The Beginning The Donor Floorpans Wiring and Interior
Cutting out the rust Heater channels and support rails Brakes Reassembly
The motor runs! Paint Prep Paint Top
October 10, 2004 Now that the painting is mostly finished (I still need to buff out some spots) I figure putting the wiring harness is next. So I order the harness, which comes in this box, along with these directions.

The harness seems pretty straightforward, consisting of the main harness and several sub-harnesses, like the dome light, head and tail light assemblies. The directions are photocopies of the VW schematic along with handdrawn diagrams and a narrative of the order in which the harness is assembled.

I worried a bit about the loose wires, but the narrative and the color coded VW wiring diagram from the Bentley book describe where these wires go.
After threading the new main harness through the car (I'd left pieces of the old harness in place and duct taped the new harness to it so I could fish the new harness through the holes that were tight, like through the interior into the front and to the engine compartment) I cleaned up the original fusebox and intalled it.
Further along, here's a shot of more of the wires installed, the schematic from the Bentley book and the box of loose wires and directions for the harness.

I still don't have some necessary items like the ignition switch or the rubber tube that carries the headlight wires from the front compartment to the fender, some relays and stuff, so I'll have to wait until I can commit more $ to get those things.
While waiting for the money tree to bloom, I've worked on cleaning up and installing parts of the dash. Here is the gas gauge cleaned up and reinstalled.
Next comes work on the speedometer. I took the original one apart to refurbish it. Although it can't be seen in this shot, the green and red indicator lenses are bad, hence the reason for taking the speedo apart. Other than breaking the needle, it came apart with little effort.

While I had it apart and with some analysis as to how it worked, I figured out I could spin the odometer back to 0. I took a shaft out that connects the gears in the speedo, then attached a drill to the gear that turns the odometer. Then I ran the drill backwards clicking off the miles in reverse.

In the picture, you can see the vise grips on the trigger of the drill so I could free my hands to hold the speedo, adjust stuff and smoke, as it took some time sitting there watching 12,606 miles go away...
A new needle and no miles, plus a clean cover glass all ready for reassembly. Here you can see where the green and red lenses fit in the bottom of the speedo to indicate turn signals, generator and oil pressure.

For all the fine German engineering used throughout this car, they glue this cheap green and red plastic strip on the back side of the speedo face behind which are the indicator lights. They seem to be melted through, so I gather that 12 v was prolly put to the system cooking the bulbs and burning through the plastic lens. So I'll figure out someway to restore these "lenses."

Check back as the wiring and interior reassembly will continue...
October 16, 2004
A big Saturday night event! I took a trip to the Food Lion with the old green burned out lens. I walked through the aisles looking for a transparent plastic container of something that is the right shade of green. Finally, I found Brut cologne stuff that matched the specs pretty well. Back at home, I poured the perfume into the toxic waste dump, causing the entire back yard to smell like a 1973 junior high locker room. Here is the bottle after I've sawed the top off of the bottle, some Crazy Glue, and the speedo ready for a relensendectemy.
Here are the tools of the trade - the newly trimmed green and OE red plastic, the glue and some q-tips, in the event any ears need attention. The little tube goes into the assembly and channels the light from the bulb mounted at the back of the speedometer housing to the high beam light at the top of the inner face of the speedometer. This tube makes it a pain getting the speedometer back together.

Old Whats-her-name said I had to have newspaper under the project - she's seen too many paint crises! Later I found out these were valuable coupons that bought me some time in the house of dog for using them under my goofy project.
Back in the car all shiny and new. I also got a used ignition switch with a key. I took relays and the wiper switch from the donor car as well to get parts that were missing or crapped out in the process of disassembly.
Here's another view of the almost completed wiring inside the dash. You have to keep repeating V=I x R when you work with electricity. In this car's case, its probably 1/2(V=I x R) since this is still a 6 volt system. I've retained the wiper motor, the dimmer and flasher relays and the bulbs at this point. Once I get the car up and running and get closer to a bigger, more modern motor, I'll consider changing that stuff to make it 12v.

The instructions that came with the harness are pretty good, hand drawn diagrams and hints on feeding the wires through tight places. Otherwise, the Bentley manual has good, color coded wiring diagrams, and the harness seems to have the right colored wires. In the cases where the colors are switched, they have noted the change relative to the Bentley manual.
The completed dash. Notice the minimal input the driver has to focus on in keeping the 1300cc 6 volt monster on the road! More than likely attention is spent on who's going to run over you rather than vice versa! Just wait until I get the am radio back in...old school!

A battery and fuses are left. I also need to get the headlight wire conduits, shine up the headlight hardware and get those in, hook up the starter wires and I'll be able to light it up.
May 8, 2005
I finally caught up with the yard work that comes with this time of year. I'd bought a battery a couple of weeks ago and finally got both the time and the courage to install the battery.

I moved the car outside so I wouldn't burn the house down if something wasn't right, hooked up the battery, and nothing happened. I had the kids watch the wires in the front for any sparks, and installed the fuses one by one. Again nothing happened, but on turning the key, the dash lights came on... and nothing popped! Success!
Once it got dark enough, I was able to see the lights! At this point, I have headlights, taillights and brake lights. Still no turn signals, or windshield wipers, and the horn and radio aren't installed to test yet. Nevertheless, some progress is made!
June 28, 2005
Black box! This SOB (that has the cover removed in this shot) has generated a lot of leaning over and tweaking the electrics trying to get the turn signals and 3-way flashers working. I'd accomplished success on all the other electrical issues but this dog wouldn't hunt!

I turned to Patrick and Charlie, proprietors and VW gurus of CJ Buggs, a local VW shop. I spent a while with them and their treasure trove of VW stuff. Patrick was able to come up with a couple of these black boxes. I took them home and found one that worked! These babies are obsolete and apparently rare in the first place being 66-67 only items. In any case, now the turn signals work, although the 4-ways still provide additional opportunity for future effort!
August 28, 2005
Time to get serious with the interior. Now remember, this project does not reflect a deep pocketed account. I get to spend money after the bills and honey-do's are resolved. So time passes as the money tree blooms. In any case, I got around to buying seat covers and the horsehair pads figuring they'd take some time for me to accomplish and provide time to allow for the money tree's recovery.

In this picture is the original driver's seat, and the passenger's crate.
Doing these old seats is pretty straightforward. They don't have the headrests and a simple lever on the frame to tilt it forward. On the later seats you'll have to fiddle with that stuff.

I've taken the springs off the seat bottom as I needed to weld a joint on the frame that had broken. Then sand and paint, cut out new cardboard to prepare for the new pad and seat cover.
This is the painted frame and the new pad. I've done the seat back, you can see leaning on the Rabbit on the right. The old seat covers are in the foreground, the old pad is also leaning against the car.
A trick I was glad I figured out, by reviewing articles on seat repair I'd kept, was to keep the old rods that are inserted into the seam at the bottom of the seat covers. These provide consistent tension on the seat cover once they are pulled into place and hooked on the very sharp prongs of the frame that hold the cover into place.

This is critical, get these rods out of the old seat covers before you throw them away if you do your seats.
The finished seat. This one is the passenger seat. The cover is not spot on original, as the originals have inserts. I don't think brown was an original color either, but it matches the color scheme of the car and should look nice along with the brown top.

I have to wait to get the carpet in before I install the seats. Hence no shot of them in the car. So patiently I wait for funds.
October 16, 2005 The money tree bloomed, so panels and carpet were ordered from M&T Mfg. After 6 weeks or so, they came in, but the rain and some other issues (bike school, new bike, new job announcement, rain, inlaws) kept me out of the garage. Today I was able to get out there and get cracking on the door panels.

First the clips are put into place, then plastic vapor barrier is glued to the area behind the panels.
This is one of the quarter panels in place. These old style door and window handles have a pin tht fits into the groove on the shaft that holds them in place. With the help of number 2 son, we got the handles installed.
Drivers side done. The driver side doesn't have an armrest, which fooled me at first. I checked on the donor sedan and indeed they came that way. (If you know differently, let me know.)
The passender side done, here you can see the arm rest on that side. (Another treasure from Charlie!) I've begun sizing the carpet in the pic. I'm going with black carpet hoping it blends with the brown panels.
November 7, 2005
A decent November Saturday allows me to install the carpet. The cut of the carpet doesn't allow me to keep the foot rest on the passenger side, but otherwise fits ok.
The carpet along the rocker panel requires bending a tab up, then bending it over the edge of the carpet. This process destroys the paint on this tab, which will need remediation.

June 1, 2006
Window scrapers were a pain. First of all, the right one was the only one salvageable when I took the car apart. So I had to save the $$$ for another one for the driver's side. When I left my other job, some co-workers gave me a gift certificate to a mail order parts supplier, which enabled me to purchase the missing chrome scraper and the 8 rubber inserts I needed. Assembling them is pretty straightforward, but installing them in the doors calls for patience, skinny fingers, and as I discovered, silicone spray. With a great deal of perseverance, I got them installed in the doors.

The outside scraper is attached with screws, but the inside ones hook around a flange inside the door, beside the window, which is tough to reach. Like I said, patience, perseverance and silicone spray assisted in getting these in place.

These are the rear window scrapers in place. Again, patience, perseverance, and silicone spray was the trick.

That finishes up the interior. I'm happy with the dark brown which contrasts nicely with the lighter exterior color. The car doesn't have seat belts, air bags, padded dash, or high back seats, testimony to the changes that have been made in automotive interior (and safety) design in 40 years.