924Board.org

dpw928 · Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 1860 Location: owasso, ok 74055

I'm sure you all are aware of the corrosion problems with our torpedo type fuses. The problem is really accented on the 928's due to the number (28 on my 7

and location (passenger footwell right under the heater blower). Has anyone found a conversion that is "plug and play" in that it is neat and doesn't create other connection problems?

Attached is one conversion I am trying but once all 28 fuses are replaced the front of the panel will look almost like the back.

Dennis

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81 931 5 sp
78 928 5 sp Silver
78 928 AT Euro Black

dpw928 · Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 1860 Location: owasso, ok 74055

Got it.

Dennis
_________________
81 931 5 sp
78 928 5 sp Silver
78 928 AT Euro Black

Smoothie · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 3:51 am Post subject:

That 928 fuse panel does look scarey, but the mental image of redoing it looks pretty scarey too. I'd probably just clean the fuse contacts with a small wire brush on a Dremel tool and use contact cleaner, then give everything a coating of dielectric grease to increase the time 'til it needs to be done again.
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"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

dpw928 · Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 1860 Location: owasso, ok 74055

Smoothie,

I have to do a quarterly cleanup and at least once a month go through a fuse twisting ritual.

The biggest problem is moisture from the heating vent getting on the panel. With the extremely small contact area of the OEM fuses it doesn't take much moisture to cause corrosion. The later 928's were produced with ATO fuse holders to aleviate this problem. Swapping out to a later panel doesn't seem to be the answer as the fuse contact banks were drastically changed in later years.

Dennis
_________________
81 931 5 sp
78 928 5 sp Silver
78 928 AT Euro Black

Smoothie · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:38 am Post subject:

Well that's only what I would've done. -And probably would have moved on to trying an ATO fuse arragement soon after.

Here's something that I'd be suprised if you hadn't seen already - http://members.rennlist.com/sharkskin/Pages_SA_R04-Bzzzzzt.htm , it's only talking about cleaning the existing setup anyway..

Back to ATO fuses - maybe you could make use of fuse blocks instead of the in-line holder type (, but I don't know how big these things are and how they'd fit) -
http://www.wiringproducts.com/index.html?target=p_348.html&lang=en-us
http://www.wiringproducts.com/index.html?target=p_347.html&lang=en-us
http://www.midterminc.com/en-us/dept_87.html

or a marine equivalent -
http://www.jbeezwatercraft.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/1527?
http://www.eangler.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=692294&location=INKST&storeId=10701&catalogId=10051
http://www.overtons.com/modperl/overtons/detail/pdetail2.cgi?r=detail_view&item_num=71230

...Though using the in-line holders - it looks like it would be real easy to attach them with 1/4" female spade connectors.
_________________
"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

gohim · Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 4459 Location: Rialto, CA

Some VW Rabbit, Golf and Jetta models use the same exact fuse panel, and models of those cars were converted to "blade" fuses from the "torpedo" fuses in the mid-late 80s.

The VW "blade" fuse panel in the 86 VW Jetta that I am preparing for use as a daily driver looks like it should fit in the same space in a 924. It even uses the same "clip-on" relay sockets at the top of the panel.

I have a spare VW "blade" relay/fuse panel that I bought off eBay for $5 (complete with a set of relays). I got it for the relays and the fuses (cheaper than buying a single relay or set of fuses from the store).

I can take photos if someone is interested, but I haven;t ever posted photos, and don't know how.

Personally, I live in SoCal, and except for seasonal downpours (6-8 inches in the past 24 hours), do not get that much rain, and have never had corrosion problems with the fuses or the relay/fuse panel.

Smoothie · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:15 am Post subject:

Dennis - I can't see well enough in the pic if you're doing this... -But from that Rennlist Sharkskin link you can see that one end of each of the existing fuse holders can be pulled, revealing a 1/4" male spade connector that you could plug right into.
_________________
"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

dpw928 · Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 1860 Location: owasso, ok 74055

Smoothie,

Thanks for the links. I've seen the stabilant data and agree that it would help if it really goes from non-conductive to conductive when charged. Irregardless it is still a patch to the small contact problem. The Wingproducts fuse holders look promising. The other holders that I have looked at had a common power input which would make them useless except for the few fuses connected to the 30 or 15 power source. The biggest problem I see with the remote fuse block is managing the wiring looms to and from the block. There isn't a lot of room between the foot board and the fuse panel.

I did remove the top connector so I could use two .25" female spade connectors on my set up. I had to use some needle nose pliers to "slightly" modify the connectors to get them snug.

Thanks again,

Dennis
_________________
81 931 5 sp
78 928 5 sp Silver
78 928 AT Euro Black

Smoothie · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 7:39 am Post subject:

Here's the VW fuse panel that gohim mentioned above (each pic shows the VW panel at top and the 924 panel below) (click each for larger pics) -
<click for fronts>

MunkPuppy · Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2005 6:12 pm Post subject:

you nutter, you have the pics linked as text files... however, if you save the file to disk, and change the extension to .jpg rather than .txt, the pictures show up just fine

I'm such a geek

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'80 931 FOR SALE

"It's a shame that stupidity isn't painful"
-Anton Szandor LaVey

gohim · Joined: 02 Nov 2002 Posts: 4459 Location: Rialto, CA

thanks for posting the photos for me Smoothie....

As you all can see the VW fuse/relay panel is very close to the 924 part.

The retaining screw bracket at the bottom is in exactly the same spot, and are the "pins" on the sides that the panel is "hung" on. So the VW panel would be a "drop-in" replacement for the 924 panel.

The rearranging the wires in for the vw socket plugs would be a challenge, but I expect that it could be done in less that a day, and probably less than 1/2 a day if the wiring harness was off the car where the person doing the work had easier access.

Smoothie · Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 2:40 am Post subject:

No prob, glad to help.
The actual rewiring job would be simplified if you scribble down a cross reference of the from-to connector and pin numbers beforehand-
P924........VW
A12..........C3
B5............B7 , or whatever, etc.

MunkPuppy - I change the extention to .txt because Geocities doesn't allow direct links to display .jpg photos. With .txt, the pics display directly in posts - apparently not for you, but they do for me in IE and I'm assuming it works the same for anyone else using IE. I think it used to work for me in Netscape also. Maybe some browsers handle it differently? What browser are you using?
_________________
"..it's made in Germany. You know the Germans always make good stuff."

'82 924T, US version, dark green metallic, 5 speed Audi 016G gearbox

Alex Roy · Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 3:50 am Post subject:

ut-oh, I think Smoothie one-upped your geekdom with his geo-cities hack.

You nerd-foo is very strong grass-hoppa!