Electrical (3 articles)FusesHey gang, here's a fuse site...http://www.littelfuse.com RelaysSomeplace, somewhere, there has got to be a modular relay pack, that is neat and orderly. I would like to mount it where the stock relays are now, on the right inner wing panel. I have not found this elusive item.I think a "relay pack" is a great idea for those items. I think these are available in Hot Rod oriented parts places. Most of the rodders have to build complete harnesses. But see below first. Recommendations for wire guage? mounting techniques? connectors or taps? I'm figuring to route a heavy pair of wires (+/-) from the back of the starter to the r.h. fender wall, then forward and across the front for the headlites, using that as a supply bus for the relays to switch the horns and beams. I'll just connect the original wiring to the relay coil lugs. That's almost the approach I'd take. A heavy bus of 12-14 guage stranded copper, with bayonet style or ring style connectors, crimped, then soldered and lots of heatshrink, but from as close to the battery as possible, not from the starter. Run the lamps, horn, fans and A/C from the bus and either bring a separate lighter bus or the original wiring to things like radios. Be careful of tach wiring as many older tachs need a current pulse for operation which is gained by routing the ignition line from the dash directly to the coil. A relay in this circuit will kill the tach. Run the ignition from the bus via a relay at the dash, then thru the tach and on to the coil (easier in the Elite as it's front engined). A central relay box sounds attractive, but distributed relays are easier and only pull power from the bus at the point needed. Otherwise you'll end up running heavier wiring from the relay box to the headlamps, for instance, and not taking advantage of the heavy bus. I'd bring the bus to the front and put a relay for upper beams and a relay for lower beams both near the headlights. Use the original wiring to drive those relays. Use standard 30 Amp relays throughout of the type that has the mounting ear on the relay. These are typically 'VW' style relays with bayonet leads. Make sure the bus has a fusible link and connects to the battery directly, not to the battery cables at the starter. If the car has the battery grounded to the chassis, run a separate starter cable directly from the battery terminal to a starter mounting bolt as well. Wiring upgradesThere's an interesting site (about rewiring and upgrading headlites) at http://lighting.mbz.org/ "E-code headlinghts" c/o Daniel Stern. Includes some basic schematics.Back to Top | Back to technical index |