[Vwdiesel] 81 Rabbit electrical woes

[Rolf Pechukas]

hey gang
I'm having all sorts of relay/fuse problems lately - it all seems to  
come down to a leak at the antenna which allowed water to get to the  
back of the fuse/relay panel
several blown fuses, a short somewhere in the reverse light circuit...
but most important:
glow plug circuit is fritzing out
just did a quick diagnostic
current situation:
I am not getting ANY GP action that I can discern at all, resulting in  
VERY hard early morning starts
IF I wait more than a couple hours during the day, gets hard to start  
also

with the entire GP relay bypassed, I am putting direct 12v to the bar
reading +13v at all 4 plugs
did this today early AM for 30 sec and still absolutely no effect
very hard start (i.e. 90 sec cranking - BAD for starter, etc
normally chick-vroom)
so how is it that ALL 4 GPs failed simultaneously?!
I am guessing that the rain to the fuse box somehow screwed up the  
relay so that GP circuit stayed open continuously and all 4 burned out
sound likely?
can't account for it any other way
shouldn't putting 12v to the bus fire up those plugs?
but no dice!

anyway, I clearly need to replace the panel
in the meantime, I have new GPs + relay on their way
I am planning to bypass the box anyway and put a manual switch on the  
dash - I prefer this anyway
but any thoughts on this situation?

looks like I need to remove IP to replace GPs
true?
good idea to do a timing belt at the same time?
any feedback appreciated

thanks!

Rolf in MA