Adding electrical circuits: You say Blue Sea, I say Delphi/Saturn

(edited for length and ease of reading)

So the popular thing to do around here for adding electrical circuits and keeping things nice and neat seems to be buying a Blue Sea fuse block, maybe a nice marine circuit breaker, and other odds and ends. But the $40 Blue Sea only allows for 12 standard-blade fuses (meaning you now need to carry two different-sized fuses), with no room for relays or hi-amp fuses.

Wouldn't it be nice to keep everything nice and neat and together, like the stock Taco fusebox, while allowing for nearly unlimited expansion?

How about 28 mini-blade fuses (same as our Tacos), 8 hi-amp blade fuses, and 6 relays, all in a locking weatherproof fusebox that looks stock, all for only $30 (or if you go on a Half Price day, $15)?

Just go down to your local auto junkyard and pull the fusebox off a Saturn. It doesn't matter which Saturn model or year, as they are all the same dimensions, and nearly the same circuiting. Any junkyard you visit will have several.

The fusebox has 28 mini-blade fuses (same size as our Tacos), 8 hi-amp blade fuses, and 6 relay spaces for the same type of relays as our Tacos. The bottom side is composed of three Big Ass connector blocks, each held onto the box with one 7mm-head bolt; the wiring is routed out either end, which is a nice bonus for keeping things neat and orderly. The top cover is held on with one through-bolt, and is *more* weatherproof than our stock Toyota box; there are no markings indicating it belongs to any identifiable vehicle manufacturer, only that Delphi made it, and that it's the fuse block. It's perfectly rectangular, with no funky shapes or bends or slopes (well, the main positive input is an M8 lug that sticks out one end, but I see that as desirable). It fits up high right between the stock Taco fusebox and the brake reservoir. And it looks almost perfectly stock.



Pics and dimensions of the Saturn fusebox will be forthcoming.

 

So these are the preliminary pics, before any modifications or installation.
After taking these, I hacked up the mounting bracket from the donor car (not pictured). Using this will allow me to mount the box to the truck more easily.
I'm headed off to Industrial Metal Supply (in Irvine, for you SoCal folks) tomorrow to pick up some 1" U-channel. I'm pretty sure bolting U-channel to the two stock bolts holes on the DS fender well (where the clutch fluid reservoir would go), and then slipping it between the fusebox and the mounting bracket will work, along with a simple leg support coming from one of the bolts on the brake booster; I'm still not sure how I'm going to do the attachment to the fusebox- maybe construction adhesive or JB Weld, maybe thin-head bolts, not really sure.
I'll keep y'all posted on the progress.

Having now worked a bit with it, I can say this is a perfect fit for an off-road truck that may see serious vibrations. Each of the connectors on the bottom are bolted on. The top cover is bolted on. And all the electrical connectors are tighter than a virgin's ass.

Oh, and as far as prices go, yeah- ymmv. However, both of the yards I frequent had it going for $30 or $35. If you go to a self-serve yard, it shouldn't be too much. Btw- the only tools you'll need to pull it are a 10mm socket and a pair of beefy cutters.







Four layers, including the connectors, not including the cover.
This is the view looking from topside.


This is the view looking from the underside.


The "circuit board." This is what the fuses plug into, below the plastic. Note that not all the prongs have fuse holders on them -- turns out, the whole thing is wired just like a circuit board, with tracers running every which way. I tried prying it apart, but it was just too much. So now, rather than having an endlessly-customizable fusebox, I have to more-or-less use the donor car's circuitry......this is not to say I am limited, or can't tweak even that -- it's just not as limitless as I anticipated.


The underside of the above pic.


Test-fitting in the truck.

 

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You mean like the old dirty yellow ones with the diesel soot rising up from all edges? Man, that would be the most bad-ass sleeper EVER

 

They are quite comfy if you have to spend the night in one

 

While I know that they are coming :





And I am seeing prices all over the place for Saturn fuse boxes ($35 US to $145 US)

Thx

 

Looking forward to seeing the pics. I searched quickly and got the same as PhantomVirus; a wide range of prices and arrangements.

 

Damn.....my dad drives a Saturn..........

 

That's a lot of reserved space.

 

Meh. It's only three. I have no idea if I'll use them all. Just wanted to have the first few posts reserved for updates.

 

Pre-install pics are up.

 

sub'd

 

Just messin with ya... The more detailed, the better

 

Blue Sea was running a half price group buy not too long ago, that might be why you see lots of people using them.

 

Sub'd. Definitely liking this. Can't wait to see it finished.

 

I'd be curious how you plan to install standard 30 amp acc relays into that set-up

 

If by "standard" you mean the Bosch ones, I don't. The Saturn box has provisions for two different size relays, neither of them the Bosch style. I have plenty of Bosch relay sockets sitting around I'll use as needed, and over 100 Bosch relay units. I've even picked up a few Bosch relay boxes that have space for several relays, kinda like a fuse box.



Apologies for this taking longer than I thought. Been working on so many different, simultaneous projects that I'm having to pick and choose which to do first and which to save for later. Guess which has been put in the "when I get to it" pile? Hopefully I'll have something mostly finished well before Christmas.
As for now, the mounting is coming along swimmingly. Even being able to mount my winch relay under it without having to do any design changes to either.