Re: fuse box upgrade

[EICHSTEV@aol.com]

On Tue, 16 Mar 1999 19:11:23 Huw Powell wrote:

>  To swap harnesses would require massive dismantling of not one but two
>  cars - which of course is often the position the fuse box swapper finds
>  themself in anyway (building 4kqt's, etc.).  getting those harnesses out
>  alive and puting them back neatly is a big job.  Plus, depending on the
>  models and vintages of the cars (donor, donee) the harnesses won't fit
>  at the other end anyway!
>  The one harnes that might make serious sense to swap is the dash switch
>  one, if one is swapping tot he newer dashboard at the same time that
>  will save some splicing.
>  Another point that might be useful, is that the cutout in the plenum has
>  a flange around it, which probably acts as a last ditch defense against
>  water infiltration so it might make sense to either duplicate it somehow
>  or to cut out the sheet metal from the donor and patch it into the
doneevehicle.

>From a BTDT perspective, the only times I would recommend doing a wiring swap
are:
1)  The existing harness is damaged too badly to reliably repair.
2)  You are doing a engine AND dash swap.
Otherwise, I would simply do the wiring fixes as on RDH's page and put relays
on the headlights. 

IMHO, if you are changing harnesses just for the sake of having the "newer,
better" harness you are just looking for trouble.  Do some PM on the
electrical system and if something goes wrong then think about the swap.
There is usually enough other things to fix on the older cars... 

IF YOU DO decide to do it for some masochistic reason, and I recommend you
swap it all if you do, the actual work to do the swap on a like vehicle (i.e.
'84 to '85 CGT) is not bad relatively.  It takes about 2.5 hours each to pull
harnessses carefully in donor and recipient car (BTDT) plus about twice that
amount of time to install it with cutting the hole, etc.  This assumes
changing the dash, A/C controls, and all switches.  Add time if the cars are
different ('82 Coupe, '87.5 CGT) do to different engine controls, etc.   Doing
the same for an ur q would add more due to the different engine management and
A/C systems.  In my case it has taken a month of weekday evenings to build the
proper wiring system with pieces of harnesses from four different cars and its
not in the car yet!  Cutting the hole is the easiest part. Just something to
think about before you jump in and pull out that Rabbit fuse panel...

Steve Eiche
'82 Not So Ur q 20Vt