Hey, heres a question I have been scratching my head on for sometime now. I put in a 105 amp gm one wire so now I have lots of power to abuse, my question is, how should i distribute it? I want to avoid the stock fusebox because of the 30 amp fuseable link. I'm going to run a seperate setup for my audio, what i want to know is how should i do the other stuff (cb, aux lighting, etc). Preferably i would like an extra fusebox setup instead of having 15 wires coming off my positive post on my battery going to all the goodies. Any idea on this, can I get a fusebox out of a wrecked car or would i have to go with something like what painless offers. Wiring up extra stuff doesn't bother me, i just want to get a general idea on how i should go about it.

Also, with relays, i understand the concept behind it, but how do you set these things up, also where do you buy them? Also, whats the cleanest way to mount these up, i want to try and keep everything orderly and easy to maintance (trying to avoid the clusterf*ck of wiring madness going everywhere)

Any ideas/help/suggestions would be helpful. Thanks

You can buy an add on fuse panel, at radio shack or JC whip pretty cheap.
http://www.jcwhitney.com/images/imagecache/I3326.gif

http://www.jcwhitney.com/product.jhtml?CATID=5654 (http://)

Go to your local reputable car audio shop they geneerally will have everything you want Go with bosch relays very dipendible
they will also have veery nice fuse block set ups

octopus wiring, blech! i hear ya :D
what i did was run a fairly big wire (10 gauge) with an inline 30 amp fuse directly from the + terminal on batt. through the little rubber grommet that the hood release latch goes through.
this wire goes into one of those black plastic boxes you buy at Radio Shack to mount electronics etc. in. these are cool and cheap, and have lids and everything.
this i mounted on the firewall tucked up high out of site and out of mind to the left of the ecu location.
inside the box, i put a power bar made by Cole Hersey (sp?) i got at Lordco (Napa-ish place) that has two threaded stubs ( +/- ) and 4 inline fuse-power juntions.
this way i only have one wire coming in from the battery, and up to 4 "hot" hookups if i want, in a nice non-conductive water proof box in the cab.
easy access for me to add stuff later, i'm only using two of the four availabe terminals (for alarm and stereo)

Just don't do what I did a while back. When I did my VW swap I did a bunch of new wiring, and used mostly crimp connections with the eletrical grease in them. And I picked up a fuse box from the local autoparts store. (I think it has about 8 fuses in it.)

I mounted the fuse block to the engine side of the firewall, near the battery. Well that fuse block was a nightmare. It quickily started causing problems, and and when you have eletric fans wired through the thing, this is not good! Spend a couple more bucks and get a GOOD fuse block.

Then the few connections that I failed to add grease to started acting up also. Arghh.. You have to love it when your fuel pump starts cutting out. Later some of the crimps that saw a fair amount of moisture also started to die even though they were well protected with tape and grease. I'll avoid crimps in the future. Nothing but solder and heatshrink now.

My friend used the same damn fuse block I did, and had the same problems. He also used some crimps, and they also failed, but he goes to Pismo a bit more then me. He used a Sidekick fuse block when he did his 16 valve swap. That sucker works great!

Use a fusable link to any fuse blocks you drop in. This is basically a wire a bit smaller then the main feed wire. It is designed to fail before you have a wire fire. Trust me, I once had a wire fire in a friends vehicle.. They are not fun! Unless you can get the battery disconnected fast, all you can do is watch you vehicle slowly melt away.. What a mess! Killed an engine harness, the stereo, and amps.. Basically anything that touched the wire that was melting down.

-Wayne

A little info on relays.
A relay is basically a remote controled switch. the most common and dependable relay is the Bosch unit. It is accepted as the standard automotive relay by ISO (intrnational standards orginazation) The pins on the relay are marked, and here is how to wire one.

pin30: high amp power in
pin 87: high amp power out, relay activated
pin87a: high amp power out, relay inactive (will be hot when the relay is shut off)
pin85: activating circut power in ( power to this pin turns the relay on)
pin86: activation circut ground.

when power and ground are applied to pins 85 and 86 respectively, the high current circut at pin 87 is switched on.

For critical circuts (my ARB's, EFI) I use circut breakers for circut protection. If they blow, they will reset, and can be reused. Fuses and fusable links need to replaced (carry spares)
This came in handy not too long ago. I was inthe middle of Claw Hammer one night and developed a short in one of my rock lights, wich is on the same circut as my ARBs. No lockers in the middle of the night, in the middle of the Hammers. All I did was let the circut breaker cool and reset, and l had lockers again (but no rock lights)

hope this helps

head down to the pick yer part. there is a very useful six-terminal distribution block bolted to the firewall of every 88+ Chev/GMC truck........ it will have a load of fusible links bolted down to it.
It is beefy enough to soak up a 100 amp alt no problem.

will a inline fuse work as well as a fuseable link. I like the idea of changing a fuse over having to put another wire in.

Originally posted by dychen
will a inline fuse work as well as a fuseable link. I like the idea of changing a fuse over having to put another wire in.

Yes, as long as the fuse has a high enough rating. most common sizes are limited to 30amps, although I have seen as high as 180amp.
Personally, I don't like fusable links for the very reason you stated. Most new cars use fuses instead of fusable links anymore.

Here is a simple fuse block that Autozone carries. I've been using them for several years with no problems. I do crimp then solder the wires.

Inline fuses are mostly JUNK. I would not count on them. Unless you find some water tight version, most of the cheap aftermarket type trap moisture bad and the terminals corode. I'd use a circuit breaker. They handle 30A and up, mount it close to the battery. Remember, fuses and CBs are designed to protect the wiring not what you connect to it. Size the wires based off you breaker!

I like the Spidertrax add-in fuse boxes:

http://www.spidertrax.com/accessories_pnl.htm

Very clean.