Thanks for the tips from fellow 81-3 owners, i had a quarter hour today to take a look at the 82 and found that the drivers vanity mirror wire had been the cause of the short. When the multiplugs were disconnected from the pax footwell i could put the fuse in without it blowing, but when i did put the fuse back in i could hear a faint hissing sound from the light switch area of the dash which is a bit worrying! When i get more time i will look deeper into the source of the hiss it may well be from a pin in one of the multiplugs being loose from the high load (i.e. heat) caused by the dead short, i do not intend using the car until i have found the root cause of the hiss. If i have any problem visually identifying the root cause of the hiss i will borrow an amp clamp from a work colleague and find where the draw of current is going too and follow it until i have found the fault. Apologies to the Webmonsters for my one liner to Hugh, my knuckles are rapped. ouch! Neil 82 Imp soon to be on the road again. London, England