Switches, Good enough for cheap Options

[lapuwali]

So, now that I have my electrical system mostly gutted, and was agog at how many terminals the headlight switch has on it (10, with about 16 wires from doubling up), I noticed that it looks very much like the headlight switch in my Type 3.

The later ('67-on) VW switches have either 6 or 8 terminals. As far as I can tell, they all have the two positions + dimmer functions on them. This should only require 4 terminals (power in, parking lights on, headlights on, dimmer out), so I'm puzzled about even the 6 terminal versions, other than cutting down slightly on splicing wires together outside the switch. The 914 switch is $350 new from PP, and I'd presume even more from AA.

The VW switches, however, are only $30 from most Bug shops (late Beetles, Ghias, and Type 3s), and other than the different number of terminals, they appear to have the same form factor, so they should be very close to a straight plug in proposition, requiring a bit of wire splicing to connect to extra wires to the right places. For $300, I'd be happy to do some extra wiring if I needed such a switch.

I also noticed that the steering column cover, the ignition switch, and the turn signal switch on the Type 3 look a great deal like the early ('70-'72) 914 parts. The later 914 parts are quite different, so adapting them would be harder. There are some later VW switches that look like they might work, so browsing a parts catalog might pay off.

Also, while PP shows the hazard flasher switch as NLA, the VW part is $35 and also looks the same as the 914 part.