Originally Posted by zjinqui1k

Well, It has been a long time since I've posted on this, but the project has been in the back of my head for a while. And I've done a fair amount towards a new fusebox. So.... a few months back (about the coldest day we had in December around here) I found myself in a junkyard with 3 Volvo 240s. As they've been getting rather sparse, I availed myself of them. I pulled out the fuse box from one, because I wanted to get a chance to really study how this thing was setup without disabling my car. So, I've photos to share of that.

Below is the fuse box. I have removed all the fuses.


This is a good look at the back of the panel. Specifically the 6 terminals on the right of picture above.


Electrically, it looks like this:

The top/outer terminals (outer if installed on the car) are the side that is coming off the fuse. The inner/bottom terminal is the power form the main power rail or ignition.

You can almost see that in this picture.



The final thing to understand how this fuse box is setup is how the power is linked.

In the above picture, the orange arrows show the gap between units that power the fuses. On the right, underlined in green, you can see a gang of 3, on the left with blue is a gang of 2 and the double underlined in red one is independent of any other fuses.

So, on the whole, starting from the top, you have a gang of 3, 2 independents, a gang of 5, then what is shown above, a gang of 3 a single and a gang of 2 to finish off things. This almost conforms to what I posted a few entries up. Notice though that in the diagram above, the gang of 5 is a gang of 4 + and independent wired with it. Doesn't really matter--it is electrically the same.

The final observation I wanted to make about this fuse panel is that it is pretty thin. Most options I've found tend to have blades for the fuses off either side. This isn't a great option if I want to find a fuse box that will be accessible in mostly the same ways.

Anyway, I'll post this and then move to talking about a suitable replacement.

Originally Posted by zjinqui1k

Yeah, the whole single spade lug system is problematic. Below, for easy reference, is how my fusebox is wired up. Notice that the 6th one down is independent--goes direct from battery to fuel pump relay. But, as both are always powered... I wonder why they ran a separate wire for that fuse?

What I am hoping to do is get to a junkyard, and take out & pull apart the fusebox so I can get a better look at it. Also get a sense of the space I'll have (or lack thereof).

I am thinking I may use a few gang fuse boxes put together, and then a couple of independant ones. Still just thinking this through...