Upgraded Fuse Panel

My dad cut out a fuse panel from an unknown vehicle and I wired it into my Mustang in order to do away with the older style fuse box. 

1965-1966 Mustang Stock Fuse Panel

As you can see from the picture above, the metal connections can become corroded over time which will prevent a good connection on both ends of the fuse. I was running into this problem with the instrument light fuse and was quite done. Here is a picture of the back of the fuse block as provided by Veronica of the blog mentioned in the paragraph below.

1965-1966 Mustang Fuse Panel (back)

 

If you haven't noticed the link at the bottom of my page for a blog titled "The Proper Care and Feeding of Ponies" you need to check it out. Veronica posts a lot of very valuable information that will help you with most any project you have regarding your early model Mustang. For example, I used her post about the fuse block to better understand which wires did what. You can read the post HERE.

Before I cut any wires I made sure to study the existing fuse block as well as the newer model fuse block to map out where I wanted to put each wire. The newer fuse block was made up of multiple heavier (10-8 gauge) wires that fed 2, 3 or 4 smaller wires. It was like having multiple fuse blocks built into one So far I've only used five of the twenty positions, but its good to know that I have room to expand should I need/want to. I put a piece of blue painters tape on each wire near the fuse block and used a black marker to write what the wire was for and the color scheme of the original wire. I tried to keep the wire colors similar, but I only had so many wire colors (red, black, white, green). Here is the finished product installed on the firewall behind the fresh air vent between the driver's kick panel and the parking brake:

Upgraded Fuse Panel1 on 966 Mustang Firewall

Like I mentioned, there were twenty spots to run wires, but I only used five and this is where I used them:

1. Constant Hot- Cigarette Lighter/Emergency Flashers
2. Constant Hot- Dome Light (interior light since there is no dome light)
3.  Open
4.  Open
5.  Open
6.  Open
7. Instrument lights (Triggered by power from the headlight switch)
8.  Open
9.  Open
10.  Open
11.  Open
12.  Open
13.  Open
14.  Open
15.  Open
16.  Open
17.  Open
18. Switched Hot- Heater Box
19. Switched Hot- Accessories
20.  Open

I also tried to snap a picture of the keyed-hot fuse panel that I wired up and put under the dash by the center console. I wrote a post about it's install last week, but to refresh your memory, I used a five blade standard automotive relay which pulled power from the positive side of the starter solenoid and was triggered by the ignition switch to feed multiple other items. So far I have the tachometer, volt gauge, electronic choke, electric fan override, and one other thing running off of it.

Keyed Hot Fuse Panel '66 Mustang

My dad was kind enough to make a pit stop on his way home from work and pick up a bolt that would work as a stud in the back of the corral on the grill. He was able to cut it to fit and then installed the horse so it looked a little more like a Mustang.