sent the board out to Dave Helms of Scuderia Rampante the board is PERFECT - but sending it out for modification is still an important issue for preventative maintenance. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Dave Helms does a great job. The install process is one of my more fun Tr projects. It gives you that warm fuzzy feeling knowing thinks arent cooking under the trunk.
Received the fuse panel and finally got it installed. The install was straight forward and Dave helped with a technical question by phone - much appreciated. The main panel now has an auxillary fuse panel installed for the six rerouted power connections. It looks very OEM in my opinion. You can see the white SR wires spliced into the OEM wires that were pulled from the main white connectors. The only glitch was the new crimper I needed for the 8 gauge connections. The main power is now fed into the board by way of two heavy lugs and a heat sink rather than the OEM spade connection. The crimper works really well - American made. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Great for you and your car. But be aware that you still have that old motherboard with his crap plastic layers just waiting to melt down. I'm shure you have the knowledge of other, more solid and cheaper solutions that look more OEM then this.
As far as I know the Helms kit that he installed has a replacement, more modern circuit board, with better connections between the terminals and the board in addition to removing the problematic circuits from the board and running them through relays.
I think(?) enzo52 is ‘more or less’ correct. Actually, I think you both are partly correct. That said however, with the high amperage, ‘hot’ circuits removed from the board, I believe that the OEM board will do just fine. Time will tell. Always interested in hearing of other, better solutions....
If the Helms kit re-uses the original board, I would consider it a wasted effort. As mentioned it seems the original board suffers from delamination issues which can lead to burnt traces and connections regardless of load. Anyone know for sure? I know that GT car parts sells a new board for about $700 and they switch everything over onto it for you
I think, this is the front and backside of Dave Helm repair kit. (See pictures) The Original board still in with the (to small) male connectors where the wires are put on.Those are the biggest problem. This counts also for the GT parts boards that have the same (to small) female connectors. Guido (A F-chat member since long time, from Belgium) makes also solid NEW boards but with his boards the white plugs that holds the wires have to be modificated a little. His boards looks more like OEM after installation. Zertec from Hongkong whas also experimenting making new boards, but I dont have any news from him since long time. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Anybody ever have one of Dave’s SR boards fail? Anybody have any first hand experience with the GT Parts board? The GT board looks pretty good on paper... Image Unavailable, Please Login
If all Dave does is install six relays on the back of the board, well you could do that on your own and remotely mount them in a box outside of the stock fuse panel, preserving the OEM look and doing less damage to the OEM parts. Guido's board is just some fiberboard with a bunch of wires mounted to the back to recreate the stock fuse panel but using wires instead of copper traces. That's a lot of solder joints to trust someone to make and not really terribly professional imo. I like the way the GT Car Parts board is brand new, modern materials with larger traces. If I ever do mine I will probably do the GT car parts board and then add an external relay box with the six circuits that are wise to remove (but who knows if necessary). I'm not so sure there's anything wrong with the connectors. Seems like it's just one theory but strikes me as less likely than the crappy 80's fiber board falling apart and traces burning up where they meet a connector
I actually replaced the Dave Helms board with the GT Parts board, which helped eliminate all kinds of electrical problems that the car was having.
Hi, Guys I dont want to hack this thread but all boards have their own pro's and contra's. As my boards are mentioned I think I can clearify better its caracteristics. Its correct you have to cut the white plugs to give space to the female wire connectors. This is because the bigger male connectors on my boards, that are turned 90 degrees. Bigger connectors with twice 2.5mm2 copper wires, also for the relais and fuses and DOUBLE solder points to this connections. The connectors are also mechanical secured ! This reduces weak solder points when manipulating the relais or fuses. The connectors I use can also be adjusted in case they are opened to wide. In case my boards can be repaired in case needed. This is almost impossible with the OEM ones. The 2 positive circuits on those boards I connected in 1 big round circuit so there is no difference between the 2 circuits. This could lead to heating up on one side and being cold on the other side, making boards to fold. So I solved all those heating and overcharging problems. Guido Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This is from Ross at Gt Car Parts when I asked him about their board a month or two ago. I have nothing to do with GT carparts other than having a quote for over $4k in goodies to install during my major service, including their replacement differential:
Keep in mind, all the high amperage circuits on Dave’s SR board have all been removed. He runs a large, new 8 gauge wire directly from the battery to his new fuse panel. After the fuses, the power runs to the new relays with low amperage ‘trigger’ wires coming off the old relays. None of that amperage runs through the OEM connectors or the board. The OEM high amperage terminals can and do melt the wiring harness, main connectors and the housing. Yes, the OEM board is not as good as the more modern versions.... BUT if you continue to run high amperage circuits through a modern board, all the heat is still there and WILL melt the OEM connectors, the housing, the wiring and yes.... even the new board. The heat is focused at the higher resistance points... like the connectors. GT does not eliminate these..... Dave’s SR design totally eliminates them. The best current solution.... (pun intended).... send the GT board to Dave at SR and have it modified.... but better yet, GT should modify their board’s circuitry from the get-go to get the high amperage circuits OFF their board and eliminate the high resistance connectors. Why put a new board in a system that will melt the housing, the connectors and the wiring that feeds it? Dave’s SR board even eliminates the two 8 gauge spade connectors that feeds the OEM board. In addition, those two 8 gauge wires now carry much less amperage after Dave’s new 8 gauge wire now carries much of the load.
The OEM system is fed by two heavy 8 gauge wires with high resistance, high heat spade connectors. Now, with Dave’s SR board, there are three heavy 8 gauge wires with low resistance, low heat lug connectors. Now, the key heat producing high amperage wires at the wiring loom never even go into the board. The heat is gone. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I agree rhe best solution is to remove the high current circuits and run through a relay but in combination with a modern board (i said that above), but we dont need Helms to do that for us do we? Its not that complicated. If I do that, I will also not hack up the irreplaceable fuse box housing/board etc and instead remotely mount an auxiliary fuse/relay panel fed by an oem looking connector. To add to this though... there are spade connectors all throughout the wiring harness. Should we remove all spade connectors just because? Referring to a spade connector as “high resistance” is dramatic. They are zero resistance if working properly just like the hundreds of others throughout this car and millions of others.
There are many pics on this forum of burned and melted white connectors where the harness attaches to the board. Removing these problematic connections is far from “just because”. Other spade locations? Yeah, they need to be monitored as well. So far, the community has not found them to ‘typically’ be problematic. Your point is valid - if the current draw and resistance is too high, these connections will also overheat. Hopefully the fuses will pop before it becomes critical. “Zero resistance” (?) spade connections - Well.... burnt and melted connectors differ from your assessment. Really not sure of your point. I do not consider Dave’s work a ‘hack’. Dave has eloquently done exactly as you state: “...remotely mount an auxiliary fuse/relay panel fed by an oem looking connector.” You are free to recreate Dave’s work, but I have chosen to take advantage of his expertise and experience. Dave’s mounting of relays on the backside of the board housing is IMHO a very clean, tight and tidy solution. Note that Dave taps into the trigger wires within the old, replaceable relay housings. Far from a ‘hack’ that destroys the OEM board. I believe that the only irreversable change is the -optional- lug connections for the 8 gauge wires. In my opinion, this change from OEM is warranted. Dave leaves that decision to the particular customer.
