Hiding a Fuse Panel in plain sight

I've been helping a friend of mine do some work on his 50 F1 and thought I'd share an idea I had for mounting the fuse panel. Long story short, my buddy has had the F1 for many years and has enjoyed it with the factory Flathead. However, he decided to update the drivetrain with a fuel injected 302 and AOD and I've helped him get all of the wiring in order and a few other things to tidy up the engine compartment and the interior. Since we had to find a place to mount the engine computer and the A/C he'll eventually install, we were running out of room to place the fuse panel so I had the following idea:

Why not use an old heater box!



First order of business was to disassemble the heater box (if anyone is in need of a good heater core just let me know.)



Then I made a template to mount the fuse panel and all of the relays, plus shift indicator module to. As you can see, it fits very well and the depth of the heater box allows plenty of room.



Here, I've mounted all the relays, Lokar shifter indicator module and a 12 v buss bar. I have ground buss bar on the opposite side.



With everything mounted.

 

I like it, looks cool. Lets see some pic's after you install it.

 

Around here we`d need the heater.

 

Continuing with the installation, I had to figure out a good way for the wiring harness to exit the fuse panel cleanly, so here is what I came up with.

I took the fixture where the heater/defrost tubes mounted and modified it.



I cut it in half and closed up the end.



Looks a bit different now. The wires will exit out of the end and go "up" under the dash.



And here's the fuse panel all nicely painted.





Fitting the fuse panel and such into the heater box.



And here is the heater box installed in the truck.



A picture of how the wires exit the Heater box.



Another picture of the wiring for the instrument panel. Notice the gray paint behind the dash, I discovered this makes seeing the wiring and such much easier when you are laying on your back and tracing/connecting wires.



Here's where we mounted the engine computer.



And here's the finished product! What do you think???

 

Great solution ... very ingenious!

 

I really like it!

 

Looks great! I love it when from the looks of it, its just an old truck, but little do you know...

 

Clean and clever

 

Looks great. Also, it gives me some ideas. Thanks.

 

geneus!

 

Nice, nice work.

 

Very nice, tidy work. Thanks for sharing your project.

 

cool!!!

 

That's insane! sweet though

 

Pretty Damn Slick.

 

Thanks for hiding that shit.

Great idea, checking fuses from the comfort of the seat instead of it jamming you in the back.

Where'd you hide the heater?

 

Ithink painting the heater box a blue to matchthe rest of the interior might be more pleaseing to the eye because it become the focus of attention since it stands out

 

That is super clean. Great work!

 

I'd compliment you, BUT everyone else has taken all of the expletives. Kudos. Certainly gives us all ideas for our own creations. perley

 

very nice job!

 

Very neat idea. Great job. I like it.

 

Innovation--THAT is what hotrodding is all about.

 

Innovation--THAT is what hotrodding is all about.

 

Perfect-O! Gary

 

That is awesome....thanks for sharing

 

well i can see i have some tinkering coming for mine. good one.

 

That's awesome, except on mine I need a heater.

 

Thank you guys for all the positive comments! As you know, part of the fun of hot rodding is figuring out how to do something and it was fun figuring this out. For those of you who actually need a heater, I understand. Here in Flordia it doesn't get that cold but future plans do call for a A/C-Heater combo for the truck.

 

as said above^^^
Looks great. Also, it gives me some ideas. Thanks.

 

wow ! i like it alot ! very clever and sanitary looking , nice job