Welcome Titus,
Lots of questions and lots of answers, all benficial.
What year was VW donor? This is important. For VW related data, get a “Red Book” for 1968 and up VW from Robert Bentley. For 1967 and older, get the “Blue Book”. It’s on Amazon.com, search Robert Bentley books.
My first kit was a CMC/FiberFab like yours. All OEM VW Beetle gas tanks had the filler on the same side, passenger side. The problem is the hood is HINGED ON THE WRONG SIDE. The lame CMC assembly manual directed this. Swap the hinges and latches to the opposite sides. I used a slide/thumb screw locking hinged rod that I got at West Marine to hold up my hood. It’s for a hatch cover. It’s stainless steel and never rusts. I was mounted on the “firewall” and a wooden block glued with some killer marine glue on the bottom side of the hood. it allowed the hood to be opened and fixed in inumerable positions.
Here’s my thoughts on switches and hardware. Go to a marine supply like West Marine, etc. The quality of the electrical stuff is better able to withstand the weather as most are water proof, the hardware is stainless steel and the latches, hinges, etc. are all a higher quality of plating. Our badge bars are really deck rail. This stuff is pricey, but there are online marine suppliers that are cheaper than the brick and mortar stores.
I used a dash mounted 3 position switch for blinkers. Left was left, center was off and right was right. A universal, weather proof headlight switch (West Marine) worked great too.
Gas gauges are really just ohm meters. If you buy gauges, be sure to buy one that matches the ohms of your sender. A VW supply house can help on that one. There are plethora of online VW suppliers. They may even be able to tell you waht ohms the VW sender is. GM, Ford and MOPAR gauges work at different ohm values.
I bought Autometer Ultra-Lite gauges for my Chevette based TD. I’m not concerned with authenticity, just function.
As you know, there is no coolant temp gauge on an air cooled engine…there’s no coolant. There are other type gauges (pyrometer) that measure head temp, etc., but they’re really not required on a VW unless you’re racing it. They are very expensive too. Be concerned with your volts and oil pressure.
Hope this helps. We’ve all suggested ways to “Git R Done”, you can pick the methods you like the best.
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