Electrical gurus I need some insight

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mikec4193

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
668
Location
mechanicville ny (upstate ny)
Hey Sparky rat rodders

I bought this harness from the fine folks at Speedway Motors....https://www.speedwaymotors.com/12-C...2H47D6nM1SZQ2RuaqeE55Fzei35o73IBoC-xkQAvD_BwE

I cant for the life of me can I figure a good place to mount the fuse block...I my prior builds I put them in the spot with the old one was located...there was nothing in this car but a dash board and both doors...

Where do you guys mount your fuse panels?...I got a 1939 Plymouth Coupe with a 6 cylinder Chevy engine and a 3 speed trans...so a basic heap for
sure...

IMG-20230424-150339264.jpg


Thanks in advance

MikeC
 
Right there in the center above the trans tunnel looks like a good place. Just be sure you check which tail light wire is the longest. That'll dictate which side of the vehicle to run the wires.
 

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Put it where you can get to it easily. I put mine on the left side of the firewall, left of the brake pedal. There was a hole in the firewall that was perfect to run wires through. My tail light wires run close to the tunnel under the carpet in wire loom.
If your harness is like mine from Speedway ( I didn’t look at the link) all the wires are labeled every six inches or so as to where they go.
 
I agree with Bama on putting it in an easy place. You'll be somewhat limited with a ready made harness. Think about access as you get older. I just don't like having to get into painful positions to check a fuse. Under the dash like on my C10 is really hard for me any more. On the 31A I made a second glove box, twin to the regular one. It's accessible from the drivers seat without moving. It makes this old guy with damaged kidneys and 50 years of wrecked back happy.
The C10 is getting moved as we speak to the driver side fender well under the hood.
 
With the mini fuse block like that, I install them under the dash on the kick panel where the dash meets the kick panel and the fuses face the passenger compartment.
 
I usually put them on the kick panel but in the wagon there was a nice spot on the firewall to the left of the steering column! Don usually put them under the seat!

BoB
 
Put the fuse panel someplace easily accessible, someplace where you will be able to see the panel to check the fuses at midnight, with a flash light with nearly a dead battery, while its raining.

Because, that is when you usually need to look at the fuses.

Laying on your back, between the seat, the brake pedal, and the car door, trying to hold the flash light and look up under the dash in order to check a fuse n a panel you hid under the dash sucks. A nearly dead flashlight battery and rain just adds to the experience.
 
Put the fuse panel someplace easily accessible, someplace where you will be able to see the panel to check the fuses at midnight, with a flash light with nearly a dead battery, while its raining.

Because, that is when you usually need to look at the fuses.

Laying on your back, between the seat, the brake pedal, and the car door, trying to hold the flash light and look up under the dash in order to check a fuse n a panel you hid under the dash sucks. A nearly dead flashlight battery and rain just adds to the experience.

Hey Gene....That is why I don't drive my old cars on the roadway....no fun doing that stuff at all...

I just wanna see it fire up and move under its own power...

Then I don't know what I will do with it...

I am going back out and do more chin scratching in the garage tonight...

All the insight is greatly appreciated...

MikeC
 
Hey Gene....That is why I don't drive my old cars on the roadway....no fun doing that stuff at all...

I just wanna see it fire up and move under its own power...

Then I don't know what I will do with it...

I am going back out and do more chin scratching in the garage tonight...

All the insight is greatly appreciated...

MikeC

To be fair, I've never had to do that on the side of the road with my 46, and I wired it 10 years and 36,000 km's ago. I did have to do some troubleshooting in the parking lot waiting for a ferry one day, turned out it was the neutral safety switch lost adjustment.
 
Actually, I have have had very few problems with my builds for wiring or most other things, with lots and lots of road miles on my stuff.

But having been involved with a few car clubs that actually drive their stuff, I've been enlisted to assist others with their stuff because I was the only guy in the group at the time that had any mechanical abilities.

Its always fun when you get to work on a car that belongs to someone who doesn't do any of their own work. Got to love those super car builders that think nothing that needs to function should be visible.

You have to figure out where the builder hid the thing you need access to, then figure out how to get at the thing they decided to hide, before you can begin to work on it.

As a result, if at all possible, I like to make the important things as accessible as possible, just in case. That can't always be done, but when I can, I do.
 
When I was wiring my truck, my neighbour came across the street one day. He was having someone build him a 37 Ford Coupe with an LS. He kept going on about how I should have hid my wiring and that's what he's doing to his. I explained that my stuff needs to be easy to troubleshoot and I'm not worried about show car clean. His car still isn't on the road, 10 years later.
 
I’ve had vehicles in the past that came from the factory with things in some of the worst places they could have put them. I always try to put things where I can get to them easily, who cares if it’s out in plain sight? If it’s ugly, I can make a easily removable cover to hide it. Like Gene said, when you need to work on something it always seems to be at a bad time.
 

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