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Relay Terminals for new fuse block

12K views 17 replies 7 participants last post by  rip-tide 
#1 ·
Hi,

I'm making a new fuse block for my LT1 harness -- the integrated harness is in an inconvenient spot, and i'm going to relocate it to the firewall.

In doing this, I have purchased some Relay sockets for the 5 relays my car uses (starter, fuel pump, air conditioning, fan 1 and fan 2). However, I am not sure what type of female terminals I need to purchase -- I found one on Mouser which fits the spec, but I feel like they have to exist elsewhere, in different sizes:

42238-2 TE Connectivity / AMP | Mouser

These are the relay terminals that I am using:

SOCKET FOR AUTOMOTIVE RELAY | AllElectronics.com

I'm using this in conjunction with 2 Dorman Fuse blocks, which slide together:

Dorman Universal Fuse Blocks 85668 - SummitRacing.com

I also have two Maxi blade fuses for my fans:

Pico 0969PT 60 AMP In-Line Maxi Fuse Holder with Dust Cap 8 AWG : Amazon.com : Automotive

Can anyone help me find the terminals for my relays? Maybe someone has a source which they have used in the past?

Thanks!
 
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#3 ·
The relay socket you have a link to already has terminals in them and a short pigtail. I don't like to use them because it has to be spliced in and that's just one more connection to possibly fail. Use the terminals Joe G recommended from Waytek and their 75280 connector, it makes a nice clean installation with no splices.
 
#4 ·
Yeah, I popped all the leads out because they weren't up to proper gauge. Right now I have an empty socket which i have to add new female terminals to. I'm also looking to build a little box to store the whole unit in. There were some boxes i thought would work at All electronics, but none are tall enough to hold the socket and the relay. I need about 4 inches of space.

I did snag a full fuse block from a 90's camaro -- strangely it didn't include provisions for the MAXI Blade fuses, like the Impala SS integrated block had (that block, currently in my un-molested harness has smaller fuses for the fans and larger MAXI fuses.) I guess I'll have to pick up a couple seperate fuses for that.

Any other tips, let me have em! Thanks so far!
 
#5 ·

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#6 ·
dammit, that Fuse Box looks perfect. Since I already bought the camaro one, will I have a problem with not running the large Blade fuses with it? or should i get 2 MAXI holders and the corresponding fuses for the fans? i don't get why the circuit is protected twice, but GM usually has a reason. Perhaps one is for post-relay operation, and the other is the signal wire from the PCM?

Part of the idea of this project was to shrink the size of the fuse box too -- I guess 5 relays will be the size of 5 relays no matter where they are put. Perhaps i could just relocate the fuse box that's integrated into the harness:

http://www.lt1swap.com/pictures/fuse_block_800.jpg

Thats what the fuse box that I have now looks like. It's actually a good size, its just that since it's integrated into the harness, i can't move it around. Ideally I'd like to put it up against the firewall. The fella on this site shrank the fuse block down:

http://www.lt1swap.com/pictures/1995 B-Body LT1 -AC -EMISSIONS STANALONE_ZOOM.jpg

although he leaves off 3 important relays that I would like to retain in the same block (just to further clean up the bay... right now I have the starter relay mounted on its own on the firewall.)
 
#7 ·
dammit, that Fuse Box looks perfect. Since I already bought the camaro one, will I have a problem with not running the large Blade fuses with it? or should i get 2 MAXI holders and the corresponding fuses for the fans? i don't get why the circuit is protected twice, but GM usually has a reason. Perhaps one is for post-relay operation, and the other is the signal wire from the PCM?

Part of the idea of this project was to shrink the size of the fuse box too -- I guess 5 relays will be the size of 5 relays no matter where they are put. Perhaps i could just relocate the fuse box that's integrated into the harness:

http://www.lt1swap.com/pictures/fuse_block_800.jpg

Thats what the fuse box that I have now looks like. It's actually a good size, its just that since it's integrated into the harness, i can't move it around. Ideally I'd like to put it up against the firewall. The fella on this site shrank the fuse block down:

http://www.lt1swap.com/pictures/1995%20B-Body%20LT1%20-AC%20-EMISSIONS%20STANALONE_ZOOM.jpg

although he leaves off 3 important relays that I would like to retain in the same block (just to further clean up the bay... right now I have the starter relay mounted on its own on the firewall.)
 
#8 ·
Not sure on why you need the Maxi-fuse or if we're not talking about the same type fuse. To me the mxai fuse is a rather large fuse that looks just like normal two bladed fuse, then there's the really small, newer style two bladed fuse. They all look the same, just the size is diff. Then the slow-blow fuses that look square.

I have transplanted twin 90's-ish Camaro fans into my project and run a single, normal 30 amp, two bladed fuse along with a relay....... haven't had any issues
 
#9 · (Edited)
It's weird that the fuse block has both the smaller type blade fuses and the larger types (the stock Camaro block). You can see here:

http://www.lt1swap.com/pictures/fuse_block_800.jpg

See the larger type fuses above the relays, and the smaller type adjacent to them? The larger type fuses are part of the fan circuits, yet there are also smaller fan fuses as well:

http://www.lt1swap.com/pictures/fuse_block_sticker_1024.jpg

The camaro fuse block that I picked up at the junkyard looks like this:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/24984984/IMG_1729.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/24984984/IMG_1735.jpg

Note on the diagram, there is only provisions for 1 fuse which is 10amp, versus on the other fuse block (the one i currently have) there are twin 40 amp fuses in addition to the 10amp fuse which are part of the fan circuit.

What do you think could be the difference? And why would they not have the 40 amp fuse for the fans on the camaro block?

I'm thinking right now about just extending the wires from the existing fuse block that I have and relocating the box, but it kinda defeats the purpose of having a nice small compact fuse junction.
 
#10 ·
Not for sure 10 amp..... but IMO, I guess it was to protect the relay and not the fan motor and on your current setup 40 amps are to protect the fans etc...... as long as you replace the 10 amp with the smaller sized 40 amp you should be good. In addition to replacing the fuse you need to make sure the wire on the back side of the old 10 amp, is of the correct gauge wire to handle the new 40 amp load...... which sounds like that was your plan etc......

At the end of the day..... as long as you protect the fans with the correct size fuse and wire........ it really doesn't matter where the power comes from. In my project I used the painless wire kit..... it had a smaller, don't remember the size, fuse with smaller gauge wire to controll the dual fans...... I took the fuse block apart and replaced the smaller wire and terminal with a 10 gauge wire and 30 amp fuse, then from the engine side of the bulkhead fuse block connector I ran 10 gauge to my fan relay etc...... I used that combo for a year or so ....... and decided to replace dash cluster with a Dakota Digital VHX system and with the new cluster I got temp gauges in the speedo and went with DD fan controller. The new controller took all the guess work out of turning the fans On/Off, I used my existing power circuit for the fans and use the new controller to controll the relays. Works super trick.
 
#11 ·
turns out in camaros, they didn't use fuses, they used fuseable links. GM kinda cheaped out on the camaro it seems! I guess i'll just pick up 2 maxi fuse holders and find a way to mount them to my new provisional fuse block. Or conversely, I'll just reposition my fuseblock somewhere else. I think i'll be able to shorten it OK.
 
#16 ·
Terminals

As stated earlier I don't like to use the pigtail that comes with a relay because it generates another splice so I too use spade connectors. I get the spade connectors locally which come with a blue or red plastic sleeve. I remove the sleeve, insert the wire and crimp. With the sleeve removed it's easy to see how good the crimp grips the wire. Add shrink tubing and done. To make things neat and logical I group all the relays on one board and label them.
 

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#17 ·
The terminals I get have a little tang on the one side, which locks the female terminal in place on the Jeep fuse block. I don't know if they'll fit in the after market socket..... but take the socket down to NAPA and try it out.....or buy a few from ebay..... really not that expensive.
 
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