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I posted this in my build thread but i felt it belongs in the electrical and wiring section. Its a write up how to swap in an ATO style fuse block in place of the glass canister style fuse like whats in our vega's. It looks like this guy used it in a truck but it could probably work for us just as easily. Im kind of considering this swap, it seems like it would be pretty easy. http://www.rowand.net/Shop/Tech/GMATOStyleFuseBlock.htm

great thread , looks pretty easy

I think tracking down the terminals would be the hard part.

shouldnt be to hard , places like painless and others that make harnesses , usually go for the blade style fuse boxes

Im trying to avoid buying a painless harness because of the cost. Over $300 for a 12 circuit harness is a little outrageous in my opinion.

by 77vegaproject » Wed Jan 27, 2010 2:28 pm

I think tracking down the terminals would be the hard part.




www.terminalsupplyco.com/

300 is a decent price though

sometimes cheaper isnt better , but it really is what you feel most comfortable with , and if you can find some good used parts for dirt cheap

me i could go either way

You can find some pretty good parts at the junk yard that are pretty usable. I'll probably go pick up a fuse block today and see what im in for. maybe a writeup and some pics.

Ok so I went to the salvage yard today and picked up the fuse block. I had to leave work early to get there on time (the salvage yards aren't open on saturdays anymore since last march. I dont know why they did that but its really stupid). I didnt get the bulkhead connector because im not going to use it. They said $20 for the fuse box and I laughed and said $10. They always try to sell me something way over priced. Maybe its because they think im young and stupid. But what ever. I still got my part for $10. more to come...

Well today im going to track down some terminals. If I'm lucky NAPA will have them! They're kind of pricey though .69 cents a piece for male and female packard series 56 terminals. that's $28 for 20 of each!

Ok so heres part of a writeup. When I got the fuse block I stripped all of the terminals out of it (pain the the ass). Then I cleaned it and wiped off the old labels where the fuses go. The next thing i did was the hard part, I have to go through the wiring diagrams for the vega and figure out the circuits I need and ones I dont need. This turned out to be the fuel start and the fuel run fuses since im going with fuel injection and have gotten rid of that circuit.

Then I flipped the vega fuse block around and figured out what the main power sources are and pretty much just transferred them over to a rough drawing of the ATO fuse block. Doing this showed me what terminals I will need. There ended up being a lot of empty spaces in the fuse block but Ill probably end up putting in more circuits. The last thing I did was write the fuse designations on the block with the amp ratings. I used a fine tipped white out pen, its not very clean but it was the only thing I had so it will work.

I found a website with decently priced connectors, terminals, fuse boxes and wire. http://www.pcsconnectors.com/12020367.aspx This website even has the fuse box that I'm using if a buy wanted to go with brand new stuff!

Nice job, man. You're way more patient than I. I know almost jack squat about wiring and a project like this gives me nightmares.

What FI are you going with? BTW: I absolutely detest the glass fuses. They look dorky.

ColinOpseth wrote:Nice job, man. You're way more patient than I. I know almost jack squat about wiring and a project like this gives me nightmares.

What FI are you going with? BTW: I absolutely detest the glass fuses. They look dorky.

They look dorky? I don't know, they look "normal" to me. It must be a age thing.