Seems like a 96/97 headlight conversion would be much simpler than trying to fit something from a completely different car.
Better headlights
- Thread starter CDsDontBurn
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- 1997 Thunderbird 4.6, 1998 Mark VIII LSC
Cougar guys have it easy, they can just swap in Grand Marquis headlights.
Now that’s funny
Generalee0527
4th Gear Poster
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- 97 Tbird, pbr front brakes, Sport edition 4.6 w/ 369k total miles by me the one and only owner.
I have an empty header panel from a '97 I can measure. It will have to be tomorrow evening as I'm spent having adapted a 3g alt from an escort into my energy conserving 2.3l, 5 speed ranger since that was all on the pick a part lot. Had to shim up a longer bolt on one side and notch the existing bracket. Swapped the pulley and put an eyelet on each charge wire and put a spade connector on the field and bingo. 14.8 volts at idle. $40 beats $180.
CDsDontBurn
PostWhore
I adjusted my headlights earlier tonight, and light output seems decent now. There's still much more room for improvement though. I'd need to go through a dark mountain road like I did when all this got kicked off to see how the LEDs and headlight adjustments made improvements over the stock setup.
Lows
Highs
Compare this to Post 39 and how focused the light was in front of my car.
Lows
Highs
Compare this to Post 39 and how focused the light was in front of my car.
CDsDontBurn
PostWhore
On Monday, I made a post about my friend having given me a belated birthday gift for some "better" LEDs compared to what I had already purchased.
Well, I installed them because why not. All I have to say is, God damn! These are the lights I needed!
I will go ahead and say that on my initial install, they were installed upside down because the light was projecting up into people's line of sight. I was unaware of the situation until i got flashed. In the moment, I was like "these are my low beams, bitch! Here are my high beams!", only for my light pattern to project downwards to the floor as soon as I hit the high beam switch on my stalk. Then I was like "my bad" LMAO.
Low beams, installed upside down:
High beams, installed upside down:
After making this discovery about my light pattern, I went back home and redid the install. I made sure the "filament" was oriented 180° opposite of how I had them initially. On the initial install, I had them with the gray bar on the top side. On the reinstall, I had them with the gray bar on the bottom side. As seen in this picture, this orientation is "upside down " causing the light output to point upwards.
So I redid the install, and the light output is far better now. I can see everything ahead of me and not be driving in the dark.
Low beams, proper install
High beams, proper install
The only thing I feel that needs adjustment now is the headlight housings themselves. If you recall from earlier posts here, I made adjustments to my headlights with the set of LEDs I purchased myself to point upwards a little bit. With these new LEDs I was gifted, I feel the light output is so strong that they need to be readjusting back to near stock location. Otherwise, I feel these LEDs are great and amazing!
Thank you to my longtime friend for having bought these for me for my birthday!
Well, I installed them because why not. All I have to say is, God damn! These are the lights I needed!
I will go ahead and say that on my initial install, they were installed upside down because the light was projecting up into people's line of sight. I was unaware of the situation until i got flashed. In the moment, I was like "these are my low beams, bitch! Here are my high beams!", only for my light pattern to project downwards to the floor as soon as I hit the high beam switch on my stalk. Then I was like "my bad" LMAO.
Low beams, installed upside down:
High beams, installed upside down:
After making this discovery about my light pattern, I went back home and redid the install. I made sure the "filament" was oriented 180° opposite of how I had them initially. On the initial install, I had them with the gray bar on the top side. On the reinstall, I had them with the gray bar on the bottom side. As seen in this picture, this orientation is "upside down " causing the light output to point upwards.
So I redid the install, and the light output is far better now. I can see everything ahead of me and not be driving in the dark.
Low beams, proper install
High beams, proper install
The only thing I feel that needs adjustment now is the headlight housings themselves. If you recall from earlier posts here, I made adjustments to my headlights with the set of LEDs I purchased myself to point upwards a little bit. With these new LEDs I was gifted, I feel the light output is so strong that they need to be readjusting back to near stock location. Otherwise, I feel these LEDs are great and amazing!
Thank you to my longtime friend for having bought these for me for my birthday!
Those look good! I agree with you that they look to be aimed high. When I switched to HID bulbs I pointed them down a bit so it's not bothering other drivers.
How much better do you think those expensive bulbs are over the cheaper ones? I have thought about switching to LED, mostly because it's a lot less wiring
How much better do you think those expensive bulbs are over the cheaper ones? I have thought about switching to LED, mostly because it's a lot less wiring
CDsDontBurn
PostWhore
Significantly better. The difference is literally night and day difference between the two sets of LEDs. Like, don't waste your money on the cheap Amazon ones and go for the expensive ones I linked.
CDsDontBurn
PostWhore
And the link so it's in this thread directly.
Did you grab new housings?
If not, how cloudy are the ones in there?
If not, how cloudy are the ones in there?
CDsDontBurn
PostWhore
Negative. Gold Bird housings are 9.5/10.
I'll take a picture in the day time. For now, here's one slightly older.
Grog6
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I got a wild hair last night,and am looking to see if I can pull enough vacuum to redo the reflector inside the headlight. I I have spares. I'm going to bake them apart and take a look at what's up with them. So, 100degrees for an hour, or 200?
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200 is what I remember seeing
Interesting. Did you need any of the options listed or just the bulbs themselves? What makes these so much better than the cheap LED bulbs? How do you like the color? I recall reading elsewhere that somebody recommended a max of 4300k, but I forget where that was.
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3000k is a yellow fog light. 4300k is your standard halogen headlight. 5000k is about what a factory OE LED headlamp is. 6000k is that annoying ricer blue/white.
4300k is what you want.
4300k is what you want.
For just a few minutes though, not an hour. The goal is to soften up the adhesive so it's pliable, not create a mess in the oven.
4300K is the OG HID color temperature. You're generally not going to find an LED headlight bulb in that color temperature because they're pretty much all 5000K and above. The GTR Ultra 3 is rated at 5750K which is pretty good.
The scale is more like this:
If fog lights are actually selective yellow, then they aren't on the kelvin scale. 3000K is a warm white which you'll find to be a common temperature for white fog lights and residential indoor LED lighting, but if some manufacturer is telling you that their yellow bulbs are 3000K, they're lying, deceiving, or ignorant.
Halogen is 3200-3400K, not 4300K.
OEM HID is 4300K and commonly considered to be the optimum color temperature for visibility and glare. To illustrate how much ambient light affects your color spectrum perception, 4100K is fluorescent white like office interiors.
5000-5500K appears pure white and is the color temperature to target for aftermarket lighting.
Most aftermarket LED headlight bulbs will be 6000K, which has a hint of blue, but isn't objectionably bad yet. That starts to happen at 6500K and above.
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