Erased my fuesebox labels!

davepl · Poncho Master!

Erased my fuesebox labels!

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I, as some here probably do as well, have a couple spare 69 fuseboxes If you need one.

davepl · Poncho Master!

Thanks! How would one transfer over the actual box to the harness? Can you pop all the fuse holders out of the fusebox and transfer them to a new one? I've never tried taking one apart before!

North · Guru

Yup, all the wires can be popped out

davepl · Poncho Master!

I did that this afternoon, cleaned it up, etc... now to transfer the good one over!

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Somewhere here I should have a fuseblock from a US car, I wonder if it has the breaker in the top left that we spoke of in another post.

davepl · Poncho Master!

I have two 1969 Pontiac dash harnesses. On one the column connector branches out down by the fusebox, which I assume is a US box. The fusebox layout is the same as my other, which is from a Canadian car, and the column connector comes out much later.

I also have what I think it an Impala harness and it's different yet again, of course. But the box layout (ie: what fuse goes where) seems the same across all three I think.

davepl · Poncho Master!

Here's a pic showing all three of interest for 1969: Canada Pontiac, US Pontiac, and Impala.

As you can see the US and Canada Pontiac share the same cluster wiring but different things, like the column wiring, branch out differently at Pontiac. The Canada harness is unique in that it adapts a Pontiac cluster to an Impala, more or less. The body connect, dimmer switch, and column connectors all come out the same, for example.

beaumontguru · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Ii did that once, now i spray them with a light coat of clearcoat, before it touch them

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Now that's good thinking. I just wipe with a dry rag real gentle.

I forget where but I read that someone had wiped either a speedometer face or a gauge face with a wet rag and that took care of the stenciling.

davepl · Poncho Master!

I was embarrassed enough I didn't want to say "And I'm ALSO the guy who, 10 years ago, wiped a rally gauge speedo face and removed all the lettering!" but I did that as well. I still have that one, I think, as it's mechanically fine.

It's funny because I have other speedos and fuse boxes that you could scrub on with Simple Green and they'd be OK, but certain environments seem to to disintegrate that printing.

North · Guru

I learned the hard way about the chromed plastic bits on dashboards (vents, bezels, etc). I swear by spray nine as a first line of attack for cleaning of grubby plastic parts and carpet etc but I learned that it instantly dissolves that chrome coating on plastic parts. And I mean instantly. Oddly it doesn't have an issue with the mylar trim on door panels but watch out for those chrome panels that back the armrests on some cars.

davepl · Poncho Master!

Here's my before, during, and after. Not perfect, because it's a used box, but as good as I could get it. Labels back (swapped face), cleaned all the contacts, etc.

seventy2plus2 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Lookin' good.

The green / gold 2+2 I had and sold to Hillar, had a wiring problem that had been fixed long before I got the car, one of wires was cut close to the fuse block and jammed into one of the fuses. I should have taken a closer look at it when I changed the dash, but just put it back the way it was.

The little "3A LPS" outlet in the bottom left was where the light for the cigar lighter connected to.

davepl · Poncho Master!

Well, the first step was to wipe it with a rag, at which point as noted all of the labels came off the fusebox. So that began the entire rebuild of the harness. I found a 1969 Impala box with the same labels, so I could use that plastic housing which would restore the labels., But to change the housing you have to remove the wires, clips, fuse holders, and fuses from the backside, which I did.

I went wire by wire and transferred over one at a time so I wouldn't make too many mistakes, and cleaned each terminal with a brass wire wheel on a Dremel. They were all badly corroded so this seems an important step.

Once the wires and terminals were all transferred over I went about cleaning and replacing the fuses. I'm not sure what the colors actually mean. I think red is 10, white is 15, clear is 20 maybe? That's from before my time!

In random other news, when I was a little kid in the 70s my Laurentian had an electrical problem from the factory. Long story short, when we took family vacations a couple of times the ALT light would come on faintly, like there was a charging problem. Dealer could find nothing wrong. Problem would come and go. Dad wound up carrying a spare alternator and regulator (and fuel and water pumps, so maybe he just always did in those days) in case.

This went on for years - remember it's 49 years with the same car now - and it would come and go. If you pushed the big harness around or went over a big enough bump, it would change things.

Eventually, about 30 years in, I had the fusebox apart for some reason. One of the wires, probably the alternator sense wire, was not actually attached to, but just SITTING on, the fuse lug. It was a manufacturing defect when the harness was made. So as things moved around under the dash, the wire would move, and the connectivity would change.

I connected the wire to the spade terminal properly and of course, that problem went away permanently!

Someone mentioned shooting the box with a shot of clear to preserve the labels, which sounds like a good idea if you're certain your can of clear is compatible with the plastic and labels. Since I wasn't sure and didn't have a second spare to risk I didn't use that tip this time around.

-- Edited by davepl on Friday 9th of February 2018 11:22:50 AM