Need opinions/advice

[DodgeGuy]

Quick background:  Dealing with a charging system that was not chargin the battery led me to replacing a lot of the forward wiring on my Challenger.

1. The engine harness.
2. The forward light harness.


3. The dash harness.

However, herein lies the situation.  When I ordered the "plug and play" dash harness from M&H Wiring off of YearOne, I mistakenly thought it came with a modern fuse box with the modern plastic fuses.

Well, it just arrived today, and to my "disappointment" it has the OEM old-style fusebox with the old glass fuses.

Now, don't get me wrong, I want the new wiring, and I also want the new bulkhead connectors, all the new plugs, etc, but the modern fusebox was a big selling point to me.

So..I'm wondering what my next step should be.  I see YearOne sells a "Painless Performance Products 12-circuit universal fuse block."

/0/]https://www.yearone.com/Product/challenger-cuda/pl30001#prettyPhoto[part]/0/

"This O.E.M.-style prewired fuse block from Painless Wiring is designed to replace your existing fuse block or as an excellent starting point for custom wiring. "

Given the description of "replacing an existing fuse block" I'm wondering if it's just a matter of disconnecting the connectors in the fusebox on the new dash harness and plugging them into the new modernized fuse block in the appropriate spots?

Or I'm wondering if I can order the exact same wiring harness from YearOne with the modern fusebox instead? (understanding it's probably not stocked and will need to be made, and would take some time)


Also, is it really THAT important to modernize the fusebox at all if I'm replacing pretty much all the wiring AND am doing the ammeter bypass, running the 10 gauge wire from the alternator to the starter relay, etc.


Opinions and thoughts?

[jimynick]

If you're adamant that you'll change the wiring, then I'd contact the players- M&H and Year One and ask them your questions, but if you go the alteration route as you described and if the rest of the wiring is in good nick, then why bother? Just my 

[DodgeGuy]

If you're adamant that you'll change the wiring, then I'd contact the players- M&H and Year One and ask them your questions, but if you go the alteration route as you described and if the rest of the wiring is in good nick, then why bother? Just my 

I think what I'm wondering the most is people's opinion on a modern fuse box with the plastic fuses vs. a new "old style" fuse box.

If it's really that big of a deal.

[1 Wild R/T]

Modern fuses are definitely an upgrade, but going to a hotrod style harness means you need to find a clean way to deal with the hole for the bulkhead connector... And a way for all the wiring to safely pass through the firewall.... 

[RUNCHARGER]

Personal choice I suppose. The old style fuses are no problem for me.

[Jim AAR]

Personal choice I suppose. The old style fuses are no problem for me.

A fuse is a fuse whether it's plastic with a filament or glass with a filament. They both do the same job, blow when they need to. The gain from replacing an old Fuse Block with a new Fuse Block really has nothing to do with the Fuses, it's the new connections that are not almost 50 years old and not corroded or melted.

Just because it's new technology doesn't mean it's better technology.

A lot of the Old Tech in food processing plants, or old factories can be replaced with New Tech and end up not being as efficient or trustworthy as the original Old Tech.

Somethings just can't be improved upon and if they are the gains are for the most part minimal at best. 

[Rich G.]

If it ain't broke don't fix it! If your keeping it basically stock and replacing the stock wiring harnesses I wouldn't do an upgrade. It worked good for 40+ Years so why change? I've left it stock for all my cars and hove no problems.

[GoodysGotaCuda]

Going to an aftermarket harness is clearly a whole different can of worms. The fuse style should really be a non-issue, to me. Once it's setup and working well, you hardly ever pay attention to the fuses. I have a "modern" fuse box, but I haven't seen it in two months.

If the car is electrically getting further and further away from stock, it can be easy to justify an aftermarket harness. If it's electrical content is primarily stock, a replacement harness is the way to go.

[1 Wild R/T]

The advantage of blade style fuses is they don't typically suffer from corrosion the way glass fuses do... I've been under dashes spinning old glass fuses to try to get lights working again enough times that I see value in the blade style.... That said if the car is close to stock I agree a replacement harness is the better choice..

[DodgeGuy]

Thanks guys!!

I think I'm going to check with Year One tomorrow (didn't have time to call from work today) about the possibility of the modern fuse box, but ultimately I think I'm just going to install the new dash harness with the new "old style" fuse box.

Honestly, this car is pretty much going to remain stock.  The only thing I'm going to put into it that's not on it now is a nice stereo system, but nothing too extravagant that would be an energy drain.

[Rich G.]

Evens wire makes all the harness's except the dash harness if you need any. Good stuff

[1 Wild R/T]

Evens wire makes all the harness's except the dash harness if you need any. Good stuff

Glad you like their stuff... Personally I've used them four times... Three harnesses were bad....

[DodgeGuy]

Evens wire makes all the harness's except the dash harness if you need any. Good stuff

Glad you like their stuff... Personally I've used them four times... Three harnesses were bad....

I did a lot of research before I pulled the trigger on the harnesses from M&H.  The Evans' wiring had a lot of good reviews, but it had a number of bad reviews too.

I can't remember finding even one negative review on the M&H stuff.  I'm sure somewhere along the line they've had some bad products, but they seem to have quite a few people who have really liked their stuff.

[RUNCHARGER]

Wow: Makes you wonder what is so tricky about a harness that they screw them up? Incorrect crimping? Wrong locations?

[Chryco Psycho]

What I have heard is that the wires may not be positioned correctly in the connectors causing issues , so you have to double check the wiring positions before plugging them in , just attn to detail with different years or models .
I have never had an issue with Evans wiring personally