The shop I took my car to say for the LS1 install I would need a front harness invcluding the fusebox. I have seen brief mention that this may not be required and I am sitting here trying to think of what this fuse box would do. The only things I can think of are hooked up directly to the PCM (gauges). All my lights, turn signals and electronic stuff are using my existing 83' setup.

So, do I need this? Or can I yank that sucker out?

 

you dont need it if your just doing the engine swap but if your doing the whole 4th gen swap then you would need it for the body harness.

 

Well the only things that are 4th Gen are the motor, alternator, starter stuff like that. Everything else is my original equipment. I know I didn't use a body harness (b/c I didn't buy one ). I guess I will unplug it and see what happens.

 

Do the electric radiator fans use the fuse box? My dad seems to think so. hmm

 

In our 87 days conversation with NLP, I seem to recall them stating they were wiring up the fans to the fuse box from the PCM. I don't know what else is hooked up there but the only things in the box that are in use, will have wires with relays or fuses connecting the links in the box. Simply look to see what is junctioned in the fuse box.

E

 

There are all sorts of fuses and wires running to that fusebox. It looks like they hooked the entire thing up.

 

Bump to the top here guys...
I'm curious what to do with this fuse box as well. I need (or would like the option) to hook up the following:

A/C
Cooling fans
PCM
Fuel Pump
Cruise Control
AIR pump

Most of these have relays (along with fuses) inside that fuse box. For example, the cooling fans have 3 relays and a fuse. I can just hook things up like it seems most people did, but what did everyone do for fuses and relays? Our stock harnesses used fuseable links, and some things just won't work if they aren't relayed-up (cooling fans, A/C, fuel pump, etc.). Also, the fuse box has fuses for the injectors (bank 1 and 2) and other engine stuff. I haven't read of anyone fusing all this...

 

All I can say is that I didnt use one. My car already had all the relays I needed. I used the stock injector wires/fuses, stock fan/relay/wires, stock fuel pump relay, etc... I used a couple of the stock FI harness wires and made the rest of my connections at the C100 bulkhead. Wiring is not for everyone I understand, but it wasnt that hard for me. I've had years of various electronic experience so... Get some wiring diagrams for your year car and some pinouts for your year motor and start connecting the dots, thats how I did it.

Good Luck.

 

Oh for sure, I already have service manuals for both cars, and I have no problem with figuring out how to wire it up. It just sounded like people plugged things in and didn't worry about fusing them, so that's why I was asking.

 

one thing that im having trouble on is the air pump circuit. I need the relay for that and also need to find a place on the fuse block for it. Should i just get the relay and hook up the power to the fuse block and call it a day?

 

You could do that , or just get a single fuse holder and put it right beside the relay. Mark it Air Pump or something like that. Might be a little easier. Just an idea.

 

my personal opinion is that using the 4thgen PCM box is kinda ghetto... no car should have two fuse panels... esp when 90% of the fuse places are copies of whats under dash...

plus it never looks right under hood, it takes up too much space... ect...

 

Not to argue with Mr. Dude...but I think some of the relay set ups that some people come up with look more ghetto than the boxes. Im putting the 4th gen cruise control on the drivers side battery tray area, and the fuse boxes from the 4th gen fit right on top, tucked neatly into the corner. You barely notice it. I ditched my 3rd gen relays (fuel pump, fans, etc) basically because they are almost 20 years old. All my connectors had corrosion, and some were melted... I already had to change my fuel pump relay wiring because it was faulty. This takes all those relays, which were once scattered over by the booster, and up front by the radiator, and condenses them all into two small boxes. With labels I might add. As long as you loom everything good, you can pass the loom under the radiator support, and you'll never see it. Plus the boxes will provide spots to add things that require fuses..such as line locks, nitrous stuff...and you wont have to run power wires inside.

Anyway...Point is. You can do it without them. Just personally I like having a nice place for relays, and not having to crimp connectors for aftermarket relays...just more places to have issues.

Justin

 

no i can agree with that... aftermarket fuses and fuse holders everywhere can look like crap too...

i decided i wanted to use the same type of relays everywhere in my car... and i wanted a OEM look, and i wanted them weathertight.
this left me few options.....

the option i chose was to retain the 3rdgen weatherpack like relays.
for additional circuits, i added one extra fuse panel underhood. its next to the battery, on the "headlight bucket" next to the side of the radiator.. looks OEM, its close to the battery, its almost impossible to notice, but easy to access...

for my actual harness wiring, i used as much of the OEM stuff that made sense... my injectors are off of the old injector fuses. my ECM fuses power my PCM. ect...
the end result looks nice IMO.. it doesnt stand out. and its easy to troubleshoot.

 

I agree with you. Basically I think the cleaner you can make the wiring, the better it will not only look, but perform. The wiring in my car was crap. I chose to remove everything I possibly could from my 87.

I think maybe you had different connectors on some of your relays?? I didnt have weather pak connectors at all. Only on some sensors. My relays were pretty much opened and the wiring was really crazy looking. Both of my fan relays had almost an inch of sheathing missing...probably why they werent working correctly. And a lot of the other relays and power carrying connectors were melted looking inside. I WAS going to strip all the wiring out from the inside that I could as well...since Im running autometer gauges.

But you just triggered a light in my head Mr. Dude... I kept thinking, how the heck did you power things using old wiring unless you left the engine harness in... THen I realized that I still have the other side of that harness under the dash. Duh... Now I think that I might do the same thing... for powering my PCM and the such... Im still going to use the 4th gen boxes...but maybe only for relayed circuits... Hmm...back to the wiring diagrams! haha

Justin