From here on out, every cut counts. It is very hard to recover from mistakes, and even if others do not notice, you know that flaw is there. Take your time, each piece took me about 40 minutes to 1 hour to install.

You will be using the DAP Weldwood contact cement to cement this in. The fumes are very strong, so vent your workspace. I also used a 2 inch brush to apply the glue to both the back of the carpet and the body itself. Each piece requires about 20 minutes to tack. Don’t worry, you will have plenty of time to put down, mold, pull up, put down again (and again and again). Let each piece dry for another 40 minutes, but in the way that I install these, you will not be standing on a freshly glued piece. I used 1 gallon of DAP on this project.

Fit the front driver’s wing first. Fit it before you glue it and make sure you know how it orients into the body line at the top of it’s area. I did not cut out the heater tube access hole, oh well… I made no cuts to either wing. Set it onto your table and cut the fray off.

Now, don’t fear the reaper and apply plenty of glue to both the back of the wing, ensuing that you really get it over the edge and into the creases. It should be wet when done. Now do the same to the body, but don’t go as crazy with the glue as you did with the carpet. Follow the black lines I have outlined as body lines, which you should note are very obvious when fitting the carpet. Let that tack for 20 minutes.

Come back and install the wing, fitting it around the heater channel cable in the front so the cable is very close to the floor. Place, pull, place tuck, pull back, place, tuck. Take your time, it will smooth out fairly nicely. Jam that top corner under the dash as far as it will go without exceeding the body line. It took me 20 minutes to place the piece and get it to lay properly.

Do the same for the passenger side wing, then move onto the header.

The header requires some cuts and is very hard to get in because of how you need to contort your body to install. Get it around the pedals and get your Sharpie. Line the top up into the body line and even it out end to end. Should have a little space on each end, unfortunately. Mark the areas as best as you can and cut the carpet away from all of the pedal assembly and it’s guts. Ensure that the accelerator cable is accessible. Take out and make your first cuts, then re-install and measure again. You will repeat this process until it fits to your satisfaction.

Now glue that piece in, allowing 20 minutes to tack, gluing both the back of the carpet and body area it will go onto. This took me 40 minutes to place and was probably the hardest part of this project.

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• Cost Front 9pc $78 / part#34-F1214-607
• Cost Rear 5pc $60 / part#34-R1103-607
• No pre-cut holes
• Need Strong Adhesive
• Need Very Sharp Scissors
• Padding does not hurt, they sell the kits
• Is over length in many pieces, so more cutting is required
• Looks like it will not fit, at first

Okay, let’s move onto installing the carpet.

1. Preparation

You’re going to need some space, a sharp pair of scissors, a sharp utility knife, a Sharpie marker and strong contact cement. Make sure the area has proper ventilation, less you want to ride the dragon during the procedure. If not, move the family and neighbors out and use a respirator.

I used DAP Weldwood in the Red can (original formula). I tried the DAP in the Green can while installing the headliner and was less then satisfied with it’s bonding ability. The Red stuff is really thick and tacks in 15-20 minutes, pending your weather. That’s perfect for what we are doing here.

2. Preparing the Car

Make sure your floor is really clean before attempting to glue stuff to it. You really don’t want dirt or car parts under there.

Also, ensure that all of your heater cables are routed in a way that seems to lay naturally onto the floor. This is critical because the carpet (or padding) will glue them into weird positions that will be hard to sort out down the road.

I added B-Flat brand sound deadener to the rear engine facing body panels. This should prevent the chatter from entering the cabin. This stuff is much cheaper then DynoMat and gives the same effect. I bought 2 25 ft. rolls a few years back and am still using it, even after this project. Good stuff!

If you have freshly painted the pans and body of your Beetle, you might want to scuff the carpet surfaces with steel wool. It roughs up the surface and provides a better surface to adhere to. I made my own carpet padding by using the large front piece folded in half, tracing that out onto the padding with a Sharpie. That was glued down using 3M 70 Spray Glue with a good coating on both the pad and the floor. Allow time to tack, but not too much with the spray glue. Give it 2 minutes or sooner.

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1. Headlights

Yeah, you need these working to pass DMV in California, both lows and brights. The Beetle that I bought had 1 Sylvania and 1 Phillips installed, so that was neato. I will be working from the headlights back to the fuse box. These lights are 7 inch Halogens, used by VW on most of their models until the late ’80s, as I can interchange them with both my Bus and Rabbit. They have three prongs located at the rear of the sealed unit; one on top and two on each side. Looking at the front of the plug , Clockwise, White (Passenger side) /Yellow (top) / Brown (Driver’s side).

How do the lights mount onto the body? They do so with two circles and a retaining ring. First there is a mounting circle (you can see the three mount points for these in the hull). An Adjuster Ring is mounted onto of this, which has two mount points and a spring (located at the bottom of the assembly). The Headlight mounts to the Adjuster Circle via long screws, using the tabs on the sides of the light units.

Next, install the sealed beam unit to the Headlight Adjuster Circle using the long screws.

Here is a view with both sealed units installed:

Now install the retaining rings over the edges of the headlights.

Headlights installation complete.

The wires for these travel from the front of the fender into the side of the luggage compartment via rubber tubes. The ones I bought, I broke initially because the sharp edges of the connectors torn into the sides. They are cheap and I figure you need at least three to do the job. Start by wrapping the connectors with electrical tape, trying to not bunch them all up at the top (I know, it’s difficult). Now get out some wheel bearing grease and grease the hell out of the wires and the tube. This will help when you’re stuck halfway into the tube and are about ready to give up. Push the wires through using a blunt rod; I used the jack handle that came with my Rabbit’s stock jack. The tubes might be too long for the travel distance between the fender and the body, which was my case, but there does not seem to be any shorter ones available. Another 1973 issue I guess.

On the driver’s side, even more difficulty is added by having to make an incision in the tub about 2-3 inches from the body to push the horn wires through. Seems kind of dumb to cut a hole into the tube for weather-proof reasons, so try to do it at the top (I guess). You can see in my picture that I got lazy and ran it out what used to be my air conditioner hole.

The wires route up the driver’s side wheel well and through the firewall at a hard to access hole near the driver’s knees. This is the front wiring harness (one of three). They attach to the fusebox as follows:

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