I believe that Van Cafe is working on this.

Karl Wolz
Sent from my electronic umbilicus

> On Dec 4, 2013, at 2:02 PM, Al Knoll <anasasi@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> One can duplicate the circuit.  Wires work pretty well.  A custom harness
> pegged to a board isn't mechanically out of reach.  A substitute connector
> that patches into the  press-ons, would not be that hard.  Sometimes if one
> breaks down the task as you do things become simpler, perhaps not easier
> but simpler.  Now if one does justice and wires the loom with color coded
> or tagged (read aircraft) wires documentation becomes a matter of
> annotating a photograph.
>
> My college buddy Dave Burnett had to rewire a MG-TC that the "owner"
> rewired with pretty green wire, all of it in pretty green wire.  When a
> major connector short  caused the  smoke trapped in some of those pretty
> green wires to escape vigorously, Dave got a bargain, otherwise virtually
> perfect with good leather, top, sidecurtains. chrome, and  BRG bodywork,
> and a strong engine for a pittance as no one was willing to do the rewire
> for less than a duke's ransom.  Heck even the Smiths guages were perfect.
>
> You can draw a point to point circuit diagram of the blue plastic flex
> circuit.  Realize the drawing into an annotated wiring harness diagram,
> properly trim the wires to length, and attach modern Amphenol or better
> connector pairs.
>
> But I'd rather camp.
>
> Pensionerd.
>
>> On Tue, Dec 3, 2013 at 10:01 PM, Don Hanson <dhanson928@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>   If you simply must have a stock or factory original looking
>> vanagon, I guess you will just have to keep upping your parts budget
>> but if you just want function with perhaps a bit easier access and
>> better performance, making your own stuff is not especially difficult.
>> The list was looking for instrument pods    which are said to be
>> getting expensive and brittle..   I know it sounds weird but you can
>> easily make a very good instrument panel, one that has much better
>> access to the wiring and connectors, one with accurate and dependable
>> gauges that are arranged to YOUR liking...Yeah, it won't look stock.
>> But stock isn't necessarily the best arrangement, the most dependable,
>> the most accurate....stock is just what the bean counters and the
>> engineers decided would make the most money for the company...
>>
>>   Individual analog (my preference) or digital gauges can be
>> installed into a dash panel (or two) of your own design...fairly
>> simple to do.   They do it all the time in racecars.   I took an
>> almost 50lb pod out of my racecar and replaced it with 16lbs of my own
>> design...an aluminum plate and some autometer instruments that
>> actually gave me numbers, not incremental lines and bars and warning
>> lights...I arranged the dials so that at operating temperature and
>> speed all the needles pointed to 12 O Clock....A quick scan was all it
>> took to see any readout that wasn't right.....A bank or two of toggle
>> switches  and you are there...   I used the back of a dish pan that I
>> laid up some carbon fiber over then removed the pan (a mold) for the
>> cowl to cover the wires on the rear of the panel and two large Dzus
>> fasteners so I could pull the whole panel right out without a tool
>> even....
>>
>>   Every time I go into my dash pod on the vanagon I swear at all the
>> fiddly little brittle plastic tabs and tiny connectors and I always
>> vow to make one that a human hand can work with....but then it goes
>> back together(eventually and with crossed fingers that I got all the
>> wires in right)   and I finds someplace fun to go off to in my Vanagon
>> and I put that project off....till the next issue that requires me to
>> go into the pod........  Yes, the stockers look great and you can put
>> your toy Poodle up there and he wouldn't get shocked or be able to
>> chew anything important, but
>> these are basically trucks or utility vehicles, not slick
>> cars....They should be easier to work on and do the job better if
>> possible and keeping it stock, at greater expense and lesser function?
>> Next time something integral to the pod in mine breaks....I think
>> I'll be revising that mess...
>>