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On 3 Mar 2006 at 0:01, Leroy Hessner wrote: > I am fishing for expert opinion/advice here - I bought the two fuse > blocks on ebay (auction #7748104605) that have ATO fuses and Ford > relays. My plan is to put them in my Baja bug and the 64 Squareback I > am restoring. Good idea, bad idea? Before you do something like this, you should make sure that you have a really good idea of what it is that you expect to improve. Keep in mind that many of the "improvements made in things like the ATO fuses were done for cost saving, so it's not clear that it's a step up. The little pointy-ended fuses that VW used do tend to get their elements damaged easily, but if this really bothers you, you can find made in US pointy ended glass tube fuses which are more durable. OTOH, it takes almost no extra care to make the OE fuses last forever. I can't remember the last time I accidentally broke one. It's also worth seconding Steve's excellent comments that the worst VW electrical problems seem to arise out of owners who set out to "improve" things. Maybe you're a REALLY competent electrical engineer with lots of practical hands-on experience, but if it were me, and I have as much experience at this kind of thing as anyone, I'd follow the path already set down at the factory. It's not just a light side/dark side thing. It's more a matter of knowing what works and being able to remember what you did, months later. If I re-do it to my own liking, then suddenly the only road map to this thing is in my head, and in 2 years it won't even be there. We get questions here all the time, from people with customized electrical systems about how to figure out what's wrong, and they are really up a creek without any help when they can't tell us what's been changed and how. I know you think you'll be different, and you'll remember, and I'm sure your intensions are good, but you'll forget just like the rest of us. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~