Accessorizing

Good Morning, today I'm going to be continuing to talk about some of the "cockpit" improvements I've made on my Bug. Like I mentioned before I had to take the dashboard off to redo some wiring problems, while the dash was off, I took advantage of the opportunity to make some needed repairs and upgrades. Today's topic is: The 12v outlet on my super beetle.

When I first got my car the previous owner had a really poor electric washer pump hooked up to the car. It passed safety but I didn't like it at all. He had "installed" a button in the whole for the cigarette lighter that operated the pump. He did a bad job of it and it was always falling apart. Over time i have been accumulating all the parts I need to restore the original washer pump system. For those of you interested in how that works, I'll be doing a post on it in a few days, so stay tuned. 

What that did do though is allow me to remove the button and free up the hole there. I have wanted to have a 12v outlet in my beetle ever since I had my first one, but I haven't been able to install one in any of the ones I have owned so far. But this time I decided to do it. Since I don't smoke I didn't want a cigarette lighter, I just wanted a 12v socket. I did some looking around on amazon and found one meant for marine vehicles. that's not super important, but what is important is it worked for my needs, it has a screw on the back to install it with. I had to slightly enlarge the hole so that it would fit, once that was done, I screwed it in and plugged it in into one of the ignition on fuses. 

It works great and I would recommend doing this to other owners as well. It was an easy and inexpensive upgrade. Its rather convenient as well, to be able to charge a phone or ipod while in your car driving!