Has anyone replaced their fuse panel with a newer one? Mine is quite rusty. I have cleaned it as much as I can with wire brushes and electrical cleaner and everything works again, but I would like to upgrade to newer fuses and have more fuse opportunities for future accessories. After 15 years in automotive installations I am confident in my ability to do it, just wondering if anyone has done it before with any tips to share.

 

I've put painless wiring kits on two cars and found them to be very painful! It was tedious and took a lot of time, but that does give you the newer style push in fuses. If you want to go that route it can be done, just give yourself plenty of time to complete the install.

John

 

I have installed a Painless wiring harness before as well and like you found them to be the opposite. I am talking about just cutting the head of the snake off and replacing it. I want to take the factory fuse box out and replace it with a newer one with more fusable circuits available. As far as I know the factory wiring harness is unmolested, I would like to keep it that way. I have already upgraded to an HEI distributor and it would be great to have a dedicated circuit for it. I'm sure I will be installing a few more aftermarket goodies as I go along so having dedicated circuits would be a good thing. Is this virgin territory?

 

I did the swap to a modern (ok, more modern!) fuse box for my Cutlass over the winter. Its time consuming, but far cheaper than the painless wiring way. Find a donor vehicle that has a fuse box that will serve your purpose. I got mine from a early 80s GMC truck. Get as much of the harness as you can, both underdash and engine compartment half. It will be very helpful if you have factory style service manuals for your car and the donor vehicle. You will probably have to do a little trimming on the firewall for the box to fit. While your cutting wires at the junkyard get a bunch of electrical connectors, you will probably have to make several new connectors to adapt the later fuse box to the early wiring harness.

It took alot of time for me to make this swap, but I also converted to a late model steering column with delay wiper switch on the column, flash-to-pass, a late model chime module (with headlight warning) custom harnesses for the nitrous, line lock, stereo,power door locks, gages and other stuff. Its a very clean installation but took a time. I really thought about the Painless harness put would have had to adapt it to all the accessories I have added over the years. Why spend $500 just to modify what I did for maybe $100 total?

 

The fuse panel is integral with the main dash harness. You'll either be replacing the entire harness or you'll have a ton of splices in the wires.

 

The wires can be removed from the original connectors on the back-side of the '67 fuse box and the connectors are available to crimp onto the wires and insert into the new one. No need to splice! I'm very good at wiring with 15 years experience in the automotive trade, I was just wondering if it had been done before. Matt says he has done it and the results were positive so that is good enough for me.

Hoist.gifHoist.gifHoist.gif

 

Of course you can, but since it isn't the plastic fuse box that corrodes, but the terminals, there's no need for a new box either. Just remove and replace all the terminals. Of course, that assumes you have enough slack in each of the wires after cutting off the old terminal.

 

No need to cut, the old terminals can be removed. It takes patience but the Molex style crimps can be removed. Putting new terminals in a '67 fuse box still leaves me with 1967 technology. I want non-rusting brass connectors, fuses that don't splinter and crush when removed, and a great deal more circuit flexibility. My car is too far gone for a Concours resto, it will be a restomod and I will want more dedicated home-runs to the fuse box.

My last '67 would have been a better candidate for restoring the factory fuse box, but not this one!

Hoist.gifHoist.gifHoist.gif

 

You will end up with a bunch of splices, but thats why I suggested getting as much of the donor vehicle wiring harness as possible. I made all my splices in the factory location (where possible) and staggered all the others. Obviously this means spending ALOT of time on the floorboard, get the front seat out of the way. Put a heavy blanket on the floor, otherwise the studs that hold the seat in will scratch your back bad!

This isn't the place for butt connectors, you need the proper wiring supplies and good electrical skills. Get some good splice clips, lots of the the good heat shrink and good electrical tape.

 

If your existing wiring is operating satisfactorily, outside of a bit of rust on the glass fuse connectors. Why not just add an aux power center for your upgrades.

 

"This isn't the place for butt connectors, you need the proper wiring supplies and good electrical skills. Get some good splice clips, lots of the the good heat shrink and good electrical tape."
====================
OK, I'll bite
I thought I had a good grasp of electrical repairs and new work... thru 480V or so.
What is "splice clips" ?

Also, note that automotive harness wrap IS NOT electrical tape.


And, spring the extra $ for glue lined heat shrink. Trust me.

 

A quality butt connector such as Amp has been used in aircraft for 60 years. When installed correctly it will not pull apart or corrode.

 

I wouldn't use crimp connectors anywhere near this job. Aside from the questionable long-term quality of such joints, the sheer number of wires would make for a very bulky mess. I only use solder and shrink tubing. Never had a problem.

 

You've never seen the wiring on a wide body aircraft. I assure you the long term quality of the joints are incredibly good.

 

Actually, I have. I've also seen lots of wire harnesses for satellites and launch vehicles.

Show of hands. How many here have access to the MIL-SPEC butt connectors, certified crimping tools, and the training to use them?

I'll stick by my statement.

 

Lol, I concede...

 

Good quality heat-shrink butt splice connectors will be quite adequate for a 45 year old vehicle, trust me. I have used butt splice connectors to carry as much as 40 amps 12VDC. My '67 Cutlass won't have that much current on any single circuit. The heat-shrink connectors have hot glue inside them and completely seal, weatherproof, and stress-relieve the connection when used correctly. The use of properly sized connectors is the key to making long-lasting quality connections. This thing is not going to Mars or even outer space, just around the South West where black tape is the worst possible, gooeyest, nastyest junk you could ever use to seal a connection. Overlapping solder connections are probably the best for electrical transparency but they are bulky and prone to rubbing through insulation, even quality wiring insulation, heat shrink, or automotive harness wrap. Been there-done that-got the t-shirt! Oh, my Brother-in-law works in the aerospace industry so yeah, I have access to the connectors, tools, and training. Not necessary for this application.

I am up to the task, I have probably cleaned up and corrected more bad wiring jobs than a restoration shop while installing stereos. A good, quality stereo installation is like installing a completely new auxiliary wiring system in a car but I want one single point of fusability.

Hoist.gifHoist.gifHoist.gif

 

I just bought a complete instrument panel that has the harness attached.
It is pristeen.No cuts .
Let me know if you are interested.
Ron

 

As far as I know my instrument panel is fine, but I will keep you in mind.
Thanks!