reverse light installation.

Here's the place to come to post when you have questions relating to technical issues or mechanical questions on the 1966 model year.

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KKV270
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reverse light installation.

Post by KKV270 »

Hi.
Kindly assist me with the how-to installation of a reverse light.
Thank you.
Blue Baron
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Post by Blue Baron »

First you'll have to look at the nosecone of your transmission to see if it has a backup light switch. They didn't become standard (in North America) unrtil 1967.
KKV270
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Post by KKV270 »

Thanks for that info.
I'll check & revert on the same.
darzoom
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Post by darzoom »

There would be no switch on the nose cone of a 66 as reverse lights did not become standard until 67. If yours is a 67, as you have indicated in the past, there should be a switch on the nose cone as Blue indicated. Or, the trans could have been changed out to a later year. Before 67 there was also a back-up light option that had a switch (Hella and Bosch both made them) that was attached to the speedo. The switch had a hot lead that went to the fuse block and one to the lights in the back of the car. It sensed the cable going in reverse and turned the lights on.

Good Luck!
KKV270
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Post by KKV270 »

Thanks.
In this case, I'm talking about a 1970 bus. The tranny has been changed to a later one as well.. To be honest, I am yet to figure out the matter. Nose cone is all new business, I am not quite sure what I'm looking out for. Let me try have a look...if I can't figure out it thereafter, I'll revert on the same.
planenut
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Reverse light

Post by planenut »

Some late model year '66's did have back up light switches. I guess they ran out of the 66 models, and started the '67s. My '66 had a back up light switch.
Blue Baron
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Post by Blue Baron »

I've also had a couple of '66 bugs with one '67 rear quarter panel on one side (different stamping for the Z bar), and the old '66-style quarter on the other. In fact of the two cars, one had it on the driver's side, and one had it on the passenger's side. The introduction of the new pressings must have overlapped with the old ones and were used interchangeably.
darzoom
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Post by darzoom »

1966 they did some squirrelly things with the parts changes.
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Itskyle
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Re: reverse light installation.

Post by Itskyle »

KKV270 wrote:Hi.
Kindly assist me with the how-to installation of a reverse light.
Thank you.
I think there used to be some way of wiring this into the speedo somehow. Not sure if being an optimechanical speedo would make a difference with this sort of wiring setup.

Back when I still had my 66, I had toyed around with the idea of a backup alarm instead of lights so I didn't have to worry about adding a light and changing the look of the rear-end of the car.

Glad to hear you still have yours!

Kyle
69 autostick bug
wtb: stuff that would make it look like an older model, specifically fenders, bumpers, bumper bracket adapters. I'll keep the 4 luggers for easy tire balancing.
--
66 Bug current (Wife likes better than the Prius)
74 SuperBeetle Auto Stick (Miss that car)
73 SquareBack, Straight Stick (Wife misses this one.)
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1966veedub
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Post by 1966veedub »

There is an adapter that screws onto the back of the speedometer and the speedometer cable screws into it. It has a wire that would run to the backup light. This only works while in reverse, and works poorly unless a little bit of speed is generated. Kind of like the concept of a bicycle light that runs off the speed of the tire spinning.
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1966veedub
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Post by 1966veedub »

Here's a link to a photo of what the switch (by Hella) looks like.

http://images.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/374045.jpg
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