Verell: maybe you could use one of Ria's covers to make a mold , then pump out a few dozen for us. (if Ria doesn't mind)
I have never understood this issue with the fuse boxes? The problem is the car and not the fuse box. The factory boxes are good for at least ten years when installed on a properly working ferrari. When you need an operation a band aid won't do.
verell yes. did anyone pay attn on what holds the covers in plase ?that is the trick the photos do not tell.the covers are my idea that i spent lot of time on them to make them work.
thank you Steve, but I have been servicing and racing these cars for about sixteen years, I have yet to need a fuse box. When these car are in the proper working order they are bullit proof.
The original factory fuse boxes are riveted together. What with corrosion and bad voodo, resistance builds up and the connections get hot and the plastic melts. Now, you look for a "real" factory part, not a "bandaid", and you get hosed for ??? 2-300 for the same thing. Birdman's box doesn't have funky rivets and it is about a c note for a Pair, not each. Technology marches on. Devious people make better products, cheaper, (sorry Birdman, I ment devious as a compliment). Or, you could continue to use the stock part and do it again in 10 years?? hth, chris
All I know is that when I remove the dash section covering the fuse box I don't vomit. The reason they go bad or over heat is the car and not the boxes. Progress is progress, but only when needed.
I have a question. How did you get the covers to fit in there? I have made some spacers and my dash cover still slips off once in a while usually going over bumps. There's barely enough room for the birdman fuse blocks let alone these covers.
Dude, let it go. We all know these Italian and British sports cars had less than enjoyable electrics when the cars were new. Then add 30 years of wear and moisture...what do you expect?
Chris, I need to add here, i certainly do not AGREE and must ask. I hear nothing but issues with electricals with these cars on here, i have an 86 TR with 58,000KMS and my fuse box is perfect....no issues or signs of potential problems, they also talk of the diff being the weak point on the TR, yet i see nothing....the 308 same with the box, yet i see nothing on my 308....my a/c works just as good in my fcars as my lexus....so i must say, what gives with all this ??? are these cars driving in the snow and rain ?? are they being stored in wine cellars? I dont get it, and i am a long time owner. Why is this the case? does anyone really now why some are so problematic ? I seem to recall Rifledriver asking the same kinda of questions, around here...whats going on with some of these cars ? Just asking.
your correct Chris, thirty old cars that are still on the road. I know that ferraris from that era will run but the britsh car?????
My issues have been minor with the Ferrari, one time my headlights wouldn't come on, I removed the original fuse, cleaned the ends and I was on my way. I went to the birdman blocks mainly because I could not find proper replacement fuses and judging by the hodge-podge that was in there the previous owner couldn't find them either. Also I didn't like the looks of the corrosion that was on the rivets so I took Birdman's word that it was only a matter of time. But I can relate to electrical issues with a 1968 BMW I had. The electrics were so wacky in that car I swear it had to haunted. Sometimes it would start, sometimes it wouldn't, sometimes the headlights would work, sometimes they wouldn't, the heater would only work in the summer and of course the windsheild wipers were afraid to come out in the rain.
Sorry Rock I didn't catch that in your profile. Good to see you young guns working on this old iron. I've only been working with British and plastic Chevy since 1960 so I still need to catch up on my Fcars. Enjoy
Chris those are all connection problems. If you have the proper connector and crimp tools the problem would have been solved. We here in north america get the short end of the stick. All our electrical replacement parts are for pontiacs. I was so fustrated that I went to europe and bought all the terminals, connectors and crimp tools for EURO wiring harness. NO more yellow, red or blue connector for me or my customers.
Ah yes , Pontiac's. I learned my 1st carb rebuilds on my uncle's 1959 Catalina conv., 389Cid with 3 2bbl's. 3 speed on the column. Fun car but a BOAT.
There are 2 classes of problems with the fuse blocks: 1) If a problem anywhere in the car overheats one of the spring strips that mount the fuses, that strip looses tension & won't clamp onto the fuse strongly enough to break thru the tin/zinc oxide film that builds up on the ends of the fuses. This leads to the spring strip-fuse contact overheating, thus further weakening the spring. A common cause of the initial overheating that weakens the spring is an ageing fuel pump. By the time the fuel pump current gets high enough to blow a fuse, the fuse's mounting strip is already damaged. So, in addition to replacing the fuel pump, you also need to replace the damaged fuse block before it starts giving trouble. So yes, the problem started with a failure elsewhere, but there was hidden damage to the fuse block. IMHO, a good fuse block design wouldn't be damaged by carrying current up to & including the highest Amperage fuse's rating. ANNUAL FUSE PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE: You can help by rotating the fuse 180 degrees in the strips at the start of each driving season. BTW, you can avoid having a blowing fuse damage your fuseblock cover by either using the glass covered fuses, or by turning the fuuse so the fuseable strip is away from the cover. 2) The brass contacts are held together by rivits, including brass contact strips on both sides of the plastic block. Over time tarnish builds up between the rivit & the contacts & brass strips. The tarnish's resistance generates heat which generates more tarnish, generateing more heat that can eventually get hot enough to soften the plastic body, thus removing pressure between the rivit & the contact/brass strip, at that point, the heat really starts running away. FUSE BLOCK RIVIT PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE: You can avoid this problem by pulling the block out & resetting the rivits every 4-5 years, or eliminate it by soldering all of the rivit-brass strip/contact joints. I've chosen to go the PM route & keep my OEM fuse blocks. Which reminds me, mine are 2 years overdue for a rivit retightening PM. EASY WAY OUT: OR, you can eliminate the need for these easily overlooked preventive maintenance steps by switching to my friend Birdman's fuse blocks. Birdman's fuse blocks actually are lower than the OEM fuse blocks, so there's room for a cover. While rio hasn't told us how his covers mount, I suspect that what he's got are a couple of about 1 mm square. or half-round strips on the inside of the bottom of the cover end tabs. The strips fit under the ends of either the plastic fuse mount, or under the end of the fuse block & act as clips. At least that's how I'd mount a cover.
My TR6 runs perfectly with the original fusebox and wire harness. However, either myself or an electrical engineer friend of mine, cleaned EVERY contact point (and greased them) we could get our hands on! The ground points on LBCs are the weak point. Clean those and you are good to go. My "new" Ferrari now has the BM fuseblocks. When the old block was removed the we noticed the fuel pump fuse was fried and a jumper wire installed. Since then I've been slowly taking apart every electrical connection I can get my hands on; clean, grease, install, wah-la!. Hey, even the windows run faster since I cleaned the switch contacts!
I had a cousin with a tr4a when I was in my teens, I learned to drive stick in that car. When I find the proper tr4a or tr250 I will certainly buy it.
When I bought my car back in 1999 I had started to have some intermittent elect. issues. So after finding the fuse block I was in the process of diag. some problems and low and behold the fuseblock just fell apart. So here I am stuck with nothing so I went to my local NAPA and found a 9 position fuse block that held the glass fuses. I then disconnected the battery and removed the broken fuse block while labeling all of the wires. After looking at the OEM block I mad the necessary modifications to make it look like the OEM. Stuck it back in and hooked it up and was back on the road. Took me 1/2 a day to do it but it worked. So the next week I did the same thing with the other block and they have been in the car ever since. Some day I'll make the covers fit. I think that the rivets are the main problem coupled with 30 year old plastic that has cracked and and dried out.
