Electrical Gremlins - Fuse 8 fried, no brake lights, again Options

[tadink]

Hey all -

I've done some research on the forum and looked at most / all of the electrical troubleshooting guides - but my issue has me stumped.....

71 Tub, 2.0L engine

My fuse 8 fries when the headlamps are turned on - but works fine otherwise. Well, it also fries when the wiper motor is turned on - so something is not right.

Other symptoms: When turn indicators are 'on' the e-brake big red light flashes

Upon inspection - I see that there is a jumper from my fuse 8 to fuse 9, I don't see that shown on any of the wiring diagrams I've looked at. You can see it in the pic below - a black wire from 8 to 9.

Some clever PO had a stereo system in there and much of the electronical connections are a bit 'non standard' but the stereo is long gone.

I don't have an e-brake and so the e-brake sensing wire is not attached.

As you can see from the attached pic of the fuse 8, it is not just fried but MELTED too! yipes.

Any thoughts on a process forward from here??? Can you tell anything by looking at the fuse panel that a newb like me won't notice?

note: I did get in there an clean the grounding point while I was upside down under the dash....

thanks in advance....

td