What’s a good way to remove rust from a Fuse box?

Question

It’s a 43 year old car so it’s going to have rust where the fuses go, could you give me a tip or a way to remove the rust? This is the link to show you what I mean:

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p69/frank_415/551637a4.jpg

Answer 1

Check on E bay for a fuse box. Its going to have to be replaced you will have on going electrical malfunction, which is not worth it. When going down the street and your lites go off at nite its not going to be pretty.There are many  links on the net to find a good fuse box, at junk yards, e bay, etc. Also find out the reason the fuse box got corroded like this, is there a seal which is leaking at the firewall, or windshield. You might want to do a water test, before placing a good fuse box, and finding out this water intrusion will cause the same problem down the line.

Answer 2

you need to replace that box, the rust is too severe to save it. try year one for parts. i have had good results from them.  

Answer 3

laquer thinner will remove rust but eat plastic, if you could remove all   the metal you could clean it all up and reinstall it, ( pits in the metal could show though ) but than again you could always use a muratic acid on the metal and have it replated afterwards.

   Replacing it with a generic one size fits all box will not be original but will look clean and work.

   Try WD40 and a abrasive scrub pad first if you are happy with the results than spray it lighly with wd40 or a oil to prevent it from comming back.

Answer 4

There is no EASY way.

There are very good ways to reconstruct a fuse panel to keep the original appearance as close to "factory" as possible.

(1) You will need to disconnect the battery. (Hopefully this was already done).

(2) Remove the entire fuse box from the auto.

(3) Examine and determine how the BUSS fuse spring tabs (fuse holder) is kept in place.

       a) notch key

       b) screwed on

       c) spade in a slot

4) Attempt to remove one of the metal spring tab from a circuit.

5) REPLACE it with a simliar spring tab.

You may want to try to find a fuse block from a similar year of car to test with first.

You can then try to replace the fuse holder (Spring Clips) like the ones from this mini fuse block from Radio Shack.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index....

Otherwise you may need to check the auto salvage sites for classic cars.

Answer 5

There is no way of fixing this economically. You need a new fuse box. The areas that are rusted need to be clean to conduct the current running thru the fuse. If they are not clean then it will have a high resistance and the potential voltage will be very low. You could clean it with a rust remover, but it looks like all the nickel or chrome plating is gone. The plating kept the rust from forming to some degree, but this thing is wasted.

I see that it is from a 43YO car. If the car has a following of interest and people are still making parts for it (Like a 55-57 Chevy) then parts chould be found. It looks like a Delco part out of the 60's or 70's General Motors vehicle. You may find them on the web. Otherwise, the only way to fix the thing is to dismantle it rivet by rivet and strip and replate each contact and reassemble with screws unless you can find nerw rivets. It can be done, but the level of effort is high. Good Luck