Any 510 fuse box upgrades?

[Retro Wave]

 ok so we been doing alot of things to the dime and she been needing some attention here and there.  Both my father and I are jumping left and right to fix some of the previous owners negligence. Now i have arrive at the wiring harness; its pretty bad/poor conditioned, so i bought terminal/ connectors/ crimp tool from http://vintageconnections.com/  First time buying from them and it won't be my last, thats for sure.

 

 Since im messing with the wiring i was wondering : does anyone know or have upgraded their original Glass tube fuse box for a modern square plastic "U" fuse fusebox

 

I been searching and found a few people switching them but i wanted to know if there is something along the line like this. Yes i know this is from a datsun 240/260/280z  but i wonder if THIS could be used for the 510. it looks very clean, classy and stock-ish. 

https://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/classic12h01c/50-5011

 

[grannyknot]

Sure you could, you would have to pull the spade terminals out of the white plastic connectors to rearrange them to match the stock 510 wiring harness and you would have to use the original fuse box as the template.

But I would suggest that it's not an upgrade but just a change, the old fuse boxes were well made and  48 year old glass fuses work just as well as the new plastic ones.

I'm  willing bet that the new box isn't made in Japan and it will be made of very cheap materials.

I don't mean to sound like I'm jumping on you cause I'm not,  a pet peeve of mine is that so many things are called upgrades when in fact they are not better, just different.

[demo243]

Even if you change the fuse box you are still stuck with all the older wiring throughout the car. If you are running a "stock" set up then no big deal... but if you are upgrading lights, engines, etc then you would be better suited by newer wiring. Your post mentions it all being a mess... so worth starting over? At $200 you are already more then half way there for a full rewire kit. If you already have some electrical know-how then totally doable. If not, its still very doable just takes longer. There are many on here that aren't fans of rewires... saying the the old harness works just fine... which it does if it's in good shape, if not its a constant battle chasing gremlins. 

I rewired both my 510 and 620 with the American Autowire Highway 15 kit. Both were pretty straightforward. I had no wiring experience before I started the 510 so it took me a few weekends. The 620 was a bit easier having done it once before. 

As Granyknot said--- I dont see the replacement fuse box by itself as much of an upgrade... just another patch... 

If you want to get real fancy you can get all the connections from vintage connections and so you limit your butts, splices, and connections.

[Retro Wave]

well  demo243 i agree with you 100 percent. I played alot with the early 1970s  mopar wiring but datsun is a different beast but im not afraid.

 

 I did buy a ton of connectors and terminals + extras from vintage connection (great site, great prices and fast shipping) and I did say that I was doing the wiring new (which i got rolls of new wiring), I just wanted to know if i can replace the fuse box for a new one being that i going all the way with the wiring of the 510 and wanted to freshen / update her as much as i can possibly can. 

 

hell even if you guys can point me where i can get new terminal connectors (glass tube) for the original fuse box then i dont mind keeping the OG fusebox. I tried looking but i think they dont make those connectors

[thisismatt]

I disagree with grannyknot as far as quality of glass fuses. Glass fuses suck. The holder clips are weak and the solder joints are inherently failure prone.

[demo243]

38 minutes ago, Retro Wave said:

well  demo243 i agree with you 100 percent. I played alot with the early 1970s  mopar wiring but datsun is a different beast but im not afraid.

 

 I did buy a ton of connectors and terminals + extras from vintage connection (great site, great prices and fast shipping) and I did say that I was doing the wiring new (which i got rolls of new wiring), I just wanted to know if i can replace the fuse box for a new one being that i going all the way with the wiring of the 510 and wanted to freshen / update her as much as i can possibly can. 

 

hell even if you guys can point me where i can get new terminal connectors (glass tube) for the original fuse box then i dont mind keeping the OG fusebox. I tried looking but i think they dont make those connectors

If you already have the wires--- then you just need a fuse panel. You could use something like z-store box, but you are adding some complexity in that you'll need to reference the z diagram and the 510 diagram to sort it out. If you are going to redo all the wiring I would update the fuse panel then for sure.

You could also just pick up a universal block- something like this-  https://www.summitracing.com/parts/prf-30001?seid=srese1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqfz6BRD8ARIsAIXQCf2ruJNPAau9Hd4_ZdVHNVlOhKopJQiEmIREUxT4jzmL6BogiwHnSIYaAkH5EALw_wcB - Never used the painless stuff, but seems to get decent reviews for the price. 

The biggest thing for me with a full kit was all the wires are labeled--- the downfall is you have a million colored wires --- if you do it yourself you could cut down on all those colors.

Edited September 15, 2020 by demo243

[yenpit]

I might have a good USED fuse box.  PM sent!

[grannyknot]

21 hours ago, thisismatt said:

I disagree with grannyknot as far as quality of glass fuses. Glass fuses suck. The holder clips are weak and the solder joints are inherently failure prone.

Are you talking about the original glass fuses,  Ive restored 4 early Zs and most of the fuses were original and still working perfectly.

[thisismatt]

1 hour ago, grannyknot said:

Are you talking about the original glass fuses,  Ive restored 4 early Zs and most of the fuses were original and still working perfectly.

Perhaps the originals were better?  It's still inherently a bad design with a filament soldered to the cups at each end.  It really sucks when the fuse fails at the solder joint and you're left scratching your head trying to figure out why a circuit isn't working.

[Retro Wave]

8 hours ago, yenpit said:

I might have a good USED fuse box.  PM sent!

thanks  yenpit but mine is still ok, intact and functions but thanks for the offer.  i just thought that since Im tearing the wiring apart (keeping the original as a backup/diagram and installing new wires & connectors) I might as well find a new modern fusebox .  I don't mind using the original one but i really wanted to change the clip terminals, I wonder if those are available

 

 

[Retro Wave]

3 hours ago, grannyknot said:

Are you talking about the original glass fuses,  Ive restored 4 early Zs and most of the fuses were original and still working perfectly.

 

I was wondering  do you know where can I buy replacement clip terminals for the fuse box?  

I saw these available for a 1968 mercury cougar and thought maybe there is some available for the datsuns somewhere. I have looked but haven't found them yet. I check Vintage connections but they dont have it on there website but I might give them a message to see if they have them around

[grannyknot]

19 hours ago, Retro Wave said:

I was wondering  do you know where can I buy replacement clip terminals for the fuse box?  

I don't know of anywhere that would have replacement clips but to get the contact surfaces clean again I take a strip of 220 grit sand paper, roll it up to the dia. of a fuse and slide it in from the side.

[yenpit]

22 hours ago, grannyknot said:

I don't know of anywhere that would have replacement clips but to get the contact surfaces clean again I take a strip of 220 grit sand paper, roll it up to the dia. of a fuse and slide it in from the side.

 

Also can soak the whole fusebox in white vinegar for a few days, cleans the copper terminals up nicely!

[grannyknot]

1 hour ago, yenpit said:

 

Also can soak the whole fusebox in white vinegar for a few days, cleans the copper terminals up nicely!

I've done that as well until someone pointed out that the vinegar gets wicked up the wires under the plastic sleeve and can't be rinsed off.  I don't know how much harm that will cause, if any but that's when I went back to sand paper just incase .

[yenpit]

10 minutes ago, grannyknot said:

I've done that as well until someone pointed out that the vinegar gets wicked up the wires under the plastic sleeve and can't be rinsed off.  I don't know how much harm that will cause, if any but that's when I went back to sand paper just incase .

 

Hmmmmmm interesting point 👍