Installing Birdman Fuseboxs on a GT4

The PO of my 1975 308gt4 had purchased a set of Birdman fuse blocks but never installed them, and he was kind enough to include them in a box of parts with the car. I installed them following Birdman’s excellent instructions (see the “Interesting 3x8 Technical/DIY Threads “ section at the top of the 308 forum) and have a few tips to pass on for GT4’ers. It took me a couple of hours, but I went slowly, and re-soldered and insulated a couple of wires in the process.

Here’s what I started with, which was actually not too bad. The right side block was replaced at some point, the white may be original. You can see one issue right away: on the GT4 you cannot see the color coding on the bottom wires, never mind get them off the fuse block easily.

I numbered the connectors as Birdman suggested, “T” for top and each fuse gets its own number 1-18. You can only get to the front wire if there are two wires on a fuse; I only had doubles on the bottom connections on my car.

At this point I was at loss on how to get wires off from the bottom connectors. I removed the screws for the right-hand block just so I could photograph the color coding, and discovered that the bottom wires were long enough that I could pull the entire old block up and flip it forward so I could work from the back of the block, without removing any wires.

This was clearly the replaced block, and the #13 wire has overheated at some point, although the block looks OK. The last mechanic put the helpful YRGR coding on the back of the replacement fuse block.

With the back visible you can also check to see if the buss-bars are the same as on your new blocks. As Birdman says in his instructions, the block in your car could be a replacement from different year car and then rewired to work, so it’s worth checking. The new Birdman block is on the bottom and you can see the “R” and “arrow-up” that Birdman marks on the blocks to help you get each block on the correct side and with the buss-bars on the top.
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Since I was now working from the back I re-numbered the back of wires. Here’s a mistake you can avoid: The special “piggyback splitters” provided in the kit need to be connected so the two tabs angle back toward the back of the block, otherwise the bottom wires will not clear the lower lip of the glove box. (The picture in Birdman’s instructions shows them facing forward, I think for use in a GTB.) For a GT4 they are correct in this picture of the (white) left hand block. I found that I could take the doubled wires off the old block one fuse at a time and immediately connect them onto a splitter as I went (6 & 7 have just been done that way in the picture). Once I had all the doubles piggybacked I could just plug the piggybacks and single wires onto the Birdman block in order.

Once I had everything connected up on the bottom of the new fuse block, I flipped the block upright and connected any loose top wires. Then, of course, I had to screw the Birdman blocks back to the firewall, using the long screws and nylon spacers provided in the kit. Kind of a challenge, because the screw wants to fall out of the block, dropping the spacer into the dashboard nether regions. I ended up using a fake fuse made out of small a piece of plastic hose to hold the screw in place on one side while I found the hole with the screw and spacer on the other side. Once I had one screw in I could remove the faux-fuse and jiggle the block around while I turned the screwdriver until I found the other screw hole.

Here’s how it looks in the end. I put a plastic edge protector (came on some stock or a picture frame) on the metal lip to provide a little more insulation. Total time, about two hours, including some clean up of the wires and connectors.
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OK, sensitive readers may want to stop reading here. The idea of all those bare connectors worried me. (What if my girlfriend throws her .38 into the glove box? It could cause a fire!) So I made a simple Plexiglas cover, which looked cool, but not very 1975. (PM me for the pattern, but you get the idea.)

But, covered with felt, it almost disappears. The shiny part at the top is a dimple I put in the Plexiglas to clear the glove box bulb.

I really missed having the fuse layout from the covers on the originals, so I re-typed them into Microsoft Word and printed them out on photo stock, and glued them on the cover. (PM me if you would like the file, or if people care, I can post it.)

Ok, in the end it’s not original, but to me it doesn’t jump out, and I didn't cut anything on the car.

Cheers, Gregg

PS: The whole operation is easier if you remove the glove box cover, at least on my Series 1 car.
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Here are the labels. I just used a cardboard pattern for the cover, which probably the way to go given the variations in the cars.
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The felt came from a large fabric store, they had several kinds, but this was left over from my son's speaker project. If you buy new, think about wool, it's more fire resistant.

I bent the Plexiglas by clmping the flat section to the iron table on my bandsaw and carefully heating where I wanted the bend with a paint-stripping heat gun. Once it's plastic you can shape it with a gloved hand pretty easily. The iron base controls the amount of heat that goes into the flat section. (That made it sound awfully technical, basically you can heat it with anything, including a propane torch, and bend it around.)