starting building a fuse panel based on Skip Redios book. My local Radio Shack doesnt carry "terminal posts" as shown in the book and I would also like to find a fuse panel that has screw connectos on the input and output side of the fuse, can anyone steer me to a place that carries these??
I have Skip's book also and I have used it many times over the years. I actually wired my truck many years ago using the imformation from that book. Today I buy a harness. I used a factory fuse block(GM Camaro, Monte Carlo..),from a junk car, and Itrimmed the wires back to a few inches from the box. Wiring harnesses are so cheap here at the local salvages that I bought 2 or 3 and used all the factory wire too. I mounted the box to a piece of aluminum sheet big enough to allow for the fuse box and three stip terminals. I eventually mounted the panel up under the dash. I then attached the wires to the strip terminal and then from the terminal to their end point. I stole this whole idea from by brother MO JUNK as he had done this to his truck before I did mine. We both got years of service from this method. It is cheaper but it takes a lot of time. I thought I bought the strip terminals at Radio Shack. You might try the electrical departments at Lowes, Home Depot,..
I looked for terminal blocks that incorporate a fuse, but found none when I wired the 32. What worked well were terminal blocks mounted to 1/4" aluminum plates - the alum for a good ground - bolted to stand offs on the floor under the seat. Fuses were taken care of in a couple of ways. Twenty of them are panel fuse holders as shown in the pic below. The only disadvantage I've found to using these in the seat pan is one time my granddaughter - about five at the time - kicked her foot back and unscrewed the stoplight fuse. Other than that, no problems and access is easy. Fuse wire is used for some of the main run stuff. Since the 32's body is a Wescott you need a good ground. That was accomplished by drilling and tapping the 1/4" aluminum plates 10-32 in several places at the end and running dedicated ground wires from the electrical device - lights, fuel pump etc. - to the grounded aluminum plate. The aluminum plate also carries the ground cable from battery to block. The ground cable is bolted to the frame in several locations as well. The engine block is grounded to the frame also. Makes for a good starting car. There are a few heavier duty fuses in a single as well as triple fuse holder under the seat, but that's it. No commercial wiring block required. Reason for so many panel fuses is that each electrical device in the car has it's own fuse. Left low beam, left high beam, left stop, left tail etc. If - haven't yet - I have a problem, trouble shooting will be easy. Nice part about the individual fusing is if you short one wire or device in the lighting circuits, you don't lose every light in the car.
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