	AllExperts > Classic/Antique Car Repair
	Search

About Paul Wilczynski
Expertise
Most questions involving vintage car restoration, mechanical and body, paint and upholstery. Parts sourcing. Extensive experience in wood-bodied station wagons, British and French cars of the '40s through '70s. Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow, Sunbeam Alpine and Tiger, Citroen Maserati, VW Beetle, 1955-65 Chevrolet (especially Nomad station wagons), Corvair.

Experience
Wide-ranging and long-term. I owned a restoration shop in the 1970s, continue to dabble in vintage exotics. At one time, had a seven-car collection of contemporary exotics which I had restored and maintained myself. When I was 18 years old, I designed a woodie kit for the VW Beetle, which I developed into a product which was featured on television and in over 100 magazines and 25 books at last count. I still own and drive one of my creations. I owned a design and fabrication consultancy from 1982-2002, specializing in show car fabrication for manufacturers including Ford, Mazda, GM, Subaru, Mitsubishi, etc. Since 2003, I have been a department manager in Industrial Design, and a full-time instructor in automotive design and fabrication at the university level. My students go on to design automobiles as staff designers for major auto manufacturers worldwide.

Organizations
Western Automotive Journalists, Industrial Design Society of America.

Publications
Long list of magazines and books, including Playboy, VW Trends, VW Greats, Hot VWs, and European automotive magazines.

Education/Credentials
I teach design and fabrication at university level. My education is in Industrial Design, University of Illinois (1966-1970).

Awards and Honors
Many awards for restorations in local concours and shows.

Past/Present Clients
Mazda, Ford, GM, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Honda, Toyota, Chrysler, Mercedes, Porsche.

You are here: Experts > Shopping > Vintage Cars > Classic/Antique Car Repair > 73 superbettle

Classic/Antique Car Repair - 73 superbettle

Expert: Paul Wilczynski - 10/27/2009

Question
Hi and hope you can help. First i have been trying to get my backup lights to work. The relay under the seat was damaged and i just replaced it with a bosch. There are 5 prongs to connect to. I am sure you know what relay i speak of. Well i only had 3 wires connected to the old one and the one wire lead that has a fuse holder i believe goes to the reverse light back up switch was not connected. I am not sure where to connect it to on the relay. As well in the engine compartment their is another wire near the coil that is just taped to the wire harness with a female connector that looks like it would just reach the coil but not sure if it goes there and if so what side + or - of the coil. I tired to trace it back to the rear seat but not possible. It is light green and looks like it might match the same color that goes into the extreaal voltage regulator mounted also under the back seat. Just looking for the correct wiring to get the backup light to work and just what wires ( color ) connects to the relay and the correct ones that connect to the coil and make this stuff work properly. Next i am trying to get my blower fan to work, but next time i will ask that.
Thanks in advance for all you help.

Answer
Dave, you don't need an expert...

You need Google and a spare half-hour or so to have a look at the following links:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/bug_howtoread_73up.jpg

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/bug_73_fuses.jpg

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/73-only113wiring-key.jpg

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiring/73-only113wiring.jpg

I've put the actual diagram last, because you should familiarize yourself with the "how to read", "fuses", and "wiring key" first.

This website (thesamba.com) started out as a resource for VW Type 2 (van) owners, but has grown to encompass information useful to all air-cooled VW enthusiasts. Their wiring diagram files (all downloadable) cover 1950-76 and are the diagrams found in the factory (Bentley) manuals.

Here's the page for all years:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/info/wiringt1.php

Now, I could write out in longhand how to fix your wiring, step by step, but this would probably not be appropriate for two reasons. The first reason is that it sounds like the wiring in your car may already have been compromised, and without me looking over your shoulder and tracing it along with you, I would probably miss something and get it wrong. The second reason is that, with an older car like yours that still has semi-complex 1970s wiring, you need to be familiar with how to do wiring tracing and minor repairs like this, or you will become poorer as your mechanic becomes richer. NOTE: most mechanics HATE wiring work; unless you live in a big city where there are automotive wiring specialists (who charge an arm and a leg), you'll be very lucky to find a mechanic who can do this properly and at a reasonable price.

D'you know what a wiring specialist will do? He'll look up these exact same diagrams, get down on his knees with a flashlight, and do exactly what you're about to do--and he'll charge you a minimum of $75.00 an hour (here is SF it's $125.00 an hour!) for doing it.

You're abut to save yourself some money.

Look at the diagram and you'll see that the backup lights are on wiring tracks #55 and 56. You'll see two blue wires going to 2 connectors on the firewall, behind the insulation, and from there to one connector, which is under the back seat. This hooks up to the switch, and the hot from the switch goes to the ignition coil. NO relays, so maybe it's the switch you are trying to replace (3 connector tabs on it) with a relay (5 tabs) and that WILL be a problem.

Good luck. This should take you a half hour with the diagrams linked above, and maybe an hour at most, to correct on the car.

--Paul

Add to this Answer Ask a Question