

2. Install an entirely new harness throughout and source an original dash

3. Install an entirely new harness throughout with a new dash

Not sure if I am asking for trouble by joining a two harnesses, but then I hear the new harnesses are not as good quality and they seem to vary wildly in price from $175 in the States to £300 in the UK.

I'd be interested to hear some alternative suggestions or options I might have overlooked or general advice.

Thanks.
 
If it were me refitting the cab area I would go for a nice new loom with correct coloured wiring and a proper blade fusebox somewhere a little more accessible that the OG position
Not heard of new looms being of a poor quality and cant imagine them being worse than some 40 odd year old wires!
Numerous places supplying looms and depending on how proficient you are an auto-electrician could probably get it installed in a day depending on how bad the rest of the buses wiring is

Where about are you located so maybe someone can recommend an auto-electrician?

Loom available here - http://www.rayneautomotive.co.uk/air-cooled-volkswagen/93-rhd-1971-t2-early-bay-window-camperbus-fullcomplete-wiring-loomharness-oe-spec.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
Recommend Iain at aircooled electrics, auto electrician and he will come to you. Great bloke, great work, fitted a new loom to mine.


[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com
 
I bought a Rapid Loom and fitted it a few weeks ago.


There were a few negative comments about them in the past but I cant see why,
nicely made, easy to fit, fully documented/labelled and modern fusebox that can be put anywhere in the front.

Personally cant fault it (excuse the crappy paint :msn4: )

DSC_0074_zpst5fxtr1x.jpg


DSC_0073_zpsolebxgs5.jpg


DSC_0072_zpsxwf9zfvw.jpg


The looms split into three sections that plug together, rear/dash/front lights.

The front looms are fully terminated with insulated crimps
The rear is labelled but no crimps so you can pull it through the chassis pipe. Had my rear lights crimped up and working in a few hours. Im not a novice but not great with auto electrics either

Its based on a euro loom so its made my US-UK conversion a lot easier as well
 
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies. I feel a little more confident and assured that a new harness is the way to go. The perfectionist in me wants to go down this route but I had been put off by ads that say to look out of "cheap Chinese wires"!

Since my bus was imported form the states I am guessing it is US spec so I was looking at some Stateside suppliers. JBugs stock one at a competitive price, colour coded and says it's made in the US:

http://www.jbugs.com/product/WM-211-70-71.html?Category_Code=vw-bus-wiring-harnesses-1968-1971

I'm not sure if the bus would have had to have had any conversion done when it was imported to the UK and therefore negating the need for a US spec harness.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks.
 
Hi, I fitted a US Front to Back harness to my UK 1970 Early Bay recently as it was a cheap buy off Ebay.
I just had to do a slight modification at the rear end to enable indicator and tail light to be seperate, I also removed the side marker wiring too as I don't have side markers.
If I was buying one at full price i'd just get a UK one even though your van is an import as your indicator wiring will already be done.

The link you posted is just the Main Loom, so that's the front to back and NOT the dash loom btw ... I re-crimped my dash loom as it was in relatively good condition
 
Thanks Matty74 - helpful information. Do you know which brand of harness you used?

I hadn't considered that the dash loom might not be included. But having taken a closer look at the item which I posted in my link and the diagram below the description, it definitely appears to show some cabling running up to the dash and above where I recall the fuse box location:

Bus%20Main%20.jpg


Might drop them an email to confirm this or otherwise!
 
Hi, yep the front to back loom goes to the multiconnector into the bulkhead so it is depicted as correct. Also there's a couple off connections that bypass that connector and connect to your existing dash wiring loom.

Mine was a WolfsburgWest loom, I picked it up for £80, plus I was putting an upgraded headlight loom in anyway so a Main loom only suited me just fine.

If you look on Schofields site you'll see the price for a complete loom v's Main loom

http://www.alanhschofield.com/ourparts/cat_644622-Wiring-Looms-and-Cables.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

hope this helps

Matty74
 

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