wiring, fuse box, lights, wiper

Look at UK sites such as I believe raw power for fuseboxes and relay holders.

My vehicle is from 1965 - the days of heavy dash switches for lights, wipers etc and no alternator to battery fuse. The only relays were for the horn, and the starter motor. The latter was handy - they kept it despite changing from the older direct-powered Bendix spring starter to the newer typical solenoid actuated "throw-out" starter. But it can be manually closed like many English starter relays could be. That's very handy for engine tuning, getting out of bogs etc. Despite good headlights for the time (4 round tungstens), I converted all (my 1960's vehicles) to halogen with - of course - relays. The typical 25A externally regulated alternators (or generator LOL!) are now modern (1980s/1990s) all-in-one alternator/regulators typically of 75-120A. I decided too that the original four 3AG glass fuses weren't ideal(!!) although 3 are still in use; the 4th being the 30A for the lighting having long ago lost clip tension from heat despite its load dropping to mere parkers and cabin and 4 relays coils (the headlights being moved to separate cables, fuses & relays). The only change from my early competitive rally days is the modern alternator. (Replace older externally-regulated types if you can.) Probably my biggest PITA was battery terminals. I run several loads with dedicated cables from the battery - eg, HU/audio, "ignition" relay (for dash voltmeter and a few other things), and optional 2nd battery. I was cursing a few years ago after finally finding great & cheap "satin finish" terminals with extra cable takeoffs only to soon afterwards change my "master fusing" technique. Actually I didn't have master-fuses at that stage - aka fuse-links or flinks - but it had been a long desirable feature. (Besides, the OEM fuse box above the firewall was diagonally opposite the front mounted battery - relatively a long distance and easy for a short to occur - not that I've ever had one.) I now use a 3 flink box that mounts directly onto the +ve battery terminal. They are/were used in many Toyotas though I used one from a Hyundai (I think) because its centre flink could be independent of the common +12V battery supply, and all flinks were pluggable & not bolted. (I wired that between the alternator and headlight relays. In ye old days at least, headlight power was taken from the alternator for that bit of extra voltage.) I did rewire it recently. The headlights are now taken direct from the battery +12V as is the audio and aux battery. The 3-flink box still has the "master" flink for the rest of the vehicle and the other 2are in parallel between the batt +12V & the alternaor. Yes, I avoid parallel fuses, but in this flink box all flinks are pluggable (unlike some like Toyota where the centre flink is bolted) and despite pluggables being available up to 80A, I limit them to 40A s a result of a melting experience. So I use 2 flinks because IMO 40A isn't sufficient for the alternator, and another in parallel halves the resistance, and in my case suites the 2-cables from the alternator.    And not that I believe in alternator to battery fusing per se, but until it causes an issue, I'll do what the moderns do. (That fuse is only to protect the cable (and battery) from an alternator-end cable short, but I never had problem with mere physical security.) FYI - the headlights come thru another 2-flink box with bolted flinks (50A or 60A or 100A?) one each for high and low beams (or was it left & right?). They feed the individually fused low & high beams. I reduced to 3 headlight relays as part of the recent rewire, but intend to return to one relay per filament (6 relays) - it's much easier for aiming purposes, and it overcomes the dilemma of whether to "master fuse" the headlights into left & right, or high and low. (Left & right being the more modern.)    One BIG change is that my headlight fuses are now all self-resetting circuit breakers. It's not that important now with individual fuses & relays, but how insane that originally ALL the lighting went thru a singe fuse - shortcircuit a taillight and you lose all headlights. And everyone knows that only happens in excess of 160kmh around dark tight bends. BTW - those headlight flinks are purposely rated MUCH higher than the downstream loads & breakers. They should never fuse (open) and are only there in case of a bad wiring failure - ie a short to chassis before the relays. But even if that happens, I still have the other lighting circuit. Sorry for the ramble, but you mentioned rallycross! And I was intending sample pics of the 3-flink box etc. (If you're still interested....) BTW - I like the plastic flinks. Old wire flinks are stupid (too thinks that's the was I was going to go!) And I never likes Maxis though I recently got some for free from some French car at a wreckers including some self-resetting breakers Maxi breakers (60A). But I still don't like them. I prefer common blade/spade types like ATS and the plastic flinks. In fact I recently decided to go micro-ATS with micro-ISO relays in the future.

quality post,oldspark! now I have a clear idea about what i need to do, if I will have some question regarding alternator or starter motor wiring I will post here. I'm gonna try to keep you guys updated with everything! last thing

howie ll wrote: Fusebox rule, not to exceed 12" (30cm) from the battery

why is that? I know that some cars have the battery in the boot,so thats more than 12" from the fuse box. Cheers!

Ah - but that boot battery MUST - or should I say shall (with its Aussie legal meaning) - have its own fuse. And BTW - EACH battery is to have a fuse or fuses. Many with dual or multi-batteries only have one, and one is required AT EACH battery (except when physical protection applies, but more on that later...) As to within 12", there is no such specific rule per se, but 12" and 18" are two distances often quoted. The real rule is essentially "fuse it before (where) a short could occur" but bear in mind other rules or recommendations like not in the gassing zone of a battery or other explosive atmosphere, and the classic - make sure your protection (ie, fusing) does not itself cause a hazard! Alas I've written this sort of rambling treatise before, but maybe another "top down" but brief paraphrasing to help clarify: All electrical power sources should employ (downstream) protection (for safety reasons). [Should means must or shall.] Protection can be physical or electrical. Electrical protection means fuses or circuit breakers etc. Physical means adequate physical protection like insulation or ducting AND maintenance procedures. EG - telco's with huge 48V (& maybe 24V & 12V) battery systems using un-fused copper bus bars, sometimes insulated, with metal ladders banned and warnings like "do not short your screwdriver or spanner or crowbar or equipment cubicle across these un-fused bussbars!. Battery to starter-motor cabling is another common example of an un-fused physically protected cable/distribution. The protection is to protect downstream distribution until the next protection. That means that a fuse protects its downstream cable. EG - a 100A fuse from the battery for its 100A or higher rated cable until it gets to a downstream (100A rated input) distribution block or fusebox which may then have smaller fuses to protect its emanating cables. Note the basic requirement in the last - an upstream fuse must be rated equal to or less than the lowest rated cable or relay or connector etc it feeds [until another (smaller) fuse takes over]. Damn - a part ramble. But I wanted to include some examples or clarification. I haven't included all the issues and considerations. I wrote the above because I think of common examples where people follow the "fuse rule" yet IMO create a bigger hazard. EG - alternator to battery cables were once NOT fused. They relied instead on physical protection. (Newer vehicles generally all include fuses.) One the12volt poster upgraded his alternator to battery or fusebox cable with a BIG cable. But instead of having a relatively short cable from the alternator to the target (battery or fusebox), he included a fuse and thereby probably trebles his cable length. Not that the trebled length was an issue, but it's where the cable ran to include the fuse. IMO there was far greater chance of that cable shorting before the fuse than what the direct alternator to target cable would have had. Ergo, IMO by including the electrical protection he created a hazard that was greater than NOT including it. Note that my reply has only considered distribution protection. It does not include equipment protection, but that is usually in the device else is the last fuse before the device (but can also be ANY upstream fuse). And some equipment can't be protected anyway. Re alternator & starter wiring, sure, anytime. If not too late, I recommend a "2 wire all-in-one" alternator - ie, an alternator with internal voltage regulator and with an S or Sense terminal as well as the usual L or charge-Lamp terminal (often called D+ in single-wire alternators, but they have no external Sensing). The external sensing means that the battery can be anywhere and have whatever distribution voltage drops and the alternator correctly regulates its voltage. Vehicle alternator voltages are geared to providing the voltage that the battery requires - ie, up to 14.4V. A D+ alternator outputting its max of say 14.2V that has a 0.5V drop to the battery means the battery is only getting max of 13.7V which meas premature failure of the battery. Mind you, a 14.4V boot battery with a 2V drop from the alternator means 16.4V at the alternator and hence maybe other car electrics which might fry them, hence good earths/grounds and distribution is essential (ie, the big-3 or 4). However many S-type alternators have an inbuilt maximum output of around 15.5V which all car electrics should handle. FYI - except for a 6-month (disastrous?) foray into another common alternator, I have only used Japanese alternators and hence have not had the same over- or under-charging voltage issues that others have had, nor the problem of blowing main diodes on flat batteries or after jump starts. And BTW I fitted a reduction starter motor which not only uses less current (140A as opposed to 240A), but also crankes to a far lesser voltage (eg, 5V versus maybe 8V). That was one of my better $45 wrecker/salvage/recycler investments! Brief? Brief indeed! Another short non-rambling reply brought to you by yours unbelievably.   

PS - I found the above mentioned link (thanks google's 3rd return to   fuse hazard alternator site:the12volt.com!) It's this thread: big 3 upgrade on integra, fuse box?. And it's this pic:

Finally I had the time and bought what I need to start this project. Decided to go with a H4 wiring setup so I could have hi/low beam H4 SETUP, the plan was to use it with a 2 pole toggle switch ON(lo-beam)/OFF/ON(hi-beam). The problem is I don't know how to add the tail lights in this combination (to light when you select hi/low), if I make a Y type conection to pin 87 i guess the circuit will allow the current to flow everywhere ending up with hi/lo/tailligts all together which i don't want. I start thinking and got to this solution, can you tell me if it's correct and if it will work properly? Do you know a more simple way? Thanks!

Lighting circuits are usually a 3 position switch - off, parkers (taillights, clearance etc) and beam. The beam then goes to a 2-way switch that selects hi or low beam. Hence your taillight etc power should be taken from the wire that goes to your hi/lo switches. The taillights etc could be powered thru a relay if your main off/parkers/beam switch is a low current unit.