A '54 named Busty

[Gregski]

Decisions, decisions, decisions, so I am on the fence guys on weather or not to group/cluster all my fuses into a single location the one seen in the photos on the firewall (including tail lights, stop lights, etc.) or have two sets of fuses with the ones on the firewall being only for engine operation and a separate block for non engine ones?

I am sorta leaning towards two separate fuse blocks, both small and simple yet separate. The second one would be under the dash somewheres for the lights and gauges what not.

[8man]

I have been laying out wire routes on paper to see what gives the cleanest appearance. I looked for locations for the relay box so as to minimize the visible wires.

So what are you looking to do? Simplest wiring, hidden wiring, something else? You've done a good job so far, I'm sure with a little more thought you'll nail it.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 8man

I have been laying out wire routes on paper to see what gives the cleanest appearance. I looked for locations for the relay box so as to minimize the visible wires.

So what are you looking to do? Simplest wiring, hidden wiring, something else? You've done a good job so far, I'm sure with a little more thought you'll nail it.

All good questions, my goals are a bit different, I want to complete the engine harness wiring and wrap it in conduit and be done with it and do the brake lights, reverse lights, gauge cluster later type a thing, so I don't want to risk forgetting to include some sort of wire in the engine harness now in order to plan ahead, if that makes any sense, and or having to unwrap the master wire trunk to add a silly turn signal wire later

the other reason would be that I heard you want the fuses closest to the components so no reason to run 3 feet of wire from the brake pedal to the passenger side fuse block only to run it back to the driver side

[Wide Open]

I vote for two blocks.
I’m set up with the factory fuses for all peripheral operations and a separate fuse block for the headlights, fan, etc. longest run for that block is the fuel pump.
I’ll be adding a third block for engine control in the future as I switch from carb to efi.

[Gregski]

I'm not being a cry baby, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, but go into your local parts store and pic up some pink primary wire for key on power, some purple wire for the fuel sending unit, and some orange wire for constant on power. You can't even find those, let alone all the other quality parts we once could get for our rigs.

I like to run proper color matching wire so that when I have to troubleshoot something I can. I once worked on a custom Chopper motorcycle where the knucklehead (the owner not the engine, ha ha) wired the entire bike, head to toe with a single gauge RED wire, yes for both plus an negative as well, then brought it to my buddy's cycle shop for help cause he had electrical issues!!! imagine that

[texxxan]

Using two separate fuse blocks is "Semi-Pro" right there.

[Wide Open]

Originally Posted by Gregski

I'm not being a cry baby, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, but go into your local parts store and pic up some pink primary wire for key on power, some purple wire for the fuel sending unit, and some orange wire for constant on power. You can't even find those, let alone all the other quality parts we once could get for our rigs.

I like to run proper color matching wire so that when I have to troubleshoot something I can. I once worked on a custom Chopper motorcycle where the knucklehead (the owner not the engine, ha ha) wired the entire bike, head to toe with a single gauge RED wire, yes for both plus an negative as well, then brought it to my buddy's cycle shop for help cause he had electrical issues!!! imagine that

Times are achanging for sure.

That dude nailed the faster, cheaper, better trifecta!

[Wide Open]

Originally Posted by texxxan

Using two separate fuse blocks is "Semi-Pro" right there.

So what does using three or more get me??

[texxxan]

Originally Posted by Wide Open

So what does using three or more get me??

Pro

[joedoh]

I used to work car stereo and guys would come in and order spools of primary wire all the time, any color. I just added them to my weekly order and they saved shipping, I marked up 20% for retail sale.

I havent worked car stereo for years (and years and years) but when I need primary wire I just stop in the shop I used to work and do the same.

[Wide Open]

Originally Posted by texxxan

Pro

Well shucks I was hoping for something like Wiring Wizard Grand Master Level III.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by texxxan

Using two separate fuse blocks is "Semi-Pro" right there.

killing it!

[Gregski]

fuse blocking like a Boss

[texxxan]

Originally Posted by Gregski

killing it!

I'm not even good enough to be in the stands.

[Gregski]

so a quick list of nonsense to get her fired up Tanight!

1. Feed throttle cable through firewall
2. Tighten fuel tank filler neck
3. Install sending unit pig tail
4. Install battery
5. Wire starter
6. Connect ignition lead to fuse block
7. Add transmission fluid
8. Top off power steering fluid
9. Add coolant / water
10. Install belt
11. Disable VATS using HP Tunners

[texxxan]

Originally Posted by Gregski

so a quick list of nonsense to get her fired up Tanight!

1. Feed throttle cable through firewall
2. Tighten fuel tank filler neck
3. Install sending unit pig tail
4. Install battery
5. Wire starter
6. Connect ignition lead to fuse block
7. Add transmission fluid
8. Top off power steering fluid
9. Add coolant / water
10. Install belt
11. Disable VATS using HP Tunners

It didn't happen unless you post a video of Busty running. I can't wait!!

[8man]

I like how you videoed your fuse box build and put it on YouTube so the rest of us can see how to do it. How do we find it. I was doing something almost as tedious today, but you'll have to read about that later.

Hope Busty started tonight!

[Gregski]

1. Feed throttle cable through firewall - Done!
2. Tighten fuel tank filler neck - Done!
3. Install sending unit pig tail - Done!
4. Install battery - Done!
5. Wire starter - Done!
6. Connect ignition lead to fuse block - Done!
7. Add transmission fluid - Done!
8. Top off power steering fluid - Done!
9. Add coolant / water - Done!
10. Install belt - Done!
11. Wire Check engine light - Done!
12. Wire ODBII port - Done!
13. Buy two more HP Tunner credits - Done!
14. Disable VATS using HP Tunners - Done!

[texxxan]

Very impressive.

[Gregski]

at least the General had the common sense to make the Throttle Position Sensor plug have the exact same style pins as the PCM and for that we praise the lord

yes we took pictures but as you can see sometimes there are two wires of the same color in two different spots so we numbertized them 1 through 16 for extra sureness

[Gregski]

we was not so lucky when it came to the three prong OEM sending unit proprietary plug so we ditched it and will run a standard weather pack one instead

yes the OEM one was a three pronger but since we only own single and double weather packers we will use a double and just run the ground to the chassis separate, not gonna do a home run on the ground wire, and of course regret it later, ha ha

[Gregski]

here's a sight you don't see every day

I used my bench harness to read the PCM and save, save, save the original Tune and called it 00 - Stock Tune

then I immediately saved it again with a new name called 01- VATS Disabled and as you can infer simply disabled the Vehicle Anti Theft System (pronounced: add 20 seconds to the time it takes a pro thief to [ahem] borrow your truck)

[Gregski]

~ INTERMISSION ~

go get a cold one while the owner calmly looks for his truck keys...

[Gregski]

so we did it here is the first start, well sort of, I did fire it up before reaching for the camera, and then had a couple failed filming attempts with me just being clumsy and tired

didn't want to run her too long since I don't have the stock oil pressure sending unit wired up to that awesome Insight CTS 2 digital multi gauge, I bought two wrong pig tails for it and apparently GM changed the plug somewhere between 2001 and 2004

apologies for the video being really dark, but you know how it is when projects get done late at night

54 Chevy Truck - LS Swap First Start

[texxxan]

Awesome!!!!!