Late Bay Instrument Wiring

Now this is more something for me when I am not sure anymore how all the wiring looked before I took it apart. Hope it will also be useful for someone out there when they have already started disassembling things and realize too late they did not take photos before. Taking the main instrument block of the late bay out is quite easy – you loose the four screws (counter metal pieces will fall down), pull off the red and blue plastic grips of the hot and cold air, reach under the dashboard and up to the speedo and unscrew the central speedometer shaft. Then you can slowly lift the whole block up and out. I once took off the steering wheel before to have space to maneuver the instrument out more easily. But it also works with the steering wheel left in place. I took the instruments out now several times within the last year because I switched dashboards between my two buses. Interesting: Volkswagen stamped production dates on their instruments. And the one of my Old Lady, stamped 1978, fits to the car while the one from Taiga Lily is from 1979 (speedo) and 1978 (clock), respectively – several years older than the bus itself which is a 1976 model and was produced in Nov. 1975.

Front of Taiga Lily’s instrument unit.

Upper instrument unit (stamped 4.79) is from Taiga Lily, a 1976 microbus, with VDO clock as built in by Volkswagen. Lower instrument, stamped 7.78, is from the Old Lady (1978 panel van), with a clock from Motometer added in 1995.

Detail of the Old Lady’s instrument wiring.

This photo and below: Details of the wiring of Taiga Lily’s instrument block.