An old subject, I know but I have changed my fusebox on my 1973 V8 Auto at the weekend following a serious but progressive meltdown of the box at the position of the inner main beam fuse.
Not quite sure what has caused this, but I pushed the connectors out using a thin bladed screwdriver to flatten the molding latch on each whilst carefully labelled each wire using a 1-48 numbering system. I needed to replace 2 of the connectors as it was not possible to extract them due to the plastic melting around them and 'glueing' them in place. This was achieved by taking some of the spare uncrimped connectors from the melted fusebox, cutting the 2 wires off and crimping them using tool MP71 available for around £8.55 + VAT from Vehicle Wiring Products. This is an excellent tool which with practice gives high quality crimps.
Before I installed a good (non-melted) 2nd hand fusebox, I did the following:
(1) Highly polished all off the connector faces (where they meet the fuse) with fine wet and dry and finished with a sparing application of Autosol metal polish. This was carried out on both the static connectors in the new fusebox and also the ones fixed to the car.
(2) Lifted the flattened barbs on the connectors very gently with the thin bladed screwdriver to enable them to engage with the new fusebox.
(3) Invested in a set of brand new and shiny fuses.
(4) Once all the connectors were inserted in the new fusebox but before fitting the new fuses, with a pair of long nosed pliers I pinched the connector faces together to ensure they gripped the fuse nice and tightly (a loose fuse creates a high resistance, heat and a melted fusebox).
I have not tried it out yet, but will power up with the car stationary (with main beams and fan on) and monitor the fuseboard closely to see if it gets hot......
If it starts to melt again after all this work I will either bypass main beam and use an in-line fuse or replace the whole fusebox with a more modern type (Vehicle Wiring Products sell a 12 way box with Lucar Connections on the Input/Output).
Watch this space....
??? ??? ???