Repro Terminal Box Disintegrating!

Doug in NJ

Doug in NJ

Well-known member
Hello,


The repro terminal box on the firewall of my car is maybe 12 years old, and I just noticed that it had a lot of cracks, and chunks of it were starting to fall off. Has anyone ever seen this before? It has had an easy life, mostly sitting in my garage, and not getting very dirty or greasy.



Bratton's catalog warned that the boxes they currently sell have the mounting holes a bit out of position, and you may have to enlarge the holes in the firewall to match. Is this known to be a problem with the boxes from other vendors? I assume that all the vendors have sold the same part from the same manufacturer for years...


Doug
 
Doug in NJ said:
Hello,


The repro terminal box on the firewall of my car is maybe 12 years old, and I just noticed that it had a lot of cracks, and chunks of it were starting to fall off. Has anyone ever seen this before? It has had an easy life, mostly sitting in my garage, and not getting very dirty or greasy.

Doug
Click to expand...


Yes on several occasions.
 
I replaced my box last week. The older one was 5 year old and was fading fast. I accidently broke the body where the alternator/generator wire enters the box. How, I don't know. The one I replaced it with came from CW Moss and the mounting holes in the box lined up to the firewall holes perfectly.

Regards
Bill
 
Hello,


Does the CW Moss replacement box appear to be from a different production run than the one you replaced?



BillCNC said:
I replaced my box last week. The older one was 5 year old and was fading fast. I accidently broke the body where the alternator/generator wire enters the box. How, I don't know. The one I replaced it with came from CW Moss and the mounting holes in the box lined up to the firewall holes perfectly.

Regards
Bill
Click to expand...
 
The OEM types were made from reinforced Micarta material which is a form of Bakelite that is still used for circuit boards and in aircraft for chaffing protection of cable control systems. The originals will last for a lifetime or more if kept in good condition. The reproductions are just cheap plastic by comparison.
 
I bought the old one from Bratton's 17 years ago, almost to the day.

The new box (from the same vendor) is clearly from a different production run.
I had no issue with the hole spacing. They lined up perfectly with the holes in the firewall.


BTW, I noticed on the receipt from 17 years ago that I bought a full wire harness (part #20360) for $29.95. Today it costs $91.40. What happened?!?
 
Doug in NJ said:
Hello,


Does the CW Moss replacement box appear to be from a different production run than the one you replaced?
Click to expand...

The brass screw inserts are longer and embedded a little deeper into the plastic and the old boxes finish was shinier. My old one had more of a matt finish when it was new.

Regards
Bill
 
When the price of natural resources for energy and manufacturing go up, everything else follows along with it. The term inflation is used to describe this but the term doesn't explain all the causes. Supply and demand due to an ever increasing human population is likely the main cause but it's not always the only reason.
 
BillCNC said:
The brass screw inserts are longer and embedded a little deeper into the plastic and the old boxes finish was shinier. My old one had more of a matt finish when it was new.
Click to expand...


Yes, that was my experience. A couple of the provided screws were a tiny bit too short to catch the threads of the brass inserts. Fortunately I had some longer slotted round-head screws lying around, which had the correct appearance.


Doug
 
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