Wiring / Fuse Panel Help

mtelliott · 10-10-2003, 05:09 PM

I'm going to try and post a couple of pictures with this. I need some advice. The previous owner had some creative wiring and I need your thoughts on how I should straighten it out.

My brakes aren't working and I think it's because of this handy dandy rewire.

Should I buy a good use fuse panel and rewire or what? Thoughts?

I'm not real sure how to put a picture in. Any advice on that as well?

Zeke · 10-10-2003, 07:03 PM

Yeh, you need a little more explanation. Did you mean your brake lights aren't working because of the wiring?

mtelliott · 10-11-2003, 06:58 PM

Try to post a picture again.

It appears that the post for the fuse on the break line sheared off and they just wired it to another post via some weird method. All I know is that my break lights don't work and I have to try and figure out why.

mtelliott · 10-12-2003, 07:50 AM

Looks like the pictures came through.

Advice anyone?

Series900 · 10-12-2003, 10:00 AM

the obvious first, check the bulbs, and ground at the light assm. next check the brake light switch, either mechanical at the pedal or pressure on the master cylinder, this is probably your source of difficulty. Yank the two wires off, touch em and the brake lights will light. Reoplace switch or adjust.The broken post on the fuse box means they hopped over the wire for power. Add a blade fuse harness from the broken post to the brake power wire and eliminate the potential overloading. Where that broken post is bridged underneath to provide power along a certain number of posts with either key on or off, hopping power is fine, just seperate the brake wire again and fuse it. Hate those 3M splice blocks!!!

mtelliott · 10-13-2003, 09:46 AM

Do you have any examples of what you would use? I've seen on-line where you can buy a whole new wiring harnes (not porsche though) but I haven't seen a single one. Do they make single blade inserts? Sorry, I'm new to the electronics side. I'll be checking the switch at the master cylinder tonight to see if the probem is there.

Anybody?

pomaro · 12:37 PM

ouch...
'creative wiring'....spoken nice!

i'd try to get a wiring diagram, find out what every single of this wires is for, rip off everything that's not necessary (e.g. former alarm system or unused audio wiring etc.), rebuild the harness, and reassemble as it is ment to be... then there's the chance to change a fuse following the manual.
a lot of work, but if something fails in 'this' construction (preferably at a rainy night).....uuuhhhh! (fire extinguisher onboard?)

greets
pomaro

p.s.: not so much 'electronics' in old p-cars.....just many wires in different colours.....:-)

p.p.s: brake lights may even fail by corrosion and bad contacts in there....

mtelliott · 10-13-2003, 12:52 PM

I've been ripping out all of his creative wiring. Alarm systems, wires for amplifiers, etc. Such fun.

I take it that rewiring the fuse block isn't that hard? My thought was to mark each wire, pull it off the fuse block, upgrade the fuse block, the re-attach. But that seams like an expensive and lengthy proposition.

I would like to go to the blade style fuses but haven't seen anything that allows you to convert the fuse block to blade style. Anyone know of anything they have tried?

jmohn · jmohn's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by mtelliott
I've been ripping out all of his creative wiring. Alarm systems, wires for amplifiers, etc. Such fun.

I take it that rewiring the fuse block isn't that hard? My thought was to mark each wire, pull it off the fuse block, upgrade the fuse block, the re-attach. But that seams like an expensive and lengthy proposition.

I would like to go to the blade style fuses but haven't seen anything that allows you to convert the fuse block to blade style. Anyone know of anything they have tried?

Sorry, I don't have a link, but trying searching on this site. I know at least a couple guys have replaced their entire fuse blocks and have posted pictures and descriptions. Even though they may not be exactly like your's, they may be of some help.

Jerry M
'78 SC

fred cook · fred cook's Garage

What year/model is your car? I have some detailed information
for the SC fuse box that I would be glad to send to you. I recently went thru a similar project on my car and did a lot of research before ripping the old fusebox out.

Good Luck!

Fred Cook,
'80 911SC coupe

fred cook · fred cook's Garage

Sorry, but I forgot the picture. This is a flat fuse conversion in a 1980 911SC. Send me a PM with your email address and I will send the info I have on the subject. The files are built in Excel and don't load/travel well on the board.

Good Luck!

Fred Cook
'80 911SC coupe ( but then you already knew that)

Glasgow 911SC · Glasgow 911SC's Garage

That is such a nice job you've done there Fred. Looks like a factory install!

mtelliott · 10-14-2003, 07:46 AM

Mine's a 82 SC. Sent you a PM with e-mail address.

That looks awesome. How long did it take to rewire? Where did you get the block from?

Series900 · 10-14-2003, 08:33 AM

Fred, great work ! A write up and sourcing of parts would be excellent.
mtelliot pm'd me about the blade fuse repair, it is a 5 minute repair of adding a pigtail inline fuse to the power buss. Your work is reengineering the entire assembly, sweet.

pomaro · 10-14-2003, 02:06 PM

wow!

excellent job.

greets
pomaro

Jim Smolka · 10-14-2003, 03:57 PM

Excellent electrical work above.

FWIW, it is possible to buy new electrical fuse blocks and them rewire.

fred cook · fred cook's Garage

The fusebox replacement project took me about 4 weeks. The first 3 weeks were spent identifying all the wires and gathering materials. The actual swap took 2 nights (a human being can only bend over like that for just so long!). Each wire was labled as it was removed, the ends cut back to eliminate corrosion (ie resistance and heat) crimped and soldered to the best quality connectors that I could find (NAPA auto parts store) and then covered with heat shrink tubing. The leads on the top are done in black heatshrink except for the fuel pump fuse (red). The ones on the bottom were done in blue so that if I had to take it all apart again, it would be easier to get everything in the right place.

The fuse holders came from Norway. A search on user "911777" will get you several more posts on this topic. 911777 is a fellow named Ove who can and will get the fuse holders for you. The fuse holders cost about $1.00 each and the project takes 24. This will give you 3 extra fuse points for future use. The base plate that holds the fuse holders is made of two pieces of aluminum and designed to use two of the original mounting screw holes on the main bracket. It took me about 4 hours to cut out the plates using a Dremel tool and cutoff discs. A heavy metal straight edge kept everything nice and neat. I covered the top plate with black duct tape for extra insulation and to dress it up a little. I used bevel headed 4-40 screws to bolt the plates together.

Total cost for the project was $40.00 for the holders, $15.00 for the aluminum (extra left over), $12.00 worth of fuses and about $30.00 worth of connectors, solder and heatshrink tubing. Total cost... just under $100.00. No bad connections or excessive heat....PRICELESS!

Good luck!

Fred Cook
'80 911SC coupe