Hey folks Ive been working on the 77 and had to order some crows foot wrenches so I can remove my headlight actuators and swap to electrics.

While waiting for them to show up i have been prepping for vintage air install as well as working on my Rewire as its easiest to do them concurrently. I ran into an interesting spot.

Once the old AC box and drier are out of the way there's a nice spot of engine bay real estate that opens up. My first thought was " Oh i might be able to stick the battery in that spot" but the more i thought about it the more it seems like that wouldn't really gain me much other then shorter cables to the starter.

so I continue about my work and about thirty or so minutes later while Im upside down and ratted up into my dash it hits me. That could be a great spot for a sealed fuse panel/ relay board.

Knowing Im not the most clever man, I assumed a quicker man than I had probably explored the idea and talked about it here. Much to my dismay I haven't found any posts on it.

It would save me a bunch on wire and bulkhead connectors if i went this way and was hoping for some wisdom on it.

here are some pictures for clarity of my 77 and one of a mostly finished vintage air install to help - I know a post like this is nothing with out pictures so here you folks go

Give me some slack on the work bench - I cleaned it up post picture shamefully


My 77 before Ac box removal

Reference photo for clarity

 

Following

 

I bought a prewired 10 relay waterproof box at Amazon and put it on yjr firewall nect to the steering shaft.
I lke your passenger firewall idea!

 

Thats a great idea!! if you are good with wiring that would be a great spot. I just said that GM had botched it putting th efuse box where they did. I am sort of doing that in the inside of the passenger compartment but am leaving the original box where it is. I am tapping off of the fuse locations and running wires to the new location and just using a fuse panel there. Essentially its like running an extension cord for each fuse. THat way I dont have to run new wires for all the systems going through the original fuse box. I used a glass fuse to blade fuse converter then use male blade connectors to plug the wires into the fuse location. I had some blade taps that I could have used on each end of the glass fuses and just blown the fuse wire inside the glass so the current flowed from the ends only amd not through the tube. Trouble was finding a fuse block that was just for pass through connections and not supplying power to the fuses.

I suggest you climb under your car and look at your fuse block connector on the drivers side to get a good idea of the wires you would be rerouting. Good luck!!

 

Part of my 78 restomod project included a complete custom rewire of the entire car. Realizing how difficult ( and stupid) the OEM location was, I wanted to find the easiest place for me to work on the fuse box. Can't get much more convenient than sitting in the passenger seat and opening up the glove box. So that is where I put it, along with some relays for my TPI engine.

 

thats a clean little fuse panel , im confused on what you mean by glove box as i dont have one mine is solid with a few pockets for maps

 

Well unfortunately my master cyl failed leaked into the booster then down the firewall, melting the plastic of the bulkhead connector and the fuse panel, so that's why i have to rewire. I like the idea you have presented maybe i should do 2 panels one at the battery for cab items and one in the bay for body and engine items

 

My bad, I didn't realize that the GLOVE BOX started in 78. I thought they were a little earlier.

 

a glove box would be rad thats for sure but your setup looks REALLY clean

 

That is exactly what GM should have done

 

Yes you could definitely split it, passenger and rear tailights in the battery box and engine and headlights in the engine bay. It would be easier of you add electric fans and other electric upgrades as well. Lots of options when you redesign it from scratch

 

im thinking ill go electric fans because of the new ac, but off topic question for you. I notice your navy badge and when i went looking to see if i could turn on the Air force one for myself it says contact an admin, can you point me in the right direction for that ?

 

I believe it is SaveWave you want to contact. You can also try the help section if Savewave isnt the correct moderator. try here https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/help-forum-31/

 

started a thread in the help section hopefully that leads me in the right way-

side note - i know it is intended to make you aware but man the forum posting for that makes it look like he is the scammer.

 

I replaced the fuse panel to the kick panel - works great- and I used Lite up when blown fuses-
Used some simple relay fuse sockets -

Driver side- stock stuff



Pass side - all the aftermarket stuff



Then at the headlights for horn/lights/electric motors- on both sides

 

well done that looks awesome im confused on the relays in the light well tho what are they for?

 

I'm running two sets of Fiamm horns- old school Hella 80/100w bulbs per side- so if a relay/fuse goes I won't loose all my lights and using the Hella relays that have two outputs.
The electric headlight conversion-running a relay so I can turn the headlights on- the lights come up- then turn to parking the lights say up till I turn them off.
If I just turn on the parking lights- the lights don't come up. So if I ever go with Halos- can run them without the headlights on- but the lights up- not requiring another switch.
Also using Fuse shaped diodes ( Ford's used them in the 90's) so I don't get feedback using the high low beams switching on the electric motors.

 

thats rad, im glad you gave us a diagram, i wasnt sure how i wanted to wire up mine but this is a tempting solution

 

Here's the ones I really like- not cheap China stuff-


https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co....t-with-3-fuses