Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

I got some cheap ones on ebay 7 or 8 years or so ago, they were total garbage, so bad it made by stock bulbs look good...

I never knew the dome light was even a bit clear...

I should get on this. I'm pretty sure 99% of the interior bulbs on my car are 30 year old factory bulbs. Plus LEDs will put less of a load on the charging system.

How hard is it to remove the dash cluster to replace the bulbs in an 84?

I defy you to swap the glove box light. I tried twice and fried two led bulbs! :punchballs:

Just two bulbs in the dash cluster?

LOL, yeah that one is a little tricky. I haven't burned any LED bulbs but blew plenty of fuses. Even when probed with a test light, that socket shorts and pops the fuse. Don't know what to do there. It's the very last bulb I have to convert.




No, four for illumination in the base cluster.

Have to use an electronic flasher with the ground wire. It won't work ungrounded. Fortunately there are plenty of places around the flasher to make a good, permanent ground.
Also, it seems that you can use incandescent bulbs with the electronic flasher with no penalty.

Speaking of...turn signal demo, full LED conversion:

http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/84leds/84ts.mp4

The lights aren't really that pink. Difficult to capture these on a camera but you can get the basic idea.


This is what it looks like when you have a mix of bulbs...incandescent on the left, LED on the right:

http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/84leds/84ts_old.mp4

Speaking of...turn signal demo, full LED conversion:

http://www.coolcats.net/ximages/84leds/84ts.mp4

Thought about a resistor...but I'm still trying to figure out why the test light trips the fuse. Very odd indeed.

So are you going to post up which brand and part number of bulb you put where so we can avoid dropping coin on bulbs we cannot use?

Sooooooo are we going to find out the brand and possibly where to purchase those headlights??????

Good news!!
I think the led bulbs only working one way in the socket is a voltage polarity thing. Since the D in LED stands for Diode.

Yeah Steve, it's all done now. Still have to aim the headlamps on the '84 and take some photos of everything. Hoping to have that done this week sometime, weather permitting.

Bite me, I've been busy. :mullet:


Alright, sneak peek...
https://www.coolcats.net/modifying/led.html

And here I had people calling me crazy for spending a few extra bucks for the few Sylvania bulbs that I've converted already.

That's a great write up. Thanks for finding out what works in our cars.

As for 87-88 headlamps would this be a possible option?
https://lmr.com/item/DIO-9004HID/1987-93-mustang-diode-dynamics

It's an option, but the light scatter would be similar to using HID bulbs in our housings. The best way to do it is projectors. Brian Larkin has done it on his car, and while it looks a little out of place, it works pretty  well for a projector behind the fluted lens.

It's an option, but the light scatter would be similar to using HID bulbs in our housings. The best way to do it is projectors. Brian Larkin has done it on his car, and while it looks a little out of place, it works pretty  well for a projector behind the fluted lens.

Seek has done that too.

Projectors are the only 'good' way to do it as HIDs and LEDs will never match the light source location as the original halogen bulb and will put out wonky light patterns. Have a link for Brian Larkin's project? I found a guy who made his own polycarbonate housings like Seek, but he was dead to the world when I looked him up.

Seek has done that too.

Projectors are the only 'good' way to do it as HIDs and LEDs will never match the light source location as the original halogen bulb and will put out wonky light patterns. Have a link for Brian Larkin's project? I found a guy who made his own polycarbonate housings like Seek, but he was dead to the world when I looked him up.

With regards to the difference in the the styles of 1156 Sylvania LED bulbs I cannot notice any discernable difference in light output within the tail lamp housing.

Other than that I have 4 bulbs left.....  3 type 89s and whatever the glove box bulb is. The 89s have the same base as an 1156 so the LED equivalent is the same. Other than that I have to find out the bulb type for the  factory EQ and if it even has an LED equivalent for the lights on the adjustment levers.

I have a relay harness on order.  It comes soldered.  Something I am not to good at is using a soldering iron, yet for some reason I can solder good joints with a propane torch.

With regards to the difference in the the styles of 1156 Sylvania LED bulbs I cannot notice any discernable difference in light output within the tail lamp housing.


I have a relay harness on order.  It comes soldered.  Something I am not to good at is using a soldering iron, yet for some reason I can solder good joints with a propane torch.  Go figure....  I wanna see just how different the 9004 bulbs I currently have are with the relay harness and without.


Other than that I have 4 bulbs left.....  3 type 89s and whatever the glove box bulb is. The 89s have the same base as an 1156 so the LED equivalent is the same. Other than that I have to find out the bulb type for the  factory EQ and if it even has an LED equivalent for the lights on the adjustment levers.

I have a relay harness on order.  It comes soldered.

Okay. Got the LED headlights in.  Aimed them fairly well on the garage.  Adjusted them so there wasn't too much spill-off to the sides as well.  This is actually the difficult part. The stock fluting on the 87-88 lenses is designed for light spread and the 9004 bulb being as underpowered as it is in low beam form gets A LOT of help from our lenses and this is extremely evident once you install a light source that is more intense.  It's also why a few guys on here made their own housings in the past.  LED tech is ever advancing though and with the newer setups becoming adjustable it's a huge leap forward.

That all being said; I went with these:


Got them off Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07F87LH4P?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

When they arrived I took note of the fact that to install them, the retainer to hold them in place on the back of the housing would need to be notched.  Instead of notchting the stock ones, I ordered a set of aftermarket ones that were actually shorter this requiring less notching.

Those are here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000COB65M?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

I've only had a couple of short drives so far, but the last one was right at that magic time in the northeast where it's dark and everyone is on their way home.  15 minutes of stop and go with a little time at traffic lights at 4 way intersections..... No one brighted me. I wasn't happy with the amount of spill off sideways so I brought that down by rotation of the lights in the housing.  This is done without removing the retainer and is straight forward. Took it for another drive after and am satisfied.  From what I can tell, these aren't gonna blind oncoming traffic the way you hear so many do....

A word of warning on that:
Have  any of you ever taken a good look at the headlight lenses on cars you know have drop in LED bulbs that are blinding everything in their path?????  There's usually a common trend. The lenses are almost always yellowed/marred/in poor condition.

The headlamps on my car were installed about 6 years ago, were NOS unused in their original Ford boxes upon my purchase of them. They are PRISTINE and I wax them on the regular to keep them that way.  I'll say this as well....

If you're feeling you are lacking in the night time visibility department and your lenses are in need of attention; attend to them first.  If they are beyond repair GET A NEWER/BETTER set.  They're out there.  I actually have a backup set removed from a junked 87 Cougar with nothing for miles. Yes , I spent decently for them, but hey.... Dying cause you weren't seen or didn't see something else is a py way to go.


You could and should do the relay harness mod as well.  Whether you DIY it or purchase a pre-made setup, splurge for quality.

Pics of the actual light pattern to come.  Seems whenever I'm off from work it's pouring... 2018 has been REEEEEAAALLYY shiznitty here weather wise....

$46 for the pair of bulbs isn't bad. I'd be interested to see how you had to position the bulbs in the housing so they didn't spill over too much. My car has perfectly clear lenses and the reflectors are like new so I'm worried about blinding people with the LED bulbs (and not seeing any better) if they aren't positioned correctly.