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I am sure that would not hurt.

A friend of mine (an orthodontist) used those dental rubber bands to pull the contacts tighter.


You might also have good luck using that copper electrical contact enhancer stuff.  As you can imagine, the contacts can corrode, increasing threat resistance on the contacts, causing heat, etc.

I had no problem with the stock system, but others have reported problems.

Even so, I changed mine out for a stock design, modified to accept ATO (I think) blade fuses.

Pantera Electronic sells the most fancy/capable one, it includes diagnostics.



Rocky

Considering it is a 50-year-old electronic device dependent upon good contacts, and in most of those 50 years it has probably received very little attention, I think the performance of OEM fuse panels can be easily improved/maintained with some TLC as you outlined.

My OEM fuse panel had about 75,000 miles on it when it was replaced by an upgrade ATO fuse panel. It was still performing just fine at that time.

Larry

Maybe the dental rubber bands won't break but normal ones dry out and loose their elasticity.

I've had them fall out of the fuse box just driving down the street,

There was a ATO fuse panel made by Bob Timina out of a Nissan truck part but the simplest thing to do is get a Pantera Electronics fuse panel.

Follow Jon's instructions though. The wires have different stripe patterns indicating polarity. Those silly Italians. What will they think of next?

I didn't realize that until after I installed mine and complained to Jon and he 'splained it to me! They don't call me Doogala for nuthin'!

Last edited by panteradoug

To a large extent it depends on how damp your surroundings are. I have no problem in Nevadas high desert but when I was a CA near the ocean, it was a constant problem. The stock contacts are unplated copper while the fuse ends are bare aluminum. So with moisture comes galvanic corrosion/oxidation and the electrons stop flowing. Decades ago the simple fix in the U.S was Busse's  pointed-end GBC glass fuses. Then Busse was sold, their glass GBC fuses were discontinued and the supply of NOS fuses dried up.

Now, many change the entire fuse box to something that uses modern u-shaped ATC or ATO glass fuses with plated contacts on both the fuses and box contacts. A few extra circuits in the replacement boxes are also handy for 21st century electrical  'essentials'. Don't forget to include the two 30-amp fuses in the little    supplementary box. Old 'Euro' GBC fuses are not easily found on the road if Joe Lucas continues to plague us.

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