jmc1590

Hi all.
I posted a little while back that I had picked up a '84 944 (11/83) that needed some work. (Heh heh, yeah. Right...) Ok, it's not that bad, but it's in far rougher shape than I expected. PO had complained that they were unable to get the car started. I suspected that it had to do with the wrong DME being used. (SAAB parts in a P-car? Really?) Additionally, the wiring was a disaster with an ad-hoc alarm system being installed by someone at some point. Complete with speaker wire being used for power, ground, switches...

With the dash removed, and all the "odd" wiring gone, I proceeded to evaluate what was uninstalled, missing or damaged. Which led me to the fuse panel. (Or Electrical Distribution Panel, if you prefer.) It appears that at some point, vibration took it's toll and the mounting bracket failed. The bend near the panel attachment screw had sheared, leaving an open loop unfit for securing the panel to. Easy enough fix - disconnected the panel wiring, removed the panel and welded the bracket back together.

Which leads me to where I'm at now. Re-attaching all the wiring to the panel. What a nightmare! It seems like there needs to be an installation order to get the correct leads to the correct locations. Otherwise, leads keep coming up short due to interference from other wires! Does anyone have any experience with this mess? Alternately, is there a way to lengthen/un-mount/disconnect the main harness so that I can have more than 6" of leads to work with? Also, if anyone has any pictures of the backside of the fuse panel with wiring attached, that would help with trying to figure the routing.

Thanks!

James

jmc1590

Here's a question that's relevant: With a build date of 11/83, should I be using the model 83 schematics, or the model 84 schematics? My VIN indicates '84 model with a ENxxxxxx. But I'm finding 83 model relays in the harness. Oddity, or fairly normal?

Thanks!

James

pfarah7

If I remember correctly, my 84 build date was in January. I've been using the 84 yr schematic with no issues. Do you have both year diagrams? If so, trace a few circuits and see if the wire colors match... or not.

maint

jmc1590

I think I've been able to resolve the wire routing problem. After spending a bit of time looking things over, it occurred to me that routing and installation can easily be accomplished by the following:
1) Install the 6 colored plugs.
2) Attach the large Red "H" lines.
3) Working from pictures, or diagrams, attach the "G" lines.
4) Attach external relays to fuse box.

This effectively works from the bottom of the panel to the top. My biggest problem is I started with the relays. Then couldn't get them out of the panel again. Then broke the clips... Arg. I'm thinking that that edge of the panel can be milled down just enough to replace the clip fingers with a not so brittle piece of new plastic. We'll see.

As far as the wiring oddities, I'll chase down a few more circuits and report back.

Thanks!