Fuses in my Zetec S4

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Not liking the look of spider webs of wiring in the engine bay I've attempted to place as much as I can out of view.
The car is wired to modern standards with fuses for all circuits & relays for a lot of them.
I managed to source a row of fuse holders & some mini relays as used on some Bikes.
Somewhat similar to modern cars, I chose to place the fuses in the glove box & hang the relays off the back of it where possible.
In order to do this the glove box needs to be a bit shallower & stronger to support the weight of the wiring hanging off it.
I copied the original cardboard glove box & fabricated the new shallower one in sheet aluminium.
The interior was then lined with leather & then the fuse holder fitted.
Please note that not all of the fuses shown in the photo are connected to circuits, some are just "spares"

Hope that helps
John

[Spyder fan]

John,
That looks like the sort of neat work we have all come to expect of you

In contrast here's the standard system that Spyder do in their zetec (and now Duratec!) conversions.

Note the very small amount of fuses and the use of the standard glove compartment, Spyder use a kit car wiring loom called a UniLoom. All of the relays are done away with and anyone who has seen under the bonnet of my +2 will tell you there's definitely no birds nest of wires under there. details here http://www.spydercars.co.uk/new_projects_putting_it_back_together_part_6-1.htm

Regards

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Thank you for those kind words Alan.
Over the years I've seen some very nice Elan engine bays spoilt only by bulging lumps of wiring harness, connectors & single wires straggling all over the place which I find very distracting.
Another thing which I dislike are masses of different colours (blue hoses; yuk) in the engine bay.
Many years ago at BMW we carried out an exercise to tidy up the engine bays in our cars.
The main points we followed were, eliminate as many hoses as possible & only 2 colours to be visible, those being black or silver (aluminium).
The end effect was a transformation.

I notice that the glove box door in your car has those original, very rare hinges.
I gave my original dash to a guy here for re-veneering.
After many months of waiting he said he wouldn't/couldn't do the job.
After many more months of waiting I got the dash & door back, minus the hinges.
I went spare with the bloke who couldn't believe that those hinges were worth more than the dash!!
The twists of life


John

[Spyder fan]

Did you mention blue hoses!

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

:lol: Did you mention blue hoses!

Blimey, you were quick off the mark!
I was busy editing that posting when you were replying.
I didn't remove my comment on blue hoses though

[Spyder fan]

John,
I noticed that your glovebox door was hanging downwards, I might be able to find the hinges for you, can you still fit them or did the replacements require a bigger cut-out?

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

John,
I noticed that your glovebox door was hanging downwards, I might be able to find the hinges for you, can you still fit them or did the replacements require a bigger cut-out?

Many thanks for the kind offer but the original hinges are fitted to the ends of the door & my replacement dash has normal type hinges which require recesses in both the dash & door which would look horrible if those hinges were removed & replaced by original hinges.
I binned the original dash in utter disgust & anger after that episode

Cheers
John

[Mark B]

Nice job that John, as I'd expect...

Did you tig weld the glovebox together and then screw it to the back of the dash or bolt together in sections?

Cheers,
Mark.

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Nice job that John, as I'd expect...

Did you tig weld the glovebox together and then screw it to the back of the dash or bolt together in sections?

Cheers,
Mark.

I have to put my hands up & admit that my tame fabricator at my old company TIG welded the the 2mm alloy sheet together; that produced the nice sharp corners & was easier than trying to produce a development of the finished shape & then fold along the dotted lines solution.
Strips of the same material were then welded on to the front edge to provide a mounting flange so that it could be fastened with multiple wood screws to the back of the dash.
The glove box was copied from the original cardboard one but out of necessity made shallower to make room for the fuses & the relays & associated wiring behind it.
Thank you for the praise, at least I can claim the design as mine

Cheers
John