Yes, she's running!! Got about 80 mi on her now.. took her to the alignment shop to get things set up right.. nice guy who knew Alfas and was willing to set to my specs. My "eyeball" align job was way off, of course. She drives like an Alfa now!
About the fuse.. mine has wires from the fuseholder, straight down into the block...
They're hard to see unless you look closely, and you should notice the solder joints on the tabs of the fuse holder. It does look disconnected at first glance.
So I assume that it is a neccicary part of the circuit. Does your "Exh Temp" light light up for a second or two when starting like it's supposed to? Haven't checked mine, the console is still out..
As for the relay theory.. yep, there does seem to be some kind of timer.. it's a good 3-5 sec or more after starting. I tried with the hand brake off and on, it still will do it with no handbrake. You do have to wait 10 sec or more before trying the key again, or it dosent reset.
Maybe there's a relay that turns on all the semi-critical lights for a bulb check, and that with it's timer is what we're chasing?