Fuse / Relay Block

[Lance]

Chaps,

I'm looking at purchasing a fuse / relay block for my car. This very nice modular example by Vehicle Wiring Products out of the UK has been suggested. It looks the business and I'm happy to go with it, but thought I'd check the forum.

Before I order out of the UK, does anyone know of an Australian supplier of this item, or something similar? Does anyone have any alternative / better suggestions generally?

By the way, if anyone is aware of a supplier of secondhand ZF parts, I'd be interested to know. I'm still looking for a clutch actuation lever. The couple I've located in the US were priced up at the eye watering level.

Thanks for any help.

Lance

[Bill Musarra]

One thing you might think about before you buy is to think what circuits you plan to use. Because I am using American Autowire I will use them for my examples. Go to some of the various wiring web sites Painless, american autowire, etc. Look around at what they offer and a breakdown of the circuits they offer in each level of their kits. Some are bare bones and others just about cover everything. American offers their stuff in the "Highway" series. If you don't see enough, download their catalog and look at the specifics of their offerings. Decide if those are what you want or will you have to add things. Mine I had to add a bunch of relays for the two fuel pumps, a dual fan in the front and 2 single fans in the rear, one of which had to run with a pump(trans). Are you planning to add A/C. Things like that. I am having to add an accessory fuse block just for the 6 relays I am adding, not to mention the coils on thse relays. So plan it out as best as you can and plan on odering all those extras that they list like a buzzer when you are backing up, LED lighting kits, or a starter bypass override relay kit. Planning now no matter wihich company you go with will alow you to get all the parts you want without having to mix and match. Now if you know wiring a car real well, then it doesn't much matter.
If you "Google" automotive relays there is a site that does installations on stereos mainly, but they show all kinds of relay setups for doing just about everything you might want to consider. More importantly they will educate you on how relays, and diodes work. That was what helped me. I even showed one of the customer service guys a thing or two when I asked them for advice on a circuit I was considering, and wanted their advice on its feasibility. You are always learning with these cars. Good luck.

Bill

[Sandy]

Bill your right about planning ahead, especially important is to map it all out before you get something. Also you can do much of the same yourself with a little work and a few seperate parts.

Look at the sites Bill suggested, for a more DIY approach check out Waytek Wire : Electrical Wiring Supplies & Industrial Products they have loads of things that will help get your electrical set up. Not too much in the way of complete assembley like you have but should give you a good idea what is components are available. Don't know if they do intl shipping but useful for some ideas of what might be available.

Sandy

[Ross Nicol]

Hi Lance
I fitted a painless unit under my dash, I got it from Castle Auto
Why don't you consider using an internal clutch slave cylinder.I've got a Mcleod unit in front of my ZF and it works very well. I thought of buying those parts for the external slave until I checked the price. I am of the firm opinion now the best thing with ZF is don't fiddle with parts more expensive than buying a new one off RBT.Might be able to give you some shifter tips too.
Ross

[Peter D]

Hi Lance,

Apart from the issues mentioned by the other guys (number of ccts, relays, fuses, etc), another thing you might want to consider is the location of the panel in the DRB.

I wanted mine out of the way of water (some early DRB's had the panel on the flat sheet metal just under the rear of the front clip - guess where water off the windscreen went ?). So I decided on mounting it on the frame as shown in the following pic. Some of the later DRB's had it located similarly, but further forward, so that's where I started. But after upgrading to the "deep twin nostril" option, I found that I had to move it further back & up the frame to clear the nostril - even then, the space was limited, so I ended up making my own very narrow panel out of "c-section aly extrusion" - 2 x Narva 6-way fuse blocks in the "c", & 6 x Hella relay bases bolted to the side. It just clears the nostrils width-wise, but could handle a few extra relay bases & another 6-way fuse holder length-wise.

BTW, regarding water entering the front compartment from the windscreen, I made up a small curved barrier which runs across the flat f/glass section under the back of the front clip - this diverts water to each side & down into the wheel wells.

Hope this helps a bit.

Kind Regards,

Peter D.

[Ricky]

This is what I did. OK it is in an RF but would be applicable to most other cars also.

All fits under the closure panel under the front clip on a purpose made tray.

hopefully photo's are attached.

[Sandy]

Rick -

Very nice work! I love seeing nicely done wiring jobs, your looks very well done. I have all my stuff just collecting dust waiting for the car, and I can only hope that it turns out as nice as yours!

Sandy

[Bill Musarra]

I too wanted my fuse block out of the weather, though I can't imagine driving it in the wet. So I built a house for mine in the engine bay. Since I had decidsed to do that, and most all the apliances were in the rear as well, I felt most of the relays shoud be mounted in the back also, but where to put them? Then I came up with an idea to mount them behind the hatch cover on its verticle sills. I'll save a little surprise about that for later on when it is complete.They need a little tidying up, but the connections are done. I need to order an accessory fuse panel of at least 6 circuits for the extra relays I added. To cut down on the number of circuits, I assigned two additional relays to serve all 8 of the coils on the main relays. I still haven't added the power mirrors or rear camera, and I am still arguing with myself about the mirrors. I am looking at a wink mirror instead.

Bill

[Lance]

Ross,

Do you have a part number for the particular McCleod slave cylinder you are using, please?

I take it this is one of the concentric units? We were looking at one out of a TVR while it was in bits.

All tips and help gratefully accepted.

Lance