Fuse Box Questions

[phughes]

First, my great thanks to members who responded to my simpleton questions, and to the forum as a whole - the information from both now has my '55 starting like a hungry kitten each cold morning, and all my lights working! Cheers to all. (grounding the starter was a lifesaver!)

Most issues could be traced to the fuse box connections. Old wires, dirty posts when they looked clean, etc.

Question now is on the fuse box (applies to the 4 and the 2 boxes)....which is: are these 're-buildable?' I have one square wire post which turns when the wire screw is tightened, and I know that will lead to trouble. I have yet to pull it off, so uncertain what the back looks like, or if these square posts are able to be secured, etc.

Guess for the next weekend project my question becomes do I get new ones (although WW offering does not look like my original, which has the awesome German paper in the middle)...or, pull them off, and clean the bejesus out of them and tighten/solder them up.

Love to hear from any source which has done so, and how they did such.
Thanks all.

[Suboval]

Clean the backside brass and solder the connections. Then RTV the back to prevent moisture from causing corrosion and grounds.
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[Eric&Barb]

Would definitely not RTV up that area. Solder up the riveted connections in the fuse box/s and headlight switch instead.
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[Abscate]

[Eric&Barb]

Not our soldering job. DPO did OK, but needed hotter soldering iron and a little more practice or instruction. Still with the obvious soldering you get the idea of where to fix it.

If you carefully ping back down that one loose rivet on the back and solder every connection it will work much better!
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[Snort]

Take it off and do a thorough cleaning. Use an ohm meter to see how much resistance you have between the screw terminal and the fuse spring. If your screw terminal block is moving spray some DeoxIT on it, twist it back and forth gently with a pair of pliers in an effort to get some of the DeoxIT to flow into the joint. Turn your fuse box upside down, placing the screw terminal block on a solid object such as a workbench vice and reset the rivet on the backside by carefully striking it with a hammer and something suitable such as a large steel punch which has a beveled pointed end on it but not so long that the point touches the recess of the rivet. Recheck the resistance between the screw terminal and the fuse spring.

[Wayne S. Johnson]

I have seen many alternator stators fail at location where the solid wire was crimp to the terminals. When terminals are crimped on stranded wire, the crimped cylinder rebounds to a larger diameter after the crimp is completed. The stranded wire expands to create a gas tight joint between the terminal and the wire. This is required to keep the air form allowing corrosion to form over time, which would compromise the electrical connection.

The junctions at the bus bar between terminals creates an opportunity for air to enter the junction and cause corrosion. The current flowing through the compromised connection causes heat, which makes the problem worse leading to a failed connection.

Removing the bus bar and the terminals to clean them is not practical. A 16 AWG wire should be soldered between the terminals after a small drill is used to clean out the hole in the rivet to accommodate the bus wire. Solder the bus wire in the hole. Make sure the solder bus wire and terminal is heated enough to flow the solder.

I have encountered this problem in the past and soldering a bus wire between the two rivet holes was a successful solution.
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