[urq] dash upgrade

Thu Mar 30 18:16:30 EST 2006

Arpad,

83s have the fusebox and the old style wiring harness.
The dash/outside fusebox change came for '84 model
year in the US. Maybe there are a few '83s that have
later harnesses, but I don't know exactly when the
change came.  Anyway, my point is that most '83 guys
who have changed to a later dash have had to do
something to make the old wiring work with the new
dash.  Two options exist:

A. Remove old dash, clip all the wires for the plugs,
use crimp connectors to attach the wires to the new
plugs (make sure you get at least a few centimeters of
the newer wiring harness when you cut the plugs of the
later harness), attach new dash, drive off merrily
into the sunset.  Martin Pajak did this in about 3
hours on one of his cars - multiply by 3 for ordinary
people to calculate time required to do this.

B. Take a later wiring harness (Coupe GT or 4kQ) and
fuse box, remove your old wiring harness, replace the
old with the new, cut a hole for the new fusebox, and
reinstall the dash.  This is what I did - it's
absolutely fantastic, and takes an inordinate amount
of time.  I have inserted my post from another list on
this same topic below.

Unless anyone else has contradictory evidence, I think
it would be extremely complicated to get the old
harness to work with the new fuse box.  In my opinion,
they are completely different animals.

If you plan to keep your car for a very long time, B
is a good option.  If you just want a new interior, A
is a good option.  If you do a A, I've heard it
recommended that one should put the fuel pump relay
near the pump (drawing juice from the battery under
the back seat is very convenient), so that only the
current to drive the relay goes through the fuse box.
This seems to be one of the major failure modes of the
old fuse boxes, and one of the reasons people have
done the complete harness swap. 

>>>>>>Haven't read everyone else's posts on this
topic, but from my own
experience on my 1983 complete harness swap from a
1986 Coupe GT, I
can report the following:

1 day to remove the harness from the CGT - this goes
pretty fast. The
only real challenge is getting everything strung
through the firewall
holes without damaging any plugs. Remove the fusebox
completely so
that you can see what the h..l you are doing. Put a
tag on everything
when you remove it.  Having a friend without greasy
fingers writing
out the labels and tagging things up while you toil
away is really
convenient.

2. Removal from the UrQ. Same as above labeling things
is good here,
too, in case you need to cut plugs to window lifters
and such.

3. Follow the 1985 Turbo Quattro diagram in Bentley -
this is what
your car will be like after the new harness goes in. I
made sure the
harness was exactly right before attempting to install
it in the car.
If you want the AC to work, you need a low-pressure
(evaporator-
mounted) and high-pressure switch (condensor-mounted).
The CGT will
have this - whether or not these bits work is a
different story...

4. You'll need to splice in your diff lock lights
wires from the old
harness. Ditto if you want to maintain the multiple
fan speed
capability on the rad fan. I didn't, I just plugged it
in. Wipers
motor, and heater fan motor also need a bit of
splicing to get it all
working right, unless you use the blower and wiper
motor off the CGT.
The UrQ has smaller holes/grommets in the firewall for
the harness. I
dremeled them to match the grommets/holes from the CGT
firewall so
that I could use the same grommets.  Since you will
need to fit a few
extra wires/plugs through the grommets, I greased them
up and stretch
them over a length of thinwall steel tubing, large
enough to fit the
harness and plugs. That made it easier to fit things
through - when I
had everything through I split the edge of the steel
tube and bent it
open far enough to clear the harness.

5. Cut a hole for the fusebox - make a gasket with
RTV. it's hard to
get to - I used a Dremel for most of it. You will need
to cut the aux
relay panel brackets from the CGT and mount them in
the same location
on the UrQ. I used self-tapping sheet metal screws and
gasketed/sealed the screw tips where they came out
next to the new
fuse box (you'll see what I mean when you look at the
CGT aux relay
panel).  I also used grease on the harness grommets to
pop them into
place - without that, it's easy to tear the grommet.

6. Time - heh, heh, heh - weeks of 2 hour or so
stints. Uninterrupted
you might be more efficient... plan on keeping the car
if you do the
swap - it's a labor of love.  The CGT harness was in
much nicer
shape, more flexible wire, etc. Well worth it, but I
plan to keep the
car.

7. You need a different fuel pump relay. It's the part
number shown
in ETKA for the later UrQs.

8. I also used the later heater control assembly and
cables. They are bit different than the early ones. 

HTH.

Alex

--- arpad buzas <arpad at snet.net> wrote:

> Finaly i have almost al the parts i need to convert
> my 82 Ur-Q interior to a neu stile.Problem so far
> most of you guys had the 83 and up Uris where the
> wires and the fuse box it is located outside the
> car.I know somebody had a walktrough! Thinking of
> changing the fuse box place to . Any help would be
> apreciated Thanx Arpy
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