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    Led headlight conversion

    I've been looking to get a conversion over to led headlights and was wondering if anyone has had success with a certain product. I've seen lots online but they're expensive and seem to be generic for all cars. In addition I am trying to find one with the housing included, as mine are essentially opaque. If anyone has tried or knows a good product or bend to use let me know! Thanks

    #2
    As a general rule, LED lights that are supposed to be a direct swap for bulbs in halogen setups still don't throw the light down the road well. I have yet to find anything that will help on an Aero other than aux driving lights. The LEDs I mounted in my grill help to make signs pop at night because of the cool white wavelength, but are not any brighter to oncoming traffic than my low beams. This actually worked very well for me. Whales seem to have a few options due to the larger housing, but there's still the issue that the LED headlamp bulbs are just not quite there yet for direct halogen bulb replacement due to the way they scatter the light.

    I would love to be proven wrong though.

    Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
    rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
    Originally posted by gadget73
    ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
    Originally posted by dmccaig
    Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

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      #3
      Maybe have a look around and see if there is any way to retro a set of projectors into them? I have a guy on my Grand Prix forum that builds customer projectors using stock housings and they are done right so they don't blind everyone.
      These are highly engineered precision vehicles, the first step in diagnosing the problem is to strike the suspected offending part sharply and repeatedly with a blunt object, then re-test.

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        #4
        Factory aero housings IMHO were best in the '96-'97 Towncar flavor, them need just good halogen bulbs to make things as they should be. But when it comes to LEDs boxes have it made, as JW and Trucklite and Nolan all have some real high-quality LED lamp assemblies that are nearly direct replacements for the sealed beams.
        Originally posted by sly View Post
        The LEDs I mounted in my grill help to make signs pop at night because of the cool white wavelength, but are not any brighter to oncoming traffic than my low beams.
        Which LEDs would those be? I can't touch JW Speaker LEDs for my POS just yet, and I'm not ditching my custom amber Per-Lux fogs, but I could probably use some nice LED driving lights... oddly enough my current driving lights are actually flood pattern - they do a great job in lighting up the sides of the road (where deer stalk you from) without blinding oncoming traffic, while the E-code headlamps that may or may not be overwattage take care of the road ahead (and again do not piss anyone off).
        The ones who accomplish true greatness, are the foolish who keep pressing onward.
        The ones who accomplish nothing, are the wise who know when to quit.

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          #5
          Projectors in factory housings only work right if the factory housing has a clear lens up front w/o the flutes to direct the light. Which would be the '96-'97 TC assemblies I mentioned, projectors in those ought to turn out quite nice. If the lens got flutes on it tho, projectors will suck.
          The ones who accomplish true greatness, are the foolish who keep pressing onward.
          The ones who accomplish nothing, are the wise who know when to quit.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by His Royal Ghostliness View Post
            Which LEDs would those be?
            https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...ed-light/1494/

            8 of those... mounted to some angle steel and zip tied behind the grill (obviously mounting would probably be different for you).

            Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
            rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
            Originally posted by gadget73
            ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
            Originally posted by dmccaig
            Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

            Comment


              #7
              Strange I've never needed more light than factory 4-eye cars could provide. Compared to my whale the lights on the box are the cat's ass. When one dies eventually i'll put the super-bright sylvania's in it and be happy.

              Comment


                #8
                The relay upgrade really helped out on my '97. I intend on having someone retrofitting the housings with projectors on the low beams some time down the road. I find the light output to the be reasonable, but I have factory style after market replacements and while I have them aimed well, light coverage just seems to be lacking, IMO. It might just be the fact they're not official Ford ones, but I can't find new replacements for my car anyhow. I would have kept using my factory ones, but they were too far gone to keep restoring.

                I feel I've had better lighting from mismatched sealed beams driven by the factory wiring with a 2G alternator, if that's any indicator as to why I wouldn't mind that upgrade to projectors.


                My Cars:
                -1964 Comet 202 (116K Miles) - Long Term Project
                -1986 Dodge D-150 Royale SE (112K Miles) - Slowly Getting Put Back Together
                -1987 Grand Marquis Colony Park LS (325K Miles) - April 2017 + September 2019 POTM Winner
                -1997 Grand Marquis LS (240K Miles) - The Daily Workhorse & March 2015 + January 2019 POTM Winner

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                  #9
                  I'm also in the stock sealed beam with relay harness camp.
                  86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
                  5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

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                  Originally posted by phayzer5
                  I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by knucklehead0202 View Post
                    Strange I've never needed more light than factory 4-eye cars could provide. Compared to my whale the lights on the box are the cat's ass. When one dies eventually i'll put the super-bright sylvania's in it and be happy.
                    I'm a lighting connoisseur, I want all the light where I typically need it (down on the road and ahead of my vehicle) and not where some backwards douches from USDOT thought we ALL need it all the time (practically all over the place, with a decent percentage of it being shot in the air to illuminate overhead signage, funny how the whole Europe seems to have no problems seeing those even without such designated light scatter), and if I need it elsewhere I will address that with additional lighting sources pointed in that direction only and nowhere else. I got all sorts of lamps for all sorts of driving conditions, the only thing I'm still lacking is pencil beams for those long long straight stretches of highway out in the middle of nowhere where you don't get to meet other vehicles for a long time.

                    Oh and you probably won't be happy with the Ultra Silverstars, their brightly shining life tends to be a bit on the short side when fed full alternator power with the relayed setup.

                    Originally posted by gadget73 View Post
                    I'm also in the stock sealed beam with relay harness camp.
                    Have you noticed John's E-code Hellas? They're not the same as the "freeform" Hellas don't work well with your vision, way different setup and lighting pattern.
                    The ones who accomplish true greatness, are the foolish who keep pressing onward.
                    The ones who accomplish nothing, are the wise who know when to quit.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by knucklehead0202 View Post
                      Strange I've never needed more light than factory 4-eye cars could provide. Compared to my whale the lights on the box are the cat's ass. When one dies eventually i'll put the super-bright sylvania's in it and be happy.
                      This. I don't even have the relay mod kicking and love the headlights on my Town Car. When one of the factory ones died I upgraded them all to Sylvania's Extra Vision and gave them a proper aim job. If I kick on the brights there's waaay more light than necessary.
                      1985 LTD Crown Victoria - SOLD
                      1988 Town Car Signature - Current Party Barge

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                        #12
                        I'm sure my lights are not aimed properly, when I eventually get some time I'll have swing by if you're willing to give me a hand, Derek.
                        I think a proper aim alignment would help in my case more than any other upgrade. For the OP it could be worth making sure the headlights are aimed properly, then do a relay mod (will probably need it if upgrading anyway) before upgrading to LEDs.
                        Vic

                        ~ 1989 MGM LS Colony Park - Large Marge
                        ~ 1998 MGM LS - new DD
                        ~ 1991 MGM LS "The Scab"
                        ~ 1991 MGM GS "The Ice Car"

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                          #13
                          I'm doing 3g pretty soon but what is this relay mod everyone speaks of? And do I need it? I scarcely ever drive the car, much less at night, and generally not very far. I'm also electric-retarded, I hate wires. The 3g swap is going to kick my ass and I've read over the thread about 1000 times. It really isn't difficult but my brain does a cache dump on things it doesn't like so i'll literally have to have the thread open whilst i'm doing this.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            The relay mod is pretty straight forward and takes the load of the headlights off of the headlamp switch to reduce the fire hazard of melting down the wiring harness on the headlamp switch. When done fully, it also replaces the wires to the headlamps with fatter wires to get better light output. I need to do the fatter wire part yet, but the load has been removed from my switch on mine.

                            Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
                            rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)
                            Originally posted by gadget73
                            ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.
                            Originally posted by dmccaig
                            Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              If you switch to LED the load off the switch part of the equation becomes way less important. I have no real idea if larger wires would make any noticeable difference to LED output.
                              03 Marauder DPB, HS, 6disk, Organizer Mods> LED's in & Out, M&Z rear control arms, Oil deflector, U-Haul Trans Pan, Blue Fuzzy Dice
                              02 SL500 Silver Arrow
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