What went wrong, fire Options

[914itis]

I decided to install my hangman fuse panel. after installing i started the car, turn on
the head lights - works
flashers- works
turn signals- works
decided to turn on the wipers works, then the engine cuts off followed by a spark on the fuse area. within seconds the wires was on fire. I safely put out the fire.

I then removed the fuse box, to notice that the big red wire was burning, that wire was attached to a brown piece that looks like a breaker. it cracks ast it burns out.

My question is what is that brown peice is used for that has the brown wires attached on one side and the big red one on the other end.. I know that the brown wires are ground.

now that peice is gone what do I do..?
A good portion of the red wire is melted. and I will be inspecting the rest of the wires for burnt.


help!

[tradisrad]

for what it is worth my '70 has the same "power" block above the drivers speaker. I dont really like having the wires exposed like that as it would not take much to short it out.
Sorry to see the mess that you've got. Maybe you can coat the wires with liquid electrical tape instead of trying to replace everything.

[VaccaRabite]

Sorry to see the mess that you've got. Maybe you can coat the wires with liquid electrical tape instead of trying to replace everything.

IMHO this is not good advice. you need to chase the wire to see how far back the damage goes, and you need to replace the wires. This may take longer, but you will get two things out of it.

1) if you incorrectly wired the fuse panel and that contributed to the short, you will find it more easily if you are chasing and isolating the damaged wire.

2) You want to replace the wire that was damaged. 30+ year old wire can get brittle anyway, why take a further gamble and reuse the damaged stock.

This is just how I would go about it, and it would take longer to do. You may be able to go about it the other way and be perfectly fine. I am a worrier, so I replace.

Zach