Electrical Safety Suggestion

[Michael H.]

This suggestion may cause a minor deduct but it can prevent a major disaster. My 1963 cigarette lighter is connected directly to the battery and has no fuse in the circuit. I verified this against the Service Manual Wiring Diagrams. It is VERY EASY to cause a ground short and set off a fire behind the instrument panel. I strongly suggest inserting a 15 amp fuse in the circuit in a convenient, out-of-sight location.

[Wayne W.]

Re: Electrical Safety Suggestion

I dont have a 63 diagram here at home, but 64-67 for sure are fused. I find it hard to believe that 63 is different, but it may be.

[Christopher R.]

Re: Electrical Safety Suggestion

The cigarette lighter is probably not the only unfused circuit. Check your wiring diagram. John Hinckley posted about splicing a fusible link in the main circuit that comes off the starter. Later cars did this. Check the archives.

[Jack H.]

Other...

GM vehicles from this era recognized this threat and compensated with Casco aux feature/component for the lighter socket--an inline fuse. These simply screw onto lighter socket's bottom terminal post and terminate with a Packard 56-Series slide terminal (like what's on the wiring harness lead going to your temp sender).

You'll find this alternative, fused, cig lighter socket in high end vehicles like Buick, Cadillac, Lincoln, Etc. and it's child's play to convert your Corvette as the in-line fuse for the Casco socket is an off-the-shelf item from auto parts stores with OLD NOS stock parts....

Now, this will NOT protect the car from a wiring fault in the harness itself (lead running to the cig lighter has 'nicked' insulation and shorts to ground) since that's 'upstream' from the lighter socket fuse. BUT, the original idea was how to protect in the event something metallic/conductive should happen to fall into the lighter's socket well and create a dead short there.... This is probably a higher liklihood event than the wiring harness failing.

Have a chapter mate who has BOXES of NOS Casco lighter socket fuses, if you want one and can't find it locally. The nice thing here, is you don't have to 'chop' into your wiring harness to add a visible in-line fuse and/or fusable link--the whole thing is a simple screw-on assy intended by Casco designers from the git-go to work with your lighter!

[John H.]

Re: Other...

The power feed circuit for the lighter wasn't fused until 1967.

[Wayne W.]

Re: Other...

You guys are 100% correct, the circuit is not fused untill 67. I guess the Old Timers disease has progressed further than expected. I work on so many different ones that they all run together after a while.