OK, this will be long winded, but after this description anyone that still
thinks Joseph Lucas stuff is worth a damn, cannot be convinced.
The fuse block (made and designed by J.Lucas) on a 1969 Sunbeam Alpine GT
contains 4 fuses. Each fuse is held in place and electrically connected by 4
spring type connectors-two on the "base" (or hot side of the fuse) and two on
the other end. Each of the four clips are electrically insulated from each
other. Power from the alternator/battery comes to the first clip on the first
fuse. Power gets from there to the second fuse by passing accross the base of
the fuse to the clip on the other side of the base of the fuse. Thus the base
of the first fuse becomes part of the circuit. The second clip on the base of
the first fuse is connected to the first clip on the base of the second fuse.
And so on accross all four fuses. So, all power to the electrical system for
the entire car passes through one small spring clip on the base of one
fuse...
This is a very poor and possibly dangerous design. Remove fuse #1 and the
entire car is disabled (hey, maybe this was Lucas' idea of a security
system?). A little corrosion there and the entire car is shut down. The real
problem is the very heavy amperage flowing through that clip and fuse base.
The fuses were designed for 5,10,15 amps-and the bases were also designed for
those ampereages-this first fuse could have 30+ amps flowing accross the base.
Think about this for a moment, you are a designer of a 15 amp fuse-what is
the maximum current your fuse needs to handle? 15 amps of course. What do
you design the bases of the fuse to handle? 15 amps and if you are cost
conscious, there is no need for the fuse base to handle 20 amps......
After experiencing a problem with this fuse block, I replaced it with an after
market one. I made a copper strip connecting all of the screw connectors on
one side of the fuse block and connected the main power lead to the center
screw connector (to minimize the distance that the current had to flow). This
was not a simple project as there is a major wiring harness coming out of this
fuse block-after all, everything in the car is wired through this point! The
original fuse block gave me trouble on both of my '69 Alpine GT's and my '69
Arrow at about 35,000 miles. As I live in a coastal area, I suspect that
people living in dryer climates might not have had a problem or have had it
much later. After replacing the fuse block, I drove each of these cars
100,000+ miles and never had a problem with my repair. Of course I replaced
many starters, brake light switches, relays, etc.
Don't try to blame this on Rootes/Chrysler UK as both Rootes and Chrysler
farmed out all of the component engineering to their suppliers.
This is a good example of poor design and you can find that throughout Lucas'
products. There is no doubt in my mind why the British auto industry has
disappeared-Lucas was a major cause. Why do you think that all of the British
auto makers are now either out of business or are foreign owned?
Jan
Marc James Small <msmall@roanoke.infi.net> wrote:
At 09:56 PM 2/17/2001 EST, Jan Eyerman wrote:
>I could write VOLUMES on Lucas. The word "Bad" just isn't bad enough to
>describe the products of Joseph Lucas Ltd. Back in 1971-72 I worked for
>General Motors and owned a Sunbeam Arrow. When electrical components
failed I
>had access to Delco Remy engineering and I sent them the bad parts to
analyze.
> Back then engineers rarely used profanity to describe things but they used
a
>few choice words to describe the quality of the stuff I sent them.
Basically
>the description was "poor materials, worse engineering". They said any
>American manufacturer that produced products like those would be out of
>business pretty quick.
They were joshing you, or else playing with some most sour grapes. Lucas
gear is far more reliable, all in all, than Bosch or Marelli and is more
open to owner maintenance than is Delco-Remy junk. (The ONLY alternators
which have ever suffered Terminal Failure in my experience are Delco-Remy
units, and that has been three of them.)
Lucas gear needs maintenance. Delco-Remy stuff runs to 50,000 road miles
and dies. You pays your money and you takes your choice. Me? I'd use
Lucas gear in my Audi if I could fit it, and will do so, the next time it
gives me a problem.
Marc
msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315
Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!
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