GM EFI Fuse Block Mounting - How To?

[sjaroslo]

I know that there are a lot of you out there that are running GM EFI/computers. I'm pretty well locked in as to WHERE the EFI wiring harness fuse block will be located (in the engine bay between the passenger wheel well and radiator support) but I'm really unclear on HOW to secure it in place. It seems like the case is made to slide/snap in to maybe a sheet metal bracket of some type, but I've never seen anyone offer anything for us aftermarket guys.... Ironworks offers something, which I have, but it's pretty heavy duty for what I'm doing and I think would need some welding anyway, which counts me out. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Is this fuse panel used by any of the OEM applications whose mounting might be able to be purloined? I'm open and anxious to hear your thoughts. Thank you very much.

[andrewb70]

Steve,

What computer do you have?

Andrew

[Schwartz Performance]

The simplest way we've done it is bend a piece of flat stock aluminum around the computer (foam or rubber in between) and fasten to a flat steel plate, with rivet nuts installed into it. Then you can figure out how to fasten the plate.. Weld it somewhere, make a bracket off the firewall for it, etc.
the factory ones are ok but it's all plastic stuff designed to fit into more plastic stuff!! Lol

-Dale

[sjaroslo]

Thanks, Dale, I appreciate the guidance but most of the things that you are suggesting are beyond my skills and involve materials and tools that I don't have access to.... Andrew, I don't know what computer I have, but I have a picture of it, but it is the fuse block that I'm trying to mount, the computer is already tucked up under the fender.

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Like I said, I have this Ironworks bracket, but it really isn't quite set up to work as a standalone and I think it still would require some welding... But maybe this is my best starting point?

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[andrewb70]

Steve,

That is an E67 ECU. Looks like you are using the GMPP ECU and harness kit. Here are some cool stands that you can use for any number of things, including mounting the ECU:

http://www.iimuchfabrication.com/fabrication-parts/fabboss-1024.html

Andrew

[sjaroslo]

Welding, welding, welding! Everyone with the welding! I'm not a welder, I don't own a welder, I don't know how to weld. (as my brother would say, I'm Jewish!) :-) Thanks, Andrew, I follow everything Mr. Parsons does and am familiar with his cool products, including his fuel tank vent I have installed in my project. BUT, even a bevy of Fab Bosses I don't think would help with this lump of a fuse panel. The only traditional mounting structure I can even see on the darned thing is the 1 tab which could be bolted to something, but that doesn't really offer a very secure connection. It looks like it is designed to slip in to a cutout maybe, with plastic fingers popping out to hold it in place. *Sigh*

[andrewb70]

Steve,

Mine is mounted to the firewall, using the one bolt and a slip on mount. It hasn't gone anywhere in years, but I am not crazy about how it looks on the firewall. If I had to do it lever again, I would find a place for it inside the car.

Andrew

[Schwartz Performance]

The material you can find at menards, Home Depot etc.
instead of using rivet nuts which require a tool, then just nut and bolt it together. Then make another bracket off the firewall using the same method.
All you need is a drill, vise, hack saw and a hammer. :)

-Dale

[sjaroslo]

The material you can find at menards, Home Depot etc.
instead of using rivet nuts which require a tool, then just nut and bolt it together. Then make another bracket off the firewall using the same method.
All you need is a drill, vise, hack saw and a hammer. :)

-Dale

That sounds like a lot of work, Dale. Wouldn't it be easier just to weld something up? :drive:

Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it.

[dontlifttoshift]

The fuse panel will pop out of the case. It is sort of a pain in the arse but it does come out. Now you have a plastic box that you can surface mount to anything, then snap the fuse panel back in. I have done a bunch of them that way.

[parsonsj]

The fuse panel will pop out of the case. It is sort of a pain in the arse but it does come out. Now you have a plastic box that you can surface mount to anything, then snap the fuse panel back in. I have done a bunch of them that way.Yep. That's how I do it too. It's also useful when you want to customize the wiring.

[parsonsj]

Here's an example: (sorry for the welded FabBosses, lol):

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[sjaroslo]

Yep. That's how I do it too. It's also useful when you want to customize the wiring.

OK, I guess that I hadn't looked at the case that closely, didn't realize that it can come apart. This gives me something that I can work with! Thanks, everyone, really appreciate it. Welded fab-bosses excused. :-)

[AMack]

Really like this mounting. Where does the harness route on the passengers side firewall? Can't tell from the picture. I like how it is hidden. Did you route the harness through the inside of the cabin and then out again?

[sjaroslo]

Really like this mounting. Where does the harness route on the passengers side firewall? Can't tell from the picture. I like how it is hidden. Did you route the harness through the inside of the cabin and then out again?

You might enjoy this thread https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/103144-II-Much-Fab-Shop-has-an-LS9-powered-69-Camaro-in-the-works

[parsonsj]

Did you route the harness through the inside of the cabin and then out again?No. Just down under the floor, over the frame rail, and up the wheel well. The LS9 harness is big and bulky -- it's hard to get it to do what you want. I took this one completely apart and re-positioned the wires (added some new ones, removed some others), and then convinced it to go there.

[130fe]

Steve, here are a couple of pics of how that now closed shop in Orlando did it for me. The fuse panel and PCM are mounted where the original battery used to be (now in trunk). The fuse panel is mounted on 90 degree piece of sheet metal. The pcm is mounted just behind it in the area where inner fender and outer fender transition close to each other. I thought I had taken a picture of the bracket before I reinstalled it (I added a reverse lockout wire from the PCM). The two bolts that face up (center of picture) secure the bracket to the inner fender. The PCM bracket is bent at a approx 45 degree angle. The 4 bolts (that face down) secure the pcm to the bracket. Everything seems to be secure and I like that everything is hidden out of sight. If I ever have to take the pcm out, it will take me a while but that's ok.

[parsonsj]

Good stuff there... just think through maintenance and trouble shooting. I'm not much of a fan of hidden wiring. I prefer to find ways to make the wiring look good in plain sight.

[sjaroslo]

Hey, Chris, thanks a lot for the pix! I was able to put my PCM up under the fender in the exact same spot, I used a Rally Sport headlight relay bracket and drilled a couple of new holes in it (and a couple of new holes in the fender lip, including 1 in the wrong place :-() I'm just planning to put a short bolt in that one and tell people that it took 3 bolts to hold the bracket in place :-) If I'm understanding the picture of the fuse panel, there is an "L" shaped piece of black-painted sheet metal that is bolted to the car by the two shiny bolts in the lower-middle part of the picture (one is behind the light-blue wire)? And by the looks of things, "They Who Shall Not Be Named" used the "take the fuse panel out of the plastic box and bolt the box to the bracket" approach? That's also pretty much right where my panel will be going, too, so that really helps a lot. I'm just trying to get a feel for how to pop the fuse panel out of the plastic box, and how much of a PITA it might be.

[sjaroslo]

Good stuff there... just think through maintenance and trouble shooting. I'm not much of a fan of hidden wiring. I prefer to find ways to make the wiring look good in plain sight.

You are a better man than me. At this point, it is "That seems good enough" getting said in my garage a LOT.... I hope that's why you are a professional and I am a garage hack :-)

Between the heater hoses, the A/C lines, and the EFI harness all kind of running loosey-goosey up under the passenger side fender, I hope that I never have an encounter with an immovable object on that side (not that any encounter is going to be a good experience). I am too much of a wimp to take the fender off and try to do it nice.

[130fe]

There is a local guy here that just installed the same setup. He mounted the fuse panel the same way but mounted the PCM on the inner fender. This way is much easier to get to but it depends on how much you want to see the wiring/PCM. I have a DSE closeout panel so it is all out of site anyway. The only thing I don't like is I wish the GMPP harness was about a foot longer. I don't like the way the harnesses go across from the engine area to the inner fender but not everything can be perfect LOL

[andrewb70]

Good stuff there... just think through maintenance and trouble shooting. I'm not much of a fan of hidden wiring. I prefer to find ways to make the wiring look good in plain sight.

Another reason to have the fuse panel easily accessible is that I use it as a simple passive theft reduction. It won't stop professionals, but if an amateur gets in the car and somehow manages to "jump" the ignition, there is no chance of anything working because I pull several of those main relays from the panel.

Andrew

[sjaroslo]

There is a local guy here that just installed the same setup. He mounted the fuse panel the same way but mounted the PCM on the inner fender. This way is much easier to get to but it depends on how much you want to see the wiring/PCM. I have a DSE closeout panel so it is all out of site anyway. The only thing I don't like is I wish the GMPP harness was about a foot longer. I don't like the way the harnesses go across from the engine area to the inner fender but not everything can be perfect LOL

Yup, an extra foot would have made this much nicer!

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[sjaroslo]

There must be something cursed about John's 69 Build thread--whenever I tried to look at it on my iPhone with the Pro-Touring app, it would kill the app. Now that I linked it to this thread, it does the same thing! Mildly frustrating :-)

[79loserbluebu]

The fuse block looks to be the same one that Painless uses in their full body LS swap kits, as well an from an Astro van. If so, there are tabs that you can pry and it will separate the bottom from the top halves. I ended up drilling 4 holes in the back and bolting it to the firewall. On a 79' Malibu the fuse block is under the dash on the driver side, so I bolted it to the firewall just like the factory had the original one.

Note, be carefull when bolting down, as the plastic is rather thin and will distort and the cover may not latch in correctly

[sjaroslo]

For anyone interested in trying this, it was really pretty easy to do. Although you can't read it at all in the photo, next to this little slot is says "Lock Release" and "4 plcs." So there are 4 little slots like this around the perimeter and it pops the fuse panel out of the plastic box
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I bent up a light gauge piece of sheet metal I had lying around but I'll have the shop that has done some work for me bend up a 16 gauge or thicker piece for the real bracket.
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[130fe]

Looks good Steve! I wished I would have know about those a few months ago when I was considering moving the PCM and fuse box out further not hidden like they are now. The left side would come loose but not the right side. Good info for the future though!

[sjaroslo]

Thanks to Chris/130fe for the visual reference. I had the local machine shop that drills and welds things for me bend up a piece of 16 gauge sheet metal and I drilled it and painted it today; I'm very happy to be able to check this one off of my list!
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