I made another wiring harness for another 1983.5 (water-cooled) 1.9L (2.2 GoWesty rebuild) Westfalia van. You can see the first engine wiring harness I made here.
My friend’s van started right up, but still needs a new throttle body. We knew this before we started. The original wiring harness was in even worse shape than mine, with several sections of burned wire and wire casing.
Anyway, here’s some pics of the new one I made. The pics were taken just before the harness was installed, and final connections made, so there are some unfinished ends. But you get the idea.
Update: as of December 2019 both these harnesses are working fine, and no regrets (nothing I’d do differently).
Update: as of December 2022, approaching 275,000 miles on my van body, my handmade harness is doing great. I drove well over 2000 miles without any hiccups whatsoever.
My biggest concern seemed to be tire air loss, but I brought it to Les Schwab in Portland, Oregon for a check and they were impressed at how nice a 40 year old vehicle could look underneath. That’s funny considering there’s been two years now of hiatus on van projects. The time and money (a. lot.) I spent on this vehicle is now paying off. I now enjoy driving it instead of being scared of something going wrong!
Update fall 2025: My Westy cruised at decent speeds in a 3000-mile loop from SW Utah to the PNW down through Death Valley and Zion and back to SW Utah. Never below 50mph on highway climbs and comfortably up to 70mph on the highway flats.
I tore the end off a spark plug wire during a tuneup and earned 5 free nights camped in Zion waiting for parts. Then had an exhaust flange weld break, earning a roadside welder visit, but otherwise, it was an awesome, trouble-free trip in the VW camper! (Anyone else running the Frankenstein OEM-ignition-coil-with-the-newer-distributor-cap setup? That’s “fun” wiring: it created that little “gotcha” in Zion that was a blessing in disguise.)