Engine bay fuse box relocation advice

[chris shrewsbury]

Hi guys want to move my fuse box’s out of engine bay as there taking up space which I need. Has anyone done this before that can give me some tips/pointers or even any guides out there? Just looking to see what people have done all the best and thanks in advance

[chris shrewsbury]

Anyone done this before?

[green_rs13]

its just loads of work.

think I would just move them out of the engine bay and into the front wheel arch and put them inside Tupperware type sandwich boxes and silicone up the entry point.

[ejrocks400]

I did it on mine and it’s not as painful a process as I thought it would be as long as you do a bit of prep work and you can solder well. All I did was remove all sheathing from the loom on the passenger side arch and cut it (I labelled each ends of the individual wires with numbers so I knew which wires had to be soldered together) I then labelled and unplugged everything attached to the loom (I labelled it so I knew which bits I had to poke back through into the engine bay later)
After this I pulled it all back through into the cab of the car and bolted the fuse box to the support bar that is under the dashboard (I did it close to the Headunit hole so if I ever need to get at it I just have to take the headunit out and I have access)
Then came the fun part of soldering it back up I made this harder for myself as I shortened most of the wires so I didn’t have any unnecessary bulk under my dash but you could just solder them back up, fold up the spare wire and zip tie it up out the way.
After this it was just a matter of poking all the plugs you need back through the firewall and extending any that need it and you’re done.
I did this on a stripped car so I would imagine I had it a bit easier than people with all the interior in.
It definitely clears up the bay a lot and I think I must have saved about 1000kgs of weight when I shortened the wires


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[chris shrewsbury]

Hi thank you for your help with that I am going to start doing it this weekend thanks again

[norfy]

Its a big job, a little easier on a stripped track car with no heaters.

The main issues are;
- routing the bulk of the cables (because there are a lot of interior components that get in the way, especially the stock heater box),
- positioning of the original fusebox (again, no real room inside. can fit it in the glovebox but then you lose that. ive fitted one into the arm rest compartment which was a nice neat touch. and ive also fitted it all behind the stereo before).
- if you have pop ups then you will still have a bulk of cables running to the headlamps and youll have to put the relay box somewhere.
- its a lot of work for not a great deal of gain.
- you will create potential faults with cutting/joining/soldering/etc.

as mentioned, ive fitted the main stock fuse/relay box in the glove box, in the armrest, behind the stereo, rotated it 90 degrees and basically tucked it away under the wing lip, and a great place was actually bringing both relay/fuse boxes forward and in the gap either side of the bonnet latch (put a cover over to hide them but they were still easily accessible) .

youll need to consider things like connecting up the start/charge/box loom to where ever you move the fuse box, if you want to use the original washer bottle, and a few other things i really cant think of right now.

if you want to take it a step further then i find its worth spending out on a new fuse/relay box that uses micro relays and fuses, it makes the job much easier and nicer as you will be able to cut the old fusebox off the loom, crimp new terminals on and plug straight into the new fusebox. http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.e...housing-system

also, the wiper and ns indicator can be pulled out and routed round behind the dash quite easily.

if you do pull the headlamp relays inside the car then consider running their cables direct down each wing channel to the corresponding lamp (so you dont have to run cable along under the slam panel.

there are also many things you can do to the engine harness to neaten that up as well; re route the afm cable into the engine loom past the inlet manifold and out past the cas, engine loom f8/f10 will need connecting inside the car if you are pulling the fusebox inside anyway, if you are ca18det then the knock sensor will need routing directly into the engine loom, you can also pull all of the start/charge/box loom into the engine loom but id try and keep the large main power cables and the starter switch cable seperate.


Apologies if the above is a little tricky to read, just I could be here all day going over what can be done haha

[chris shrewsbury]

Thank you for taking the time to write all that out for me lots of ideas thank you for your help