Electric Washer Pump Conversion, done right

I learned a lot about buying a car when I first bought my bug. One thing I learned was inspect everything. I had asked the previous owner if everything worked, the horn windshield wipers and spray, etc. He told me that, yes everything worked. It wasn't until after my dad and I had driven it home that I really started looking it over I noticed a few unusual things. One of the first things I noticed was the big black button underneath the dash, later I found this was the horn, the button on the steering wheel did not actually work. (Now I think it's because the column isn't properly grounded, but the button and steering wheel were pretty cheap so when I tried to fix it the button broke.) 

The jury rigged button

The next thing I was curious about was the red button at the bottom of the dashboard. Why I hadn't asked about this earlier I don't know. But anyway I followed the wires, (I didn't want to push it until I knew what it was) turns out it is the button to operate the windshield washer pump. I need to be more careful about word choice, while everything did work, it didn't exactly work the way it was supposed too. Don't get me wrong I'm still glad I got this bug, it just would have been nice to know these things before I bought it.

The old cruddy pump

Well I've been staring at that red button on the dash for long enough. The cruddy old pump that was in my car before finally gave out, so I decided while I'm replacing that I might as well do the job right and hook up the wires to the windshield wiper switch on the column. It isn't as hard as you would think. 

We had an brand new pump and reservoir that we hadn't used laying around, so I decided to use that. I decided to mount it to the fresh air box as it was really the only place it would fit. Then I took off the wheel and got looking at the switch. It is a newer switch we bought probably a year ago. As I got looking I realized the switch not only came with the air pressurized nozzle but also the metal contact points needed for an electric pump. 

The pump has two wires coming off of it one for ground and one for power. I grounded it on the nut that holds the fresh air box in place, then I routed the power wire into the cab by the column, I had it go to one side of the contact points (shown in the picture) and another wire coming from the other side of the contact points that goes to power.

This shows what wires I added on the switch (click for bigger image)

That's all it took, a fun easy fix to an irritating problem I have been staring at for two years. Now I guess I need to get around to fixing that horn button, that's a project for another day.