Replacement Fuse Box

[edjones]

Hi Everyone, am about to (attempt to) fit a 6 fuse box to my 1966 Minor 1000 in place of the current 2 fuse box.
I wonder if anyone has any advice on what fuses to use, or what to attach where etc as I have not delved into electrics before except to remove the "period" radio
Thanks

[newagetraveller]

Given that you do not know where the wires go or which fuses to use I am tempted to ask why you are doing this. There are a lot of things that are best left well alone.

[edjones]

My sentiments entirely!! However, I do not like the idea of 2 fuses running everything!
It seems to be a reasonably popular thing to change, particularly for Minors that use extra electrical bits, so I thought there may be diagrams etc floating about.

[Willie]

Lo, everything which needs to be protected by
a fuse is already protected so what are you
going to gain?? The only fault with the
original fuses is that they occasionally
go "open circuit",that is to say that things
stop working and the cure is to agitate the
fuses in the fuse holders...this usually cures the problem. the later cars also had
an extra fuse,hanging below the fuse block,
which protects the side lights.
These fuses are quite capable of handling
the extra load of a radio etc.
willie

[Willie]

Further to the above, it seems to me that the
only items which could do with the added
safety of a fuse are the side lights and the
headlights. That is ok but,for safety reasons
they should be separated i.e. the side lights
should be split between left and right fuses
so that if one side blows the other side will
still work. Ditto with the headlights,losing
both headlights whilst travelling at speed
could be fatal! That would take care of your
four 'extra' fuses and the amount of extra wiring would be daunting to anyone who is not
competent on the wiring side.
Willie

[edjones]

Thanks for the help Willie. I originally read a service guide on the Morris Minor in Practical Classics which suggested this modification, but having read your helpful comments I am thinking twice about bothering! I could always enlist the help of my local garage proprietor
Cheers.

[Chris Morley]

The gist of the practical classics article was that original Minors have only two main
circuits protected by 2(35 amp) fuses. This modification creates 8 fuses, the idea being that a short will not disable half of the electrical circuits in one go and make it a lot easier to trace the location & reason for the short.

This recently happened to me. A short took out my indicators, the speedo light, side & rear lights ( and probably the wipers too). Only the headlights and rear brake lights kept working. Had I been on an unlit Motorway on a dark wet night then it would have been seriously dangerous. As the wiring in any unrestored cars gets older and more brittle a short is almost a certainty. If total originality is not an issue, this is probably a sensible modification.

If you are uncertain, why not pay an auto electrician to fit the 8 fuse box? This should be very simple for an expert. Ask him for a wiring diagram for future reference.

[Chris Morley]

[ This Message was edited by: Chris Morley on 28-05-2002 20:14 ]

[edjones]

Thanks for the input Chris, I think that getting a professional on the case is the way to go!