Ok, I just did the 4 square headlight conversion and gl bumper to my 87 std hatch. Now whenever I put the car into reverse it blow the ignition coil fuse. Any Ideas?

You need to go over your wiring connections. It appears you connected to a wrong wire somewhere and tied into the reverse light or the shifter circuit. Perhaps the wire colors are the same and you picked the wrong wire.

Well I thought that at first as well. But all I did was clip the plugs from the old side marker and turn signal and crimp them to the ones that go to the bumper mounted signal and new side marker. I haven't wired up the new high beams yet. I'm waiting on a trip to the junk yard to get a GL hatch wiring harness to pair up with my Brat dash.

Hmm. Did you change the rear bumper or something else? Maybe the short is in the wiring to the reverse lights themselves. The problem may just be a coincidence.

No, the rear bumper is still std model, there isn't any real difference so I left it alone. I'm feeling like its more coincidence than conversion related myself. It didn't do it imediatly, just started out of nowhere yesterday afternoon.

 

Untill I get my hands on a multi-meter and start chasing wire gremlins I've just unplugged the conector on the trans for the 4wd and reverse lights. Drove it around for an hour or so today, using reverse quite a few times with no problems.

well, if you can find your way up to frederick maryland, i could help out with that. i have a few elctrical tools and a bit of expiriance chasine gremlins. im no master, not by far, but i am willing to help. i am available just about anytime, i am slighly unemployed and for at least hte next week, i am recovering from a biopsy, so im not going to be doing much of anything.

Well, to add more frustration to the stupidity... I plugged the wiring back up for the reverse switch and 4wd indicator that I unplugged earlier. And now its not blowing the damned fuse....

You may cleared the short just be moving those wires. Did you inspect the wires for any damage to them?

The wires and spade conectors in the plug looked to be in good condition. But they were sitting really close to the starter wire, which the rubber boot is missing from, so that may have been enough to make it ground out when the car was put into reverse.

 

Also, when I was looking at my fusible links, I found that the middle one had been replaced with a piece of 14ga wire. I didn't think that was a good think, so I replaced it with one of the spares I have.