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I want to relocate my battery to the trunk and my relays to the trunk on the left side mounted to the body I also want to relocate my fuse box under the hood behind the drivers side headlights it’s just empty space where that canister used to be has anyone done any of this how much did it cost was it hard to do and what are some pros and cons to be aware of
It’s something I want to do I’m building a street car I need to make things easily accessible I’m also trying to clear space in the engine bay I like to get creative with my cars
I want to relocate my battery to the trunk and my relays to the trunk on the left side mounted to the body I also want to relocate my fuse box under the hood behind the drivers side headlights it’s just empty space where that canister used to be has anyone done any of this how much did it cost was it hard to do and what are some pros and cons to be aware of
Shouldn't be any more difficult than it was to relocate your windshield wiper motor back there, as you mentioned in one of your previous threads.
Trying to relocate the stock fuse center is a perfect recipe to ruin & disable the car forever with a job that (a) doesn't need to be done; and (b) will never be done right. Just don't go there. It's a calamity waiting to happen. I rewired over 50% of my car with an LS swap, but I didn't dare touch the stock fuse block or any of the stock chassis wiring.
Moving relays to the back end of the car, away from the devices that depend on them, is generally not a good idea. I'm not taking time to explain why.
Moving battery to back of car can be done but you'll need larger battery cables in order to prevent excessive voltage losses. The tech inspectors at the track will REQUIRE that you have an electrical master disconnect switch poking out the back of your car. Not a very desirable feature in a street car. The whole point of moving the battery is weight distribution so put it on the right side (passenger) where it make more sense.
My own experience is that re-wiring is expensive if you're buying at small volume for just one person.
Surely there's a forum somewhere for medical professionals and enthusiasts where someone is asking how to perform surgery upon themself. You know, how hard is it, how much does it cost, the pros and cons...
If you don't have much experience with wiring, specifically automotive wiring, the chances of successfully moving the battery, relays, and fuse block, are low. I wouldn't know where to start. It'd be a good idea to get a GM Service Manual for your car, and start by studying the first few pages of the wiring diagram/electrical diagnosis section. Read it, and read it again. If it doesn't make complete and total sense to you, if it's unclear, read it again. Use tools like Google to look up any terms or symbols you don't understand completely. Study the diagrams and understand that every harness in the car is ENGINEERED to the finest detail, from the connectors, the wire diameter, the length of the wires, etc. When you start moving things further away, wire size may need to change. Too many electrical demands on a circuit, or increased demand may require changes in wire diameter or the connector. Everything needs to be right, or you can have an electrical fire. Electrical fires are "fun" because you can't just extinguish the flames. The flames will burn until the conductor physically melts. In the event that conductor is the body of your car.... Well forget it.
Most people, even car enthusiasts are scared to death of wiring. Better than half the people that think they know what they're doing, don't. There's a reason that junkyards are full of cars that burned down because someone didn't know how to safely route the power wire to their new amplifier. That's all BEFORE you get to the fun things like sourcing quality wiring, in the right colors, proper wire gauge, paying for it, acquiring the tools to do the job, learn how to properly do them... Then when you get that all in place, you still have to translate the book knowledge to actually doing it.
It'd be a lot smarter to flush the bad ideas from your mind, and accept your car for what it is. Quite literally you're playing with fire, and you need a lot more advice than you're going to find on here.
I can pay a shop to do certain things for me I don’t have any shame in that money is not the issue I’m well aware yes it cost money to build custom cars don’t matter to me I’m gonna follow my dreams
I understand most people will FEAR the challenges of the ideas I come up with but that won’t stop me from trying if it CAN be done I’ll swing it
And yet you don't understand that the people who are warning you, know better than you do. I can tell you that the burner on a stove is hot, and will burn you. If it's your dream to touch the burner, and you CAN touch the burner, and you choose to touch it anyway... Well, that's on you.
Honestly you're wasting your time if you expect someone to give you a step by step instruction, and hold your hand while you do something excessively foolish.
Dude it’s gonna work with no problems as long as I have a professional technician who knows what he is doing it’s not even that bad hey if he screws up obviously the shop will be liable soo...
I'm just going to venture a guess that any reputable "professional technician" is going to refuse to take the job. If you find someone who will take the job, I'd expect the worst possible hack-job result. But hey, what do I know? I mean just look around at all the totally custom thirdgens in the Member's Rides with fully customized wiring harnesses... They're all over the place, right? Every day stuff. I mean who hasn't had Billy Bob's Auto-Lectric relocate the fuse box under the hood, and move all the relays for no logical reason. LOL
Be sure to ask if they're willing to accept full responsibility for liability before you drop the car off. Keep us posted, this should be very entertaining.
First of all not every shop out there is bad or out to get somebody just for money I know very professional shops that are honest about the Work they do and if they can’t handle the task at hand they won’t get involved but in the case they do feel up to the task I will get every piece of evidence in writing signed by the owner himself so if anything should happen yes by law I can hold them responsible for money owed it’s always a logical reason for what I do to my car it has a purpose that’s why I try to seek guidance from the “Highly Experienced” people on here but it seems like a lot of you bash ideas I have judge me or don’t have motivation to spread around it’s not to the next persons liking that don’t make it foolish but thanks anyways
The idea isn't so much foolish, as it's just simply ignorant. You don't know what you're talking about. It seems simple to you, because you don't know. What's foolish is to dismiss the advice you're getting. You're here asking. Some of the advice you receive may not be that great, but the majority is valid. If you don't trust the advice, why ask? Just because you don't like the answer doesn't make the advice you've received any less applicable.
Part of what you clearly are missing here, is that no one is going to help you relocate a fuse block. No one is going to take that kind of job, except someone who's so crazy and unreliable that you're just as likely to get your car back with all the wiring hacked up like some kind of machete massacre, after the 'professional' goes out of business and declares bankruptcy.
It's hard enough to get good service for common tasks. Look at how hard it is to get your order the way you ordered it in the drive-thru. Or how simple maintenance tasks on cars commonly get fouled up by dealerships and 'professional' shops. There aren't a lot of threads about having shops do major customization jobs, but there are a ton about shops screwing up basic tasks. There are even more threads as evidence of these colossal foul-ups by professionals, in the sheer number of people around here that do everything ourselves. Would so many people be so open to doing the jobs ourselves if shops were reliable and affordable?
Also take a look around and see how many threads there are asking for advice on completely off-the-wall ideas. You don't see them, because most people understand that they are going to be on their own. The successful folks that actually get jobs done, generally aren't asking questions. They are go-get-ers that don't waste time asking and waiting, they dive into Google, Youtube, books, or ALL of the above, and make things happen.
Sorry you feel like people are bashing your ideas and pissing on your parade, we'd just rather give you fair warning before you take the pruning shears to you wiring harness. It's tough love. If people are getting short with you it's probably because you ask for advice, but then ignore it and accuse those who are taking the time to reply, of bashing your ideas. People here are taking your bad ideas seriously, they're just seriously bad ideas.
Surely there's a forum somewhere for medical professionals and enthusiasts where someone is asking how to perform surgery upon themself. You know, how hard is it, how much does it cost, the pros and cons...
So all jokes aside.....seriously.....I have a friend who is a P.A. Was a paramedic for many years, just one of those all around medical, help his fellow human being type guys. .....and he actually surgically removed his own hemorrhoids. No joke. His wife, who corroborated his story assisted by holding the mirror, handing him tools etc. etc. Listening to him tell the story with a group of the guys sitting around the table drinking beers was one of the greatest moments of my life!!!!!!!! LOL -maybe I need some better moments!!! LOL I'm laughing as I'm typing this! -but I swear it's true!
I can/will do it for you. No problem. I wouldn't recommend it, but if that's your dream.....
It's hourly, and shop rate for electrical, electronics, and diagnostics is $120 per hour. I would estimate that job at probably around 100 hours including research into appropriate components, generating a schematic for installation and future maintenance, disassembly of interior and exterior to gain proper access, removal/conversion of old wiring and components, installation of new wiring and associated components, and proper testing including thermal imaging, and per circuit amperage draw under load.
I have a LOT of wiring and electrical experience and training. I was 52D in the Army - Generation Systems and Power Distribution. I worked on Patriot missile system turbine generators. I am also a Generac certified technician, I have built control panels for an industrial compressor manufacturer and with them studied the electrical guidelines of both the nuclear power industry and NASA to develop their internal Electrical Policies and Procedures. The company I worked for had both UL and CSA inspectors on site.
If that's something you want to pursue please feel free to message me and we can arrange shipping the vehicle to my shop. I also have a 2000 HP DynoJet chassis dyno so if you would like a full build at the same time I can easily arrange that for you.
Trying to relocate the stock fuse center is a perfect recipe to ruin & disable the car forever with a job that (a) doesn't need to be done; and (b) will never be done right. Just don't go there. It's a calamity waiting to happen. I rewired over 50% of my car with an LS swap, but I didn't dare touch the stock fuse block or any of the stock chassis wiring.
Moving relays to the back end of the car, away from the devices that depend on them, is generally not a good idea. I'm not taking time to explain why.
Moving battery to back of car can be done but you'll need larger battery cables in order to prevent excessive voltage losses. The tech inspectors at the track will REQUIRE that you have an electrical master disconnect switch poking out the back of your car. Not a very desirable feature in a street car. The whole point of moving the battery is weight distribution so put it on the right side (passenger) where it make more sense.
My own experience is that re-wiring is expensive if you're buying at small volume for just one person.
Based on my 25+ years of training and experience, in auto repair industry and a lifetime of hobby work, I agree 100 %.
With the exception of GeneralDisorder, no shop is going to take on a job like that. It is a MAJOR amount of work to do without just cutting and splicing wires. Even cutting and splicing it would be a huge job, but it would probably burn the car down in short order.
I would consider doing something like that, but it would cost you probably $5000+ since I would have to buy LOTS of spools of wire, LOTS of terminals and it would take weeks.
Yep - I figured 2.5 weeks full time job. And yeah shop rate is shop rate. Just the way it is. Why would I charge less for crawling around some dirty 30 year old engine bay and jacking up my back under a 30 year old dash laying on 30 year old carpet when I can run my dyno for the same hourly rate? Or build a nice clean engine with all new parts for the same hourly rate. I have to explain all the time to folks that working on older cars isn't any cheaper - usually it costs more. Both in time and in materials.
Experience and knowledge come at high cost. My skills are in demand and as they say you have "pay to play"
Guys listen it’s not that bad as it seems I didn’t mention it before but the car is basically going to be stripped to bare bones nothing in it at all nothing in the engine bay the dash will be removed all the interior will be gone just basically a shell so it’s kinda like starting from scratch with that being said my personal car is not in bad condition and I do regularly keep the interior clean as well as the exterior and engine bay it’s not a show car but it’s not rusted away either so I feel it’s worthy
Not at all I’ve been down that road before and I won’t let it happen again I’ve come too far in my line of work and dedication to my project to part it out that will not be a option the answer to that is NO if I make mistakes then I learn form them but 1 thing I don’t do is GIVE UP sorry it’s not gonna happen
It’s more than enough 3rd gens that didn’t make it we all should be a lot more supportive in our builds as a community because if we don’t that’s how these Camaros and firebirds keep ending up abandoned parted out in the junkyard or just never had a actual life a lot of us put hard earned money into our cars and we just need to keep that positive energy flowing I would radther see somebody struggle with they 3rd gen than be miserable without it because someone convinced them to give up
Guys listen it’s not that bad as it seems I didn’t mention it before but the car is basically going to be stripped to bare bones nothing in it at all nothing in the engine bay the dash will be removed all the interior will be gone just basically a shell so it’s kinda like starting from scratch with that being said my personal car is not in bad condition and I do regularly keep the interior clean as well as the exterior and engine bay it’s not a show car but it’s not rusted away either so I feel it’s worthy
If this is true, then you just need a universal harness. Or pick up some books, ask some more questions and make your own harness
So you're always gonna have that one guy who tells you your ideas are stupid. -and I get that you can't let that dude get you down. -BUT.....everyone else is coming in here and giving you a multitude of constructive reasons why this task is ill advised. Sure, anything is possible, but why wouldn't you listen to what people are telling you? If you already know how to do the work, then just do it! If you already have a shop willing to do it for you, then why bother posting the question?
What is the benefit in moving the fuse box to the engine bay? I don't see any positives in doing it. While you can make a real argument (and in my opinion be correct) that the factory used to too small a gauge of wire for the power and grounds and used questionable grounding schemes there really is nothing to be gained by redoing the wiring unless you are removing many of the electronic devices already.
There are logical reasons that a person might want to upgrade wiring, or re-engineer a harness. For example, a person might want to incorporate a 'convenience center' under the hood with provisions for major circuit fuses, relays, etc all in a nice integrated package. Newer cars typically have a traditional fuse box in the interior, and a 'convenience center' under the hood with mega fuses for things like cooling fans, etc that are protected by fusible links on our cars. I could maybe understand if OP was asking about doing something like that... But when it's Class 5 ryce-boi 'kustom' dream chasing, it's just dumb. Even doing that kind of modification, that actually serves a logical purpose, isn't the kind of thing a novice should be attempting. Especially when they refuse to invest even the minimum effort in studying the diagrams for the existing harness. Modernizing and customizing the wiring isn't difficult, it's just considerably expensive for a person doing one car, or a couple cars, and it takes tools, and some dedication. People frequently, catastrophically, foul up car stereo installs, and burn cars down when an amplifier is only three wires...
There are logical reasons that a person might want to upgrade wiring, or re-engineer a harness. For example, a person might want to incorporate a 'convenience center' under the hood with provisions for major circuit fuses, relays, etc all in a nice integrated package. Newer cars typically have a traditional fuse box in the interior, and a 'convenience center' under the hood with mega fuses for things like cooling fans, etc that are protected by fusible links on our cars. I could maybe understand if OP was asking about doing something like that... But when it's Class 5 ryce-boi 'kustom' dream chasing, it's just dumb. Even doing that kind of modification, that actually serves a logical purpose, isn't the kind of thing a novice should be attempting. Especially when they refuse to invest even the minimum effort in studying the diagrams for the existing harness. Modernizing and customizing the wiring isn't difficult, it's just considerably expensive for a person doing one car, or a couple cars, and it takes tools, and some dedication. People frequently, catastrophically, foul up car stereo installs, and burn cars down when an amplifier is only three wires...
Yeah, I knew about the engine bay located fuse/relay center in the engine bay. If you were already rewiring the car because much of the electronics were being gutted, it was a track car or someone was doing an LS install and wanted a high quality car with a stock appearance I could agree with the effort of rewiring and adding in a second box in the engine bay. Outside of those reasons or unless you have mucho experience rewiring electronics and just want a project (but in that case you wouldn't be asking us because you'd just DIY) I don't see any reason.
Yeah, I knew about the engine bay located fuse/relay center in the engine bay. If you were already rewiring the car because much of the electronics were being gutted, it was a track car or someone was doing an LS install and wanted a high quality car with a stock appearance I could agree with the effort of rewiring and adding in a second box in the engine bay. Outside of those reasons or unless you have mucho experience rewiring electronics and just want a project (but in that case you wouldn't be asking us because you'd just DIY) I don't see any reason.
That’s basically what I’m doing I just said most of the car is going to be gutted to nothing bare bones all the wiring is gone be done before the engine even goes in I’m making a custom track car it’s not a daily
If its going to be a track car only I'm going to assume that the dash is removed along with virtually every electronic creature comfort like A/C + blower motor, power windows, defrost, stereo, turn signals, etc., so I would purchase a universal harness and run all the electronics (along with the battery in a sealed box if allowed) to the formerly passenger side dash inside the car. Why fool around with anything factory wiring wise if you don't need 90% of it?
has anyone done any of this how much did it cost was it hard to do and what are some pros and cons to be aware of
It seems you don't like the fact that there are no 'pros' to what you want to do. Having rewired/relocated OE wiring all over my own car, I can say even for someone who knows what they are doing, it is a daunting and time consuming task. If I were to factor in the hours I have personally and assign a $/hr rate to it, It would exceed the value of the car.
Originally Posted by Drew
There are logical reasons that a person might want to upgrade wiring, or re-engineer a harness. For example, a person might want to incorporate a 'convenience center' under the hood with provisions for major circuit fuses, relays, etc all in a nice integrated package. Newer cars typically have a traditional fuse box in the interior, and a 'convenience center' under the hood with mega fuses for things like cooling fans, etc that are protected by fusible links on our cars..
I have done what Drew speaks of. Again, if you have to ask what the skill level is for it, you are not quite qualified to be doing the job.
I used generic relay holders that are able to hold the 4thgen potter-brams relays. The fuse block came from a, buick, something. This houses fuses/relays for MAF, fans, lights and FP. It is then covered by my air filter housing.
I used generic relay holders that are able to hold the 4thgen potter-brams relays. The fuse block came from a, buick, something. This houses fuses/relays for MAF, fans, lights and FP. It is then covered by my air filter housing.
How did you wire it in? Did you cut the wires at their furthest point from the donor vehicle and splice them into the existing/additional wiring? Or did you purchase all new terminals and crimp them on the some wiring?
How did you wire it in? Did you cut the wires at their furthest point from the donor vehicle and splice them into the existing/additional wiring? Or did you purchase all new terminals and crimp them on the some wiring?
I de-pinned the fuse block, opened, the terminals to remove the buick wires, bought correct coloured/striped wire, where needed, from Eficonnection.com and then soldered all wires/terminals back together. Self sealing heat shrink is used on anything that might get water on it and regular 3:1 on anything else it can be put on. Any wiring changes from OE operations are noted in my Hemls maunal on the wiring diagrams.
It seems you don't like the fact that there are no 'pros' to what you want to do. Having rewired/relocated OE wiring all over my own car, I can say even for someone who knows what they are doing, it is a daunting and time consuming task. If I were to factor in the hours I have personally and assign a $/hr rate to it, It would exceed the value of the car.
I have done what Drew speaks of. Again, if you have to ask what the skill level is for it, you are not quite qualified to be doing the job.
I used generic relay holders that are able to hold the 4thgen potter-brams relays. The fuse block came from a, buick, something. This houses fuses/relays for MAF, fans, lights and FP. It is then covered by my air filter housing.
Wow. Nice work. That is very slick ......... and professional.
06-27-2019, 05:59 PM
