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Here's another option for maxi fuses. Link

Blue Sea Systems makes good stuff, but a little overkill for a car.

As I finish up my shopping list, need to make some final decisions about main power distribution. I am keeping the ammeter. The battery connection from the starter to the ammeter will be no smaller than 10 awg and fused somewhere along the way.

Best I can tell from reading old threads on the subject, all the power that is distributed to various systems of the truck, should be done so from the “other” side of the ammeter. The big wire coming in from the regulator batt terminal.

Does it matter where/ how the power branches? My fuse panels and such are gonna be mounted high on the drivers kick panel. The most efficient wire routing so that I could fuse things appropriately, and not have excess wire runs, would be running from the regulator to some sort of busbar/distribution block, and then branch to ammeter, ignition switch, and constant side fuse panel.

But, for the ammeter to function properly, does all power need to be routed DIRECTLY to the ammeter, and then branch from there?

In my brain, it’s “six one way, half dozen the other.” But the factory wiring makes me want to at least stop and ask what’s correct.

Sorry for the late response, but yes, it is an inline fuse for the horn. My wiring was supposed to be temporary until I did a total rewiring, including a new fuse box but that hasn’t happened yet! LOL

Again, sorry for the late response, but thanks!

The ammeter is supposed to indicate power going to/from the battery so you can tell if you are charging or discharging it. For that to work, you have to have the battery on one side and everything else on the other side of it.

In some vehicles, the starter is an exception to that. It is the highest draw item in the vehicle and can be bypassing the ammeter. You would have to check the factory wiring diagram to see how your should be wired.

The 80s S10 had a very nice solid copper bus bar mounted to the passenger side of the firewall. I have used them on a few projects. If you have a junkyard nearby, you might check it out.

To clarify, that statement should say "in MOST vehicles". The starter draws enough amps that it would smoke the typical ammeter, and possibly even melt the shunt that typically bypasses the ammeter.

What I'd do if you're running an ammeter is run a single power wire from the ammeter to your fuse block input bus, and distribute power to the various loads from there.

From the factory a '51 Chevy 3100 (what I think JW51 is wiring) the only electrical devices that do not go through the ammeter are the horn and the starter.

I can't remember any car/truck that had the starter on the opposite side of the ammeter from the battery. If done that way, the ammeter would have to be able to handle many hundreds of amps.

Ooops! Kevin and I were typing at the same time.

Thanks for the clarification guys. My 55 Dodge (am I allowed to say that word here?) runs the starter through the ammeter. That is the only example that I personally know of.

So your ammeter has a #2 or bigger wire on each side? That's what it would take to spin the starter. I can believe that the starter SOLENOID runs through ammeter.

You are probably correct. I remember thinking it was really odd to have the ammeter hooked up to the starter, but with the battery under the floor the main power cable is probably tucked out of sight. I didn't dive very far into the wiring on it because I just wanted to spin the engine at the time.

The truck has dual horns mounted on the passenger side with an old school relay mounted on the firewall. I will probably grab the power for the relay from the starter side. That main wire will run within inches of the relay, anyway.

My truck has a lot of original wire still, but also some mods by the previous owner when he added signals, moved the horns, etc.

There are two wire-retaining clips at the front of each inner fender. Is one for the park light and the other for the headlights? Neither seems in an ideal location for the job, but I will probably list them to retain some semblance of original routing.

Wire arrived this weekend along with one of my fuse panels. I have about 85% of a plan on how I’m going to mount and route the power distribution and fuse panel. Need to do some studying to see what, if any, access I have to the back side of the driver kick panel. A rivnut tool would make it easy. I don’t have one nor do I really want to buy one.

JW,

Maybe you could shout out to some fellow 'Bolters in your area to see if anyone has a rivnut tool they may let you borrow???

I couldn't find any FLAPs that rent them as part of their tool rental programs. Harbor Freight has an inexpensive one https://www.harborfreight.com/45-piece-threaded-insert-riveter-kit-1210.html that comes with some inserts that may make the deal worthwhile.

Just some thoughts.

Dan

Found a neighbor who has one. Thanks!

Keep us posted on the progress of your rewire JW.

Dan

Anyone have a recommended source for terminals/ connectors?

I’ll need some combination of rings, butts, forks, and QD. I despise the plastic/vinyl covered that are widely available off the shelf. Never feel confident in the crimp, definitely not a fan of the looks. I will be buying non-insulated and heat shrinking them.

I’d honestly like to go with all open barrel stuff. However, finding decent quality open barrel rings/forks looks like an issue. The Amazon/eBay offerings appear to be very light duty.

The non-insulated, closed barrel type will be fine for me. I was just curious what others have found.

I personally like weatherpak connectors. They are durable, waterproof, available with oins for a variety of wire gauges, and have TPAs.

Probably overkill for most applications, but they are not super expensive and I have never had one fail.

Here is one of many examples on Amazon.

You can also buy the pieces individually from Waytek or Mouser, but having a kit on hand to just grab and go is pretty handy.

If I could start all over again, I’d probably go with one of the little Eaton-Bussmann RMTR type panels and pin it from scratch with the metri-pack/ weather pack terminals. It’d be a pain up front, but super compact in the end.

I ~could~ still change gears and go that way, but would be stuck with a few things I’ve bought already.

The actual weatherpack connectors like you show, are super nifty, but I’d struggle to justify it on this truck. Might be good at the taillights for a disconnect option.

For the taillights have a look at the waterproof 7 pin trailer plastic BOXES. They have labelled studs inside, use ring terminals. Easy to disconnect, easy to wire, clean, and easy to add other stuff later (or trailer wiring for that matter) if you're so inclined. I went that route on my 49 and now a few other rewires. Packed the box full of silicone grease as insurance but mounted it inside the frame out of the way, stays clean. Opened it up the other day and it was still like new in there. On mine I also like to replace the terminals inside the bulb sockets just to eliminate one more connection - probably not necessary in a drier climate but here we have a ton of ambient humidity and rainfall, so the fewer connections the better. Places you wouldn't expect moisture to form, form moisture up here - proper heat shrinked connections help there for sure, but I prefer to just minimize that entirely.

I’ve actually had that thought about using a trailer wire junction block. I figured I’d get made fun of…for extreme overkill.

Ha ha ha; yes I've been accused of "overkill" before. "Go Big or Go Home", as I like to say.

It makes life easier, I think - if you need to do maintenance, add lights, etc - just makes life easier.

Speaking of overkill, let’s talk about wire gauge and main power distribution. The factory diagrams, along with the “amp//wire gauge/wire length” chart I’ve been using…suggest that 10 gauge is probably adequate for the run from the starter to ammeter, and ammeter to voltage regulator.

I’ve read quite a few threads on the topic, and there have been some suggestions of running 8 awg for this purpose. I suppose it depends on accessories and if one is running a higher output alternator.

I’m keeping the generator for now, but will not completely rule out an alternator someday. I have crazy plans for high draw accessories. The truck has period chicken lights and a spotlight. Nothing major there.

The only thing that ~might~ happen someday that would pull some amps, is a 12v compressor to make the roof mounted airhorn functional again. The PO had an engine driven compressor and large tank. I removed the compressor soon after the truck purchase to simplify the engine revival. It was in the way and obsolete.

Anyway- 10 gauge or 8?

JW51 I helped a friend put a harness in a 55 chevy,what a nightmare !! Each night I would pray it didn,t burn the car up,that harness had enough circuits for a White Freightliner. On our old trucks a big obstacle is firewall insulation in the way,it needs to go in first. Have just lately learned to use paint on insulation goo ,not bad stuff. Use mostly soldered joints with heat shrinks. Found a metal in line fuse holder that you can solder modern wire onto it's contacts for durable protection,think it might even be an AD part. Old rodders would wrap there wiring with kite string for a neat job,then could go back in make changes then wrap it back up. I've done that but not near as neat as I have seen. Another thing is 1 inch wide teflon tape,clean neat way to capture wires no goo can unwrap and work in there then put it back like GM once was. Just saw your question no. 10 wire should do it unless there is some awfully big load,if others saw my HEI supply wire that has worked for (some) 25 years they'd croak !! Original switches,no relays wanna stay simple.

Gord&Fran Done a similar job with a set screw pass thru junction block on the engine side of the firewall where 7 wire signal-stat ties in.Is safe and can get to it with my meter but is not very neat. Mostly use in line fuse holders for protection on new circuits. Like to keep all the marker lights working,cause I like to see them early in the morning. I have saved a lot of old metal lights,lot better than these sorry off-shore plastic lights we have now. Really hard to find 3-bar cluster metal lights for the rear of ton on up trucks now.

Update:

Getting closer to having all my materials rounded up. When I have a mock-up of the fuse panel set-up, I’ll attach a pic.

Came across a pretty sweet deal on an NOS assortment of Packard terminals that I’m pretty excited about.

NOS Packard assortment score….[img][/img]

JW,

That will get and keep your wiring project going for sure. With enough left over for who knows how long - haha.

Nice score.

Dan

Really hard to find US-made terminals at a decent price. I can put all the rings, females, bulb contacts, flag forks….to good use. There’s a bunch of other stuff that I will need to identify. Probably terminals for inserting into various types of socket connectors.

For what I paid, still way ahead even if much of that oddball stuff never gets used.

Received my cheapo ratcheting open barrel crimp tool from Amazon. It’s the type that will accept any number of dies.

Did a few test crimps just for fun. Works really well if you match the wire size to the right terminal…and line up the terminal properly in the tool. It will also put one heck of a secure crimp on regular non-insulated (closed barrel?) terminal if you get creative. But I will probably pick up a traditional, Klein or similar, tool for those.

JW51 That was a good score,My local farm store had cheap,lightweight,terminals got real T+B from electrical wholesaler that have soldered barrels and are thick. Not cheap but work good with T+B crimpers. Also have much bigger crimpers for 480 volt type work,tough and permanent. Make battery cables that will carry the amps.