GM EFI Fuse Block Mounting - How To?

[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!

[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


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.

[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!