MG Sports Cars

engine swaps and other performance upgrades, plus "factory" and Costello V8s

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BOOTLEG
Gary Rosema
Wisconsin
(47 posts)

Registered:
11/18/2013 07:26PM

Main British Car:
1978 MGB Rover 3.5L

Advance Autowire Panel Location
Posted by: BOOTLEG
Date: November 19, 2014 06:48AM

Spent ~ 30 minutes looking at my 78B for the best location for my new Advance Autowire panel. Also reviewed many archives here to see how others did it. At this point I favor either side foot panel but the upper left quadrant of the trunk panel also has my attention. Would appreciate commentary from the gallery.


MGBV8
Carl Floyd
Kingsport, TN
(4511 posts)

Registered:
10/23/2007 11:32PM

Main British Car:
1979 MGB Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: Advance Autowire Panel Location
Posted by: MGBV8
Date: November 19, 2014 08:04AM

Haven't installed mine, yet. For me there is only two viable locations, the passenger footwell (map pocket area) or the passenger side engine compartment firewall area. The trunk is too far away & the driver's side footwell...besides my dead pedal nothing extra is going there. With my long legs & size 12.5 shoes, I need all of it to stretch my legs on road trips.


BOOTLEG
Gary Rosema
Wisconsin
(47 posts)

Registered:
11/18/2013 07:26PM

Main British Car:
1978 MGB Rover 3.5L

Re: Advance Autowire Panel Location
Posted by: BOOTLEG
Date: November 19, 2014 09:57AM

Carl,
By " trunk too far away" do you mean the wires are too short?


Moderator
Curtis Jacobson
Portland Oregon
(4576 posts)

Registered:
10/12/2007 02:16AM

Main British Car:
71 MGBGT, Buick 215

authors avatar
Re: Advance Autowire Panel Location
Posted by: Moderator
Date: November 19, 2014 01:19PM

I can give you a few perspectives of a former heavy truck engineer.

Fuseblocks don't belong in engine bays because that's a relatively hot and dirty location. Fuses and circuit breakers are thermal devices. They trip at a different (lower) current when they're hot, so putting them somewhere that's sometimes quite hot and sometimes not makes their behavior a little unpredictable. Pretty much anything "electronic" will fail sooner when subjected to heat (and/or vibration.) Engine bays are also subjected to all sorts of nasty chemicals and chemical vapors. Engine degreasers and pressure washers can especially wreak havoc... On the other hand, copper wire is heavy, expensive, and it's always vulnerable to damage - so wires should be kept as short as feasible. Getting wires through a bulkhead is also expensive, and there are all sorts of quality and service issues related to bulkhead connections and/or seals. So clearly the fewer circuits that pass through a bulkhead, the better. Of course, to do any good at all, fuses need to be upstream of potential short circuits. Fuseblocks should be mounted where they're easy to get to, and you should plan on upgrade paths... because you'll be adding accessories in the future! As an aside, the trend among OEMs for some time has been toward "distributed power systems" - with multiple fuseblocks. Multiplexing...

My favorite location is on the clean/dry side of the firewall mounted behind a removable panel on the dashboard or center console. It's especially nice when you can access the fuses from either seat. Are you installing a radio in this '78 MGB? If not, maybe you can make a center-console (i.e. straight ahead of the shifter) location work. The steel between transmission tunnel and dashboard can be cut out to make room - but I know most people won't want to do that. So, probably down by the map pocket is the best compromise.

Setting up the panel so it can be pulled down or out for service is a possibility. Here's a thought provoking photo of Mary Schils' MGB. (For the photo, the dashboard had been unbolted and pulled rearward - that's not the point. Instead, just think about how the Advance Auto panel can pull out.)
http://www.britishv8.org/articles/Images-V16-2/AAW-tech-session-C.jpg
(Check the article archives on this site for Advance AutoWire tech sessions. I think there are at least four...)


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