Not even new cars uses a heavier duty fuse box for HIDs. They use a headlight relay. You can do this too for the 1200, see Headlight Wiring.

I'm running into this same problem ATM.. Is there any easy upgrade of fuse box out of a different car maybe?

(Old Memory Warning) Since you are cleaning up the electrical connections... Take a look at the plug that connects the wire loom (on the right side under the dash). I had this fail (melted) after I increased the load by adding H4s.

Regarding HID (summarized from what I've read)... these draw less voltage than H4s. You can get kits that adapt them to H4 reflectors. Legal here? I don't know. Typically HID are low beam only. The high beam on these is Halogen due to the HID taking a few moments to warm up. You won't have full power when you flick the high beam on if it's HID. Opinion here... Is it worth it? The question is how much are you going to be driving at night?

tommo was right - I cleaned up the fuse block & all the fuses, reinstalled it & all is well. No more heat up, took the spades & fuse holders back to shiny brass & seems to be fine. I did go ahead & order another fuse block to be on the safe side, also got the dome light to work & even the door buzzer.

Funny thing on the buzzer, the dash seat belt light seems to flicker when fiddling with the door switch, I need to look at the circuit for that & see what makes it work.

As far as HID's over here I really dont know if they're any laws regarding their use, should probably check before going down that road. I'm going to guess there isn't as its pretty unregulated over here as to what you can do to a car over 30 yr's old, certainly not like what you guys deal with. When its all sadi and done all I have to do to put this car on the road is go buy tab's for it as its already titled in my name.

sounds like its under control, I wasn't referring to the "afraid of the dark" mobile, just on another road car that i had the same problem

at the end of the day all power in the standard 1200 goes through that one wire with the fusible link. pulling some load out of that wire after 40 years service i still think is a great idea

HID's in your normal lights are illegal in Aus unless the car came with them standard, i believe the cars that came with them standard have a device that lowers the headlight aim if the back suspension compresses, to prevent blinding of other drivers

sounds good, now to just figure out which part # is the correct one in the Wiki....

Yep, agree with Tommo. The bad connection will cause the heat so your fault was at that specific terminal.

It doesn't matter how big the load is, it will be the weakest point that will heat up, be that undersized conductor or high resistance joint/connection etc.

Relays are a great (and cheap) way of improving the output of the lights but they absolutely must still have a fuse, especially seeing as most of the load will probably not be going through the std fuse box anymore depending on how you wire them..

Thanks guys. I kinda figured this was a somewhat common problem & no I'm not running HID lightsd but was thinking about it, I guess if I go that route I'll definitely use a relay setup for that.

Quote:

1200rally - those giant bat signal spotlights mounted on your hood make mine look so puny , i think I have headlight envy! Your idea makes sense & if I step it up to HID I'd do that, maybe will anyways just to unload the fuse block a bit - couldn't hurt.

And Tommo's idea is pretty much what I was guessing - too much resistance thru the block & tarnished connectors & spades. They actually look like they're bronzed not bright brass so pretty understandable. Hopefully thats the only reason & I'll buy a box of new fuses as well, seems prudent.

Thanks all.

Oh yeah, is there a part number for a 620 fuse box?

the brass terminals in the fuse box oxidize/tarnish with age
resulting in high resistance,at the teminal that the spade teminal
goes on and at conection between terminal and fuse
tighten spade terminals
lightly bead blast fuse box terminals, dont use rusty fuses
and run anything other than std thru relays

i agree with username, i melted a couple of fuse panels countless fuses and burnt my finger many times trying to eliminate this problem.

Using the original wiring loom as a signal wire for a relay and a new power source direct from battery is a great solution. This also takes a great deal of the electrical load off the old supply to pretty much everything in the rest of the car, and therefore should just make life a little easier for the entire 40 year old electical circuits/loom