Re: fuse box upgrade

[EICHSTEV@aol.com]

Huw wrote:
>  << I may try to do this in a few months; so I'm looking for hints and tips
>   from those who have btdt.  This of course means putting the underhood
>   fusebox in a car that came with the underdash version.  I presume it
>   basically involves cutting a hole and splicing about 100 wires?  >>
Chris Semple replied:
>  I'm going to play that game with my ur-q when I redo the motor. My
preference
>  is to change out the entire harness Vs splicing in a box. You've got three
>  different harness' to deal with, the tail(easy), dash, and engine bay. Then
>  you've updated to late factory spec and still retain OEM diagnostic
>  capability. I'll just have to have somebody steady my wrist while I make
the
>  first cut into the cowl/firewall! 
>  I think Steve Eiche's in the middle of this process, maybe he'll comment on
>  the ease of process so far.

OK, I'll bite.  The conversion on an early Coupe GT would be pretty straight
forward.  You would want to get ALL the harnesses from an '84-'86  Coupe GT
wreck though, otherwise the amount of time you spend matching wires would
greatly offset the amount of time to remove them from a wreck and installing
them in the early car.  Be advised that this requires the removal of the dash,
carpet and ideally heater box to route everything properly.

On an ur q, you will need to fabricate some of the harnesses if you want your
two speed (or three speed) radiator fan to work properly.  I used '87.5 Coupe
GT harnesses because they have the proper A/C wiring and (gasp) digital dash.
In ANY ur q wiring conversion you will need to do some fabrication.  I bought
a left front Euro ur q harness from England and got a bunch of factory AMP
connectors and pins to do all the modifications for the 20Vt installation and
hydraulic system conversion. With those pieces, the '91 200q engine harness
and misc. other bits, I have been able to piece together a duplicate of the RR
engined ur q wiring system with a few additions, like headlight relays and
factory express up/down on both windows.

As to placement of the fusebox, you first need to remove the original bracket
for the fuse box, then cut the hole for the newer fuse panel.  You will also
need to weld in the brackets for relay panel.

One other possibility is using the fuse box from an '84 VW GTI or Rabbit.  The
fuse panel uses the new style fuses and it mounts in the existing bracket with
no need to cut holes.  With that you would need to splice wires though...

HTH!

Steve Eiche
'82 Not So Ur q