FUSEBOXES

THE DAY MY SAAB (almost) CAUGHT FIRE
One day, returning to the parking space after an hour of lunch with the lads, I noticed that the park lights of my Saab 99 were…ON.?!? My park lights can only be on if the "park lights" switch is on, or if the ignition is on. I could not recall having left the light switch in "park"-position, and the keys were in my hand. As I entered the car, I discovered that the ignition was on. The ign. and oil-lamps were glowing, the heater-fan was blowing, and the radio was delivering the news. But I still had the bloody keys in my hand!

I quickly pulled the bonnet release, and ran for the fusebox! Then I removed the "ignition-supply" relay, and burned my fingers in the process. The plastic around terminal 87 had started to melt, and it smelled like sh#t!
I waited until the fusebox had cooled off, so the terminal wouldn't be pushed in when I borrowed the rear demist relay and inserted it in the faulty relay's place. Two thoughts crossed my mind: -What if the car was to be left alone for more than one hour? And,
"-boy, it looks like I'm gonna have to replace that fusebox one day…" More work! Exactly what I needed!

That day I installed brand new relays in the whole fusebox. Twenty-something year old relays might not be very reliable, even if they are Bosch and Hella.

MODIFYING THE FUSEBOX (m74-m87)
There are two things that motivated me to modify the fusebox:
1. I've (almost) had a fire in it. (see previous chapter)
2. The fuses are of the old ceramic type. They're unreliable, they corrode easily, and the spring-loaded clamp sometimes looses its tension.

One cold day (-14C) I left the car idling outside the petrol station with the heater fan on full blow. As I returned five minutes later I noticed two things:
-It was very quiet inside the car.
-It was very cold inside the car.

The fuse was probably corroded, causting it to heat up until it blew. The clear plastic lid had started to melt above it, and the spring-loaded clamp had lost its tension. Reeealy amusing!

SOURCING PARTS
As always, improving a construction or a detail is a matter of poking around in other cars for suitable components. This time I needed look no further than Saab's own 900. The m85-on 900 has a fusebox well suited for this conversion. It has the right "FLAT-SPADE" fuses, well stacked together. One small drawback though, it's only got ONE terminal each fuse-end, as opposed to the 99-type's TWO at the output end. And also, none of the 900's input terminals are bridged together. This calls for extensive use of BRIDGES, found in Volvo 240's. The 900 fusebox uses special wireshoes. Hella part no. B 46473 FL.

-Find an m85-or-newer 900. Take out the fusebox. Remove all wires and terminals from it.
Referre to chapter "building WIRESHOES" for removal procedure.
-Using an angle grinder, a hacksaw or whatever, cut out the suited row of fuseholders. (no.1-13)
-Fine trim excessive plastic with a mini cutter (Minicraft? :-), or a sharp knife and loads of patiense.

Mark	Cut	Trim	The wireshoes

STRIPPING THE 99.
--Disconnect the battery. (Listen carefully, this I shall say only once...)
--Undo the two screws holding the rail of fuses to the rest of the fusebox.
--Unplug one terminal at a time, and label it properly before you unplug the next one.
--Undo the four screws holding the fusebox.
--Continue unplugging terminals, and labelling them.
--Remove the fuserail and take it to the workbench.

TO BE VERY MUCH CONTINUED...