Yep.. you read that right. The dark arts of 12 volt goodness for under $5.00! I've wired 35 or 40 hot rods over the years. Some with pre-fab panels (Francis, Painless, All American, etc... and many with home grown panels. Recently I'm working to resurrect my High School ride and it is a BASIC car. Back in the day we used the fuse panel out of a donor Nova (way overkill for how basic the car is)... All it really needs is a no frills panel, mechanical gauges, roll up windows, no fuel injection and a mechanical fan. So, the wiring can be minimal. The wipers are vacuum..so no worries there. Here's what I've come up with on the cheap... Before you get wound up about the amount of circuits... The universal headlight switch I use has an integrated fuse that takes care of head/tail/ gauge lights. I always fuse the ignition switch with a maxi-fuse, so the panel is just what is switched accessory. Turn signals, horn (horn relay not pictured), radio and 1 extra...
The basics of the panel revolve around a hand me down motorcycle fuse block with glass fuses. A headlight socket that serves as a plug for a flasher and a cheap sample of Pergo flooring for a base...
To mount the fuse block and flasher, I covered a scrap of wood with leather and routed the wires thru it.
Next I cut the Prego sample base (cost 75 cents) to create a sold mount for the panel. Once mounted, I attached the buss block to direct the voltage.
Pergo Sample... .75 cents Buss Block... 25 cents on clearance at Lowes Wire ends... 1.25 at Menards Zip Ties (I used 2) $1
You choose the circuit... the panel feeds power to all the fuses from the switched circuit and the power out of the fuse feeds what you decide... I.E. Horn, Gauges...etc...
That looks like it should work for a small no frills car. I might use your Idea for my little single seat project.
Hooray for glass fuses. What motorcycle exactly is the fuse panel off of? For those who need more fuses, use two.
Looks like my first wiring setup on my 32 Ford back in '74. Simple and functional with no accessories needed. For your basic hot rod it fits the bill.
I built a sort of similar setup for my Chevy II, using a commonly available 4 fuse holder, and a few terminal strips. There are more terminal strips outside the firewall, where the wires exit..one strip for the front light connections, anther for the engine connections. The terminal strip next to the fuse block is for the rear body wiring. There is also an OEM light switch, etc.
Thanks for the kudos... I wish I knew what the fuse block was from. I'd take an entire stack! In reality it's only 4 fuses. The top horizontal mounted fuse is a spare.
love it when somebody posts simple solutions. ...and proves yet again, you can build our cars on a non-existent bank account .
That's what hot rodding is about. Using what you find and adapt to your project. I think too many have lost the art of junkyard scrounging.
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