I'm still reroofing the house so I've had time to think about more wiring problems on the '30 Roadster build. If you have read my other electrical threads you know I'm clueless and scared ****less about all wires that have the ability to burn my car to the ground. My goal is to have as few wires inside the car as possible, so the rats nets under the dash isn't something I want to have. In the early 1950's MG and other English cars had all the electrical fuses and whatever mounted on the engine side of the firewall. I'd like to do the same with something better than Lucas components. My car will have a full hood, but what is out there that would work well mounted on the engine side?
I would go with something from a (gasp) late model car or truck with the spade style fuses. Go through a pic-a-part and find a small one, and maybe cut the wires coming out severall inches long to splice into. Mount it on the firewall and fab or find some kind of cool metal cover to hide it. I tend to like circuit breakers better than fuses, you have to keep replacing them until you find the short. The circuit breakers just need a cool down and your back on your way, hopefully to somewhere where you can trace the short. No matter how hard you try you will still have wires inside your ride. Route them cleanly with rubber gromets of coure, and you should be able to sleep better.
NO, the smell of burning leather upholstery is something I don't want to experiance. I wonder just how few wires I could get away with on the car. Oil & temp gauge will be mechanical, so the ignition switch should be the only under dash item with wires.
nothing worse than blowing a gl*** fuse and not being able to find one to replace it...(or worse a foil wrapper to "fix it" ) lot easier to find a newer style or even newer small style.
I am doing mine now, using 2 six fuse panels from a local parts store. Will use the following fuses: 1.Horn 2.Headlights 3.Signal lights 4.Brake lights 5.Lighter 6.Guage power 7. Wiper I tossed a Painless harness and will do my own, it will be a whole lot simpler. All my wires will be inside so there is no **** on the outside of the firewall. If you plan ahead it is not that hard to do. I will try to take photo's and get someone to help me post a simple how to do article.
I don't smoke so I could get away with 6 fuses? Can you fuse each wire (eg. left and right tail light)to be on the safe side?
You know, that is why they sell the kits, ie Painless, Ron Francis, Auto Wire and others. They have done all the research and taken the risks out of it. If you are scared @#$@ then don't attempt it yourself. That is the best way to smoke your ride. By a prefab kit with the number of circuits you need and install it. Believe me, it will save you time and a huge headache. They aren't difficult, just take your time. Really, you don't want to mount anything electrical in the elements unless it is sealed from the elements. You want to keep the fuse panel dry. Water gets in there and you will have a problem. Mount it under the seat, rear seat, in the trunk. Most of the time the wires are long enough to run to the lights and few other parts that need some juice. Run the wires under the car. I have seen it done like this. The wires are run through electrical conduit and sealed off on the ends. I have seen it done also where a few drain holes are drilled to allow any water to escape if it finds a way in there.
If you are going hoodless I would think under the cowl behind the firewall may be safer from a water aspect. That is where I located mine, T-bucket. The labeled kits are nice and easy. Of course not as traditional. Bill
The reason for all the questions is seeing a KIT installed by an auto electricial in a '32 Roadster, took 3 days and there is more wire in the car than in my house. I just want the fewest wires possible, less is less problems IMO. It may be a moot question asking all this stuff, it will be years before its time to wire the project, if in fact I'm still around then.
There are kits that have fewer circuits, I've seen them advertised as T-bucket or race car kits. 90% of the circuits in your car will be lighting circuits, headlights, brake lights, turn signals, running lights, dome lights, etc... After that all you need is starting/charging, and power to the coil and gauges. (if electrical) You could fuse each side of the vehicle separately (left side headlight/right side headlight) a lot of European cars have done this for years, but it does add to the complexity of the wiring. Wiring from scratch is not all that difficult, every circuit has 4 ingredients, a power wire, a switch, a load, and a ground. Stick a fuse in there and you are good to go.
They sell kits for those who will not take the time to learn how to wire a car. You only need one wire from your headlights each ,for low and high beams. The wires run directly to the dimmer switch with power coming from the light switch. A kit will have at least 4 wires. I will use 5 wires for high beam, low beam. parking right signal and left signal. I am using 2 six fuse panels made by buss, one will be hot always and the other will run off the Acc side of the key thru a relay so I will not have heavy power thru the key. Except for the front lights and under hood ones everything will be in the car and protected. If You run one wire at a time and loom them as you go, (masking tape works well) you can avoid the spiderweb type wiring .
I used a tilt column and switch out of an 87 olds for my 32 coupe. While I removing column I marked wire positions on the original gm switch and left the cutoff wires long on the original wire loom where it plugs into switch. I used two 6 position fuse blocks in front of switch one hot all the time the other switched power. From there its just a matter of extending the outputs from the switch.This set up gives you headlites hi and low and indicator,tail lites turn signals and indicaters , output for brake lights.(have to mount remote switch) on brake pedal,cruise, emergency flashers, and windsheild wipers all without having to add a whole bunch of extra switches and wires. It worked for me. Steve
Hey the37kid, I can totally relate to your fear of electrical mess! I'll share a lesson that one of my teachers at Mercedes Benz tech training taught me. Electricity is simple and works exactly the same as plumbing. **** has to flow down hill! When you turn on the shower head you have water pressure, flow(quan***y) and restriction and it all goes back to the ground one way or another. All four of these must be present for your shower to work optimally. Just like plumbing you must have voltage, amperage, resistance and ground for it all to work optimally. The voltage is the water psi, the amps is the flow(quan***y), restriction is the resistance (light bulbs, motors etc...) ground is the sewer pipes and the wires are the "clean" water pipes. This is has always helped me when I've had a electrical nightmare to diag & fix. Keep it simple! The next time your standing there washing yer balls you can now figure out the wiring for your car!
Yes I happen to think that you have an irrational fear of a wiring fire burning your car down. Have you had an electrical fire in the past? I have had an electrical fire so I can relate. That is what fuses and fusible links are for. They protect the wire and the rest of the car from a fire by interrupting the current as soon as there is a problem. Do you ever think about the millions of cars on the road with wires inside the car? If you are afraid of something that you don't understand then the best defense is to learn all you can about the "enemy". There are plenty of good books on automotive wiring. It is not rocket science. I told you I had a fire...my alternator broke inside and shorted out causing the heavy wire from the battery to the alternator to erupt in smoke it's whole length. I had an ammeter in the dash. (No the ammeter was the victim of the short and not the cause) I was able to reach up under the dash and yank the wire loose breaking the circuit. Yeah it burned my hand but I saved the truck. If it had been run under the truck in a harness where I could not get to it, it would have burned the truck down. The point is to have the wires protected. I took a clue from the later model Fords and installed a fusible link in that wire on everything that I build now. In a rare case of a short the link blows and the danger is over. I don't worry about it anymore because I know the wire and therefore the car is protected. I have no fear because I understand what happened and how to prevent it from ever happening again. It'll probably be hit by a meteorite now. I want my fuse protected wires inside the car. I know this won't alleviate your fears but a little reading might go a long way toward that. Are you afraid of your daily driver from burning down? It has wires inside.
Running your wiring under the cowl/firewall area makes for a clean looking install. Although the car runs a full hood, it's nice to have a smooth firewall uncluttered when the hood is actually raised. Eliminates problems with shorting out wires and no issues with water. Uses a handful of basic circuits, minimal wiring and easy to work on.
My dad has this book, which now appears to be available as a free download. It contains a novel method of electrical system design. I'd been planning to follow a similar approach when the time comes. What you really want to avoid is corrosion inside the fuse panel. My DD VW Golf Mk1 was carefully designed to channel all water clinging to the surface of the car to a small area of carpet directly above the fuse panel. Consequently even simple electric components behave erratically. Anything with a microchip in it develops a will of its own - not that there's anything with a microchip in it left in my car. And the fuse panel is low down in the p***enger footwell behind a cloudy translucent plastic window, so seeing what's going on there involves taking the dash apart while hanging upside-down. Both the fuses in my Morris Minor live there: one for stuff switched with the ignition; one for always-live stuff. I haven't yet made up my mind how to do this one, but it'll involve more than two fuses. I don't think it helps you any, but the idea I had for my '31 A project is to have the fuses on the back of the dash, and to have that accessible due to the hood being some inches longer than the engine compartment, so that the back of the firewall is exposed when the hood is open. A lot of '20s cars were that way: I thought it was neat when I first saw it. I'll have to be clever with the stormwater management of that arrangement, though.
Shoot me a PM when you get a chance. I WILL get you through it. Not hard at all. I am in California right now but will be home by the end of the week. Todd
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