rixter

THANKS Dave

JP Rodkey

Last summer coming home from OCIC in Wichita, I'd driven over a thousand miles and 12 hours straight - to be pulled over by the local constable about 2 miles from home because one of my headlights was out. I knew it was because of the fuse, but still got cited.

I did check into converting to a later fuse board by comparing wiring schematics and layout. Decided the better course was to remove the board, thoroughly clean, and replace all fuses with a dab of dielectric grease on the ends. Everything running fine, but it sure would be nice to make the conversion. No doubt it could be done, but it would take an awful lot of work and time.

Dennis Wilson

Marc,

No pics but I'll try to take some this weekend when the temps are supposed to go from 12F to 65F. Noticed a second line on the Littlefuse part number. First line is FHAC28P. Second line is FHAC0002XP.


Dennis

Carl Fausett

I think Rodkey's repair is the most reasonable. You pull all the fuses. You clean up the copper with an ink eraser, and you put in all new. That little bit of maintenance last a long time and corrects a lot of gremlins.

No doubt - blade type modern fuses are better yet, if you have the time, knowledge, and the will to change them all.

Here is a picture of the drain flap I spoke of. Look on the firewall, engine side, passenger side (US/Can only). Follow the right head and cam tower back, and directly behind the right head/cam you will find this black rubber flap covering an oval hole in your firewall that is about 1" high and 3" wide.

In this picture, the beige blob in upper left is the radiator reservoir, the silver blob in the lower right corner is the cam tower.

Frankly - I have so many trees around here that drop leaves in my cowling (that get stopped at this flap and collect there) that I pulled the rubber flappy off and threw it out. Now the hole is open and debris can wash thru and out.

rixter

PERFECT!! I finally found it, is FULL OF DEBRIS
which is better vacuum up or blow out?

BTW, this is a Euro car and in same place as Carl noted for US/CAN only cars

jserio

Well if anyone wants to venture this I have an 87 fuse board for 125.00. Looks clean too.

SharkSkin

Thanks for the pic Carl! That shows up better than it does on my black firewall.

Rodkey, a word of caution about dielectric grease... it will insulate and protect against corrosion. The corrosion protection is nice to have, but it will not allow you to have an optimal connection. The problem is, you will only have contact in the places where metal is touching metal. On a microscopic level, both surfaces are relatively rough, and there will be a circuit only where the peaks touch each other.

Stabilant OTOH acts as a non-conductive coating on metal surfaces yet it actually enhances the contact... it insulates where you want it to and conducts where you want it to! Since I am heavily biased and can't say enough good stuff about this product, I'll just shut up about it, right after I post a link and a quote from that page(no affiliation):

Link to technote

Stabilant 22 is an initially non-conductive amorphous-semiconductive block polymer that when used in thin films within contacts acts under the effect of the electrical field and switches to a conductive state. The electric field gradient at which this occurs is established is during its manufacture so that the material will remain non-conductive

Thus, when applied to electromechanical contacts, Stabilant 22 provides the connection reliability of a soldered joint without bonding the contacting surfaces together!

JP Rodkey

Sharkskin, thanks for the info. Interesting stuff.

Rixter: I wouldn't blow it out because that will just blast bits of leaves and grit where you don't want it. It's easy to hold the flap open and use your finger to drag the stuff. If you have a small enough shop-vac or similar, you can maybe get the wand in there.

Red UFO

My Euro has the America style fuses. Is that the norm?

//hung up my Euro hand out advice a few threads back

Where my 83 has the pylon types that suck and harder to replace.

rixter

Thanks Carl, JP... sorry to hijack the thread

JP Rodkey

That's what the board is for, eh?

I forgot to mention, if possible, all you need to do is get the big stuff out with your fingers. The flap is the drain port for the cowl - so if you want to be thorough, you can remove the plastic cowl guard and pour a bucket of water (or use a hose) to wash anything left down and out.

rixter

this is the 1st time I actually got a pic of this, I've been searching around the fender for it, I'll clean it with the shop vac and take pics, then I can post it in a seperate thread so others like me get the "full" picture...
but I can make a contribution to this thread... while dealing with the "issues" of bringing the queen back to life I have LOTS of electrical gremlins...
I've recently been dealing with a blowing the fuse to the fuel pump intermitently, checked and rechecked the whole fuel electricals... turns out when I recently swapped the drivers door panel with a junker while I fabricate new ones, I didn't reconnect the mirror wires.. yep, shorted the fuel pump fuse.. very strange, but during the search I also cleaned most of the fuse box and some of my other gremlins disappeared as well
I love this place

jpitman2

Dennis, I found something that may be useful for ATO fuses. Its a sort of plastic rail flat C shaped, where the fuse holders slide in. They come with 6 holders, and a plastic keeper in the end to stop the holders falling out. The holder has two male blades on opposite sides of the base to accept input/output. Will be checking for how well it might fit in next day or two, and will take some pics.
jp 83 S

Carl Fausett

I was writing in case our RHD friends also read this post. Does anybody know - on a RHD car - is this DRAIN also on the other side? I would think so, as the steering column would come thru here....

In my experience, that is the norm up here in the Midwest (trees). Maybe not for other locations. Once you have reached in and pulled out all the leaves and twids you can, you may want to flush the cowling out with a garden hose applied at the base of the windscreen.

Keep this drain open and free flowing and water will not back-up and drip over your fuse panel in the car.

jpitman2

Carl et al....yes the RHD cars have the oval flap on the other side (LH), and mine seems clear - doesnt spend any time under trees. Hijack all you want, we are all learning something.
When/if Dennis posts the pic I sent him...the fuse holders I found seem a bit too big to fit many over the old fuse positions - holder is 45mm long, 10mm wide. Dennis' in line holders are a lot smaller, but they have to hang down on a wire. I make the distance between the two blades under the fuses ~12-14mm (see the pic on Sharkskin's site). I will keep my eyes open for more options, but for the moment will go looking for Stabilant. While I was in there I found my spare fuel pump relay, so it wasnt a waste of time.
jp 83 Euro S AT 48k.