TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Dec 26, 2003 12:08 am

my recently aquired oval has some of the nastiest fuse boxes and terminals etc. hows the best way to clean these and make them look new short of glass beading them?

Fri Dec 26, 2003 12:36 am

A trick that works for me on just about everything is a trip through the dish washer (without the dishes if you value your marriage). Be sure to turn off the drying heater if you can, many things will melt! Follow that up with a pencil eraser on the contacts.

If you don't want to do that, a good cleaning with 409 and a stiff brush will probably work wonders. Soaking overnight in 409 will even take off most paints without harming the plastic. I had one that the entire dash, including knobs, was spray painted. Soaked all the painted parts overnight and the paint just washed right off.

Fri Dec 26, 2003 7:35 am

I recently cleaned up a fuse box with soap & water.

Then I used my Dremel tool at low speed to polish all the contacts. It looks nice & shiny.

Sun Dec 28, 2003 10:18 pm

Dishwasher is a Great Thing :D :D :D :D

Once you get the Majority of the Junk off "How ever you do it"

Use some Q-Tips and Brasso will remove the oxidation from the contacts

Sun Mar 16, 2025 3:13 pm

I'm resurrecting an ancient thread that I ran into by accident. I recently needed to refresh my fuse blocks when I did an LED conversion in my '60.

After disconnecting the wires, I removed the blocks, which were pretty rough.

The screws went into muriatic acid, and the fuse block I scrubbed at the sink under warm running water with Dawn and a plastic dish brush (in the garage sink to avoid a divorce).

I blew the blocks dry with compressed air and the cut a long, pointed strip of cardboard, which I used like a paintbrush to coat the terminals inside and out with muriatic acid. I also used the acid on the backside of the blocks where there is visible brass. Then, wash and dry everything again and reassemble.

Much improved function and appearance.

Mon Mar 17, 2025 12:05 pm

You will need to solder up the riveted connections in the fuse box and use a dielectric grease.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=483901&highlight=fuse+box+soldering