Mystery sensor on transaxle and fuse block advice

Red circle is your reverse light switch, yellow circle is a seat belt warning buzzer switch.

I think they started that in '73

The red circled switch is 100% for the backup light. It aligns perfectly with the reverse shift rail, the lowest one. The middle one is 1-2, top is 3-4.

That other switch I've never seen, but the latest trans I have is a 1972 double side cover.

From 1973 to the end, IRS transmissions had the single side cover(so being a swing axle guy I've no use for them).

It makes sense that the other one is a neutral sensor(switch is closed when in neutral), but I'm not sure. If I'm right, it wouldn't allow the starter to engage if the car was in gear. But I'm not positive at all. Somebody with a late Beetle wiring diagram could check it out.

I used a 6 position that I got on Amazon, it has 2 strips of 3 with fuse-blown indicator light. This was just for my EFI install.

There are MANY out there that use blade fuses of any number: 6, 8, 10, 12, etc.

Buy one that has several more positions than you need for adding things later. I added a small 4 position for my bluetooth, amp, seat heaters, and gas heater.

The glass buss fuses are a big improvement over the open VW OEM fuses!  There are many 6-12 circuit ATC/ATO blade fuse panels on ebay that could be used to replace the ceramic or glass fuses.

This one is $14 on eBay-

The seat belt warning switch does work like a neutral safety in design, although I don't think it disables the starter.  It illuminates the dash light and sounds off a nasty buzzer if you put the car in gear and the belt is unbuckled.  For the passenger side the belt either has to be buckled or fully retracted in the reel in order not to set off the warning.  

@chines1 posted:

Red circle is your reverse light switch, yellow circle is a seat belt warning buzzer switch.

I think they started that in '73

Thanks, Carey, missed your post.

FWIW, my VS is on a 73 pan and has the same yellow circled sensor - if it is disconnected my car will not start regardless of in gear or not.

i discovered this only because after I climbed into the thing one day, it randomly, RANDOMLY (??? what the heck ???) WOULD NOT start, and I was completely perplexed. I crawled all over - and under - my car to see if I could figure out what the issue was, checking and double checking all of the obvious stuff first. Eventually, under the car in the vicinity of the transaxel/transmission area I saw a random wire hanging, not connected to anything - and the only connector I could locate in the neighborhood is the one you have circled in yellow.

Reconnected it, and VOILA!!!!, the car fired right up. I never did actually take the time to track and trace my wiring situation, but it’s on my list 😬

I used a 6 fuse and 6 relay waterproof box when I did the EFI rewire and have been happy with it:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MR64XK1

Thanks all.   If I get really frisky later, I may try to put a neutral start-shunt circuit in, but this could fall into the "more things to go wrong category"...  and I learned on cars that didn't have this, so why would start now.

I'm laying out and trying to label all the wires in the CMC harness now... have some nice self laminating labels for this.   I'll have to 'correct' a few wires due to 'mickey' chewing on some insulation....  (that's what I get for 30+ years of barn storage). 

@30West posted:

FWIW, my VS is on a 73 pan and has the same yellow circled sensor - if it is disconnected my car will not start regardless of in gear or not.

i discovered this only because after I climbed into the thing one day, it randomly, RANDOMLY (??? what the heck ???) WOULD NOT start, and I was completely perplexed. I crawled all over - and under - my car to see if I could figure out what the issue was, checking and double checking all of the obvious stuff first. Eventually, under the car in the vicinity of the transaxel/transmission area I saw a random wire hanging, not connected to anything - and the only connector I could locate in the neighborhood is the one you have circled in yellow.

Reconnected it, and VOILA!!!!, the car fired right up. I never did actually take the time to track and trace my wiring situation, but it’s on my list 😬

Thanks, I'll watch out for this!  FWIW, I don't remember it being connected in the Donor and that did turn over (amazingly considering the engine condition after I tore it down)... but the donor had a pre-68 body fitted to the 73 pan and who knows what harness was in it..   I'm starting from '0' on the wires.

I'm running a 6-relay/8-fuse block very similar to what Mike used three posts up.  Getting too old to be crawling around under the dash, so I mounted it in the frunk where it is easy to get at.  Even with that, I have another couple or three relays scattered around the car for the oil cooler fan and gas heater, among others.  You always need more fuses and relays.  I upgraded the ignition wire from dash to engine to a 10 ga because a lot of stuff is running off of it.  Probably overkill, but it's cheap insurance.  

I have a water-proof relay attached out near the starter solenoid so the wire from the starter switch to the starter only drives the relay which, in turn, powers the starter solenoid.  That way, the solenoid never gets a weak voltage due to resistance in the long wire and switch.

And don't forget to run 3 or 4 extra 16 ga wires from the fuse block/dash area to the rear of the car (engine area) before you bundle everything up.  You'll thank me later on.  Plus, you could pre-wire 12-14 ga wires to the front bumper from a relay to run fog/driving lights out there.  

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My 2002 had the same kind of 'neutral start' safety device that my Speedster has.

If you started it in gear, it would buck like a somnabitch and, if you were parked close to something solid, you'd run into it and cause some expensive damage.

This was usually enough to make sure you never did that again. Ever.

It didn't rely on any wiring connections, switches, or fuses, so it always worked.

It had a similar hillstart device.

If you didn't synchronize the clutch with the gas just right starting on a steep hill, you'd either stall it or drift back into the guy behind you. That way, you got the hang of it pretty quick.

Same with rev matching. If you didn't learn how to do that, you found out how much it costs to replace synchros early.

I learned how to drive stick on that car, thanks to all of the nanny crap it didn't have.

Fifty-five years later, I still remember most of it.

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@Sacto Mitch my learn 'how to drive a stick', was a 69 Chebby C-20 4spd with 'granny' 1st.  most of the time you start in 2nd.  Unless loaded or towing heavy.  it also  had bad carb sync, so you had to rev match to change gears smoothly. As you so eloquently described it, learning to drive without having the nanny crap was learning a skill.  And like you say, it doesn't take long to learn, and if all you drive are manuals for the first 15years all the skills stay with you.  I still move my foot towards the non-existant clutch pedal on "emergency" type stops.

Much like @Sacto Mitch, I learned to drive on a manual, non-synchro, non-electronic-ignition vehicle that had a top speed of almost 20mph with the "overdrive" engaged - "HANG ON!....I'm pullin' OVERDRIVE!".  

The jump from first to second was particularly notchy, so we mostly started off in second and then rev-matched (kinda-sorta) and quickly pulled the lever into third and that's all she wrote.  First gear was truly a "Stump Puller", along with Log Puller, Boulder Puller, Plow Puller and Snowplow Pusher.

Brakes were "Manual ABS", rear wheels only, and there was a separate brake pedal for each side (really early ABS, that) and with careful placement of the left foot, you could disengage the clutch AND apply the brake at the same time, helping to hold you on hills (if the brake shoes weren't coated with transaxle oil from an axle leak and/or the hay wagon you were pulling was empty).

It wasn't much for passenger comfort, but we managed by sitting on those big rear fenders, being careful to keep our fingers inboard and not out near the tire cleats.

I miss that old 1943 Ferguson, but it's now retired, been restored, along with it's "LORD" front bucket, and is hitting the Antique Tractor Show Circuit, like Hot Rod Ron's John Deere Model B.

Gordon

Thanks for the memories.

I used to have the same Ferguson tractor (20/85) on our ten acres here.  I had to replace it a few years back, but I still miss the weight and the torque that thing had.

My new MF platform tractor gets stuck in a little bit of snow...

Gordon, I learned straight drive on the same kind of Ferguson tractor (without the front bucket). The sound of those gears grinding still resonate today...

Those old tractors had a lot of guts.  All of the farms around us either had Fergusons or Deeres.  The old John Deere tractors were horizontal 2-forward-cylinder affairs with the crankshaft going left-right just ahead of the driver’s feet and flywheel exposed on the left side.  It had huge rear wheels and the tractor had an amazing amount of torque.   Many had that big flywheel exposed on the left side which you could turn slowly backwards to bounce it against the compression stroke and use that extra power to spin it forward to start the engine (no electric start back then).   It was a bounce effect and very much a learned talent to catch it just right to start it firing and not lose an arm.  There is one of those old Deeres left in town l, but it just sits because the current (young) owner is afraid of that exposed flywheel.

Gear it down and get the throttle slightly above idle and it would pull stumps.  They always do well at tractor pulls.  The Fergusons, not so much, being more compact and the right size for smaller, New England farms but geared a little higher with essentially a Model A engine, so maybe 30hp.
One neighbor had a big Oliver, like you see on British shows like All Creatures.  That, and my Dad’s Ferguson were bought and delivered during WW II and came with big, toothed metal wheels with no tires because of tire/rubber rationing during the war.  

And the memories come flooding back.

My wife's family farm is near the Quad Cities in Illinois. About 1,000 acres with a cattle feed lot and about 900 head of hog. Her brother was the chief welding guy at John Deere. Everything in the shed was green and yellow. Go figure.

They always said that the surrounding farms were almost all green, but there were a few red.

Being a city boy, I needed an explanation.

Central Illinois guy here. Grandpa was a Red tractor man. There were a few MF weirdos when I was growing up, but now everything is green.

Tractor shows are taken at least as seriously as car shows here. The John Deere A and B ("Johnny Poppers") are the go-to starter-tractor for every aspiring collector. The JD 4020s were used forever - like the UJMs (Universal Japanese Motorcycle) of the 1960s and 70s, everybody had one, rode them hard, and put them away wet. Also like the UJMs, they could be abused for decades and still be useful.

Our old farm mostly sold out to developers in the 1970's because typical, New England dairy farmers of 300 acres or less could no longer make a living unless they were milking over 1,000 cows per day.  The remaining 60 acres of our old farm is now owned by a cousin and her husband and those acres have never been touched, so far (they're pushing 80 now and I don't now what'll happen to it when they go).

Sitting in the back field of my grandfather's house is a tiny, little 1932 Caterpillar tracked tractor, about the size of our Ferguson tractor.  It's been on our farm as long as I can remember and is a 4-cylinder flathead and crank start only.  The Magneto died on it when I was in my early teens and it sat a long, long time until I found another Mag at a flea market and replaced the dead one, but I still couldn't get it running, so we dragged it out behind the farm and there it still sits, poor little thing - I suspect that the valves are all rusted open.  It has a grading/snow blade on the front with up force but no down force (but then, it never had downforce!)  The blade was added before I was born and I remember it sitting in a long "garage/shop" next to the house and was always treated well.  It was extremely capable and was used for stump pulling, grading and lots of heavy pulling.  We mostly used it for moving gravel and hauling logs on the farm.  Not fast, but it would go anywhere and I loved riding in it when my Dad took it out.

There was a Scottish farmer in Westborough (next town over) who had a 1930 Cletrac ( he called it a "Crawler" ) that looked a lot like our Caterpillar but a little smaller.  I don't know what happened to that after he passed back in the 1990's.  I remember that going inside his house was like stepping back into Scotland in the 1930's.  But who am I to judge?   Stepping into my parent's house was like stepping into 1730!   🤪

Here's a Cletrac Video I found that's about the right size:

all this tractor talk...  man we've really drifted.

Allis-chalmers with hand crank start is what my grandfather used to mow the grass. Tractor was leftover from dairy farm.  So yes I too grew up with tractors, and other farm equipment to 'play' with.  learned 'respect' for machinery but not 'fear' of it.

similar to this image--- that little hole in front under the radiator grille is for the hand crank starter rod -- this one looks like it has electric starter.