Head Lights Breaking

[cadams155]

Does anyone else have an issue with the inside marker lights being broken by the hood? I have the ultra clear 6pc headlight kit, and it seems that the black edge on the top rim of the housing is right where the hood edge goes and when I closed the hood, the plastic broke. Everything on the body and hood looks like it is lined up properly, so im not real sure whats going on.

 

[Kumm3]

I had that problem when i had a steel hood, when i switched to a glass hood the problem went away.

 

[cadams155]

How difficult was it to install the fiberglass hood? Been considering that too. The steel hood seems to have the front lip in the wrong location. It doesn't really look good with the gap it leaves between the bumper and hood edge. Fiberglass ones look much cleaner.

 

[84Ttop]

How difficult was it to install the fiberglass hood? Been considering that too. The steel hood seems to have the front lip in the wrong location. It doesn't really look good with the gap it leaves between the bumper and hood edge. Fiberglass ones look much cleaner.

All that you need is a friend to help and its easy breezy Japanesey!

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Shouldn't need to swap hoods to keep from breaking your corners. Your problem can be fixed with some adjustment. Quite frankly, you're going to just have to "tweak" these area's until everything lines up. Ford quality control throughout the '80's, '90's and into the mid '00's was shall we say....lacking. These cars on their best day were less than perfect. No two edges were alike. Loosen some bolts, shift stuff around, bend an edge here, tweak a corner there.....that'll get ya back into shape.

The fact that your current hood doesn't line up properly already tells me that it, or some other part of your front facia, fender, etc is A) out of adjustment, or B) the car at some point has been "tagged" in the front end, knocking it out of shape and needs correcting.

Also keep in mind, your aftermarket clear corners may not be built to the same spec as the OE lights. Compare the two side by side and see where the differences are. The results may surprise you.

 

[aar0s]

I ordered a set of lights from a popular mail order company and the side markers did not fit. The side of the lenses would stick out way out, so far that you could see behind it, when put next to a set of OEM's they were way off. I ended up finding a set of practically NOS lenses that fit perfectly.

 

[Onefine88]

I've broken the inside top corners of my lights too. I never had this problem with the original stock metal hood. Mine started happening when I added the fiberglass hood. I bought the same aftermarket hood at the same time for two fox cars and it happened on both cars.
After an extensive investigation I found that the thicker fiberglass hoods took up the space needed for the headlight markers to tuck up under it when closed.
The metal on the front edge of the stock hood is thinner, so if you're breaking your lights you need to adjust your stock hood forward on the car to achieve clearance for the lights. Try that!
Now, on my fiberglass hoods I had to move my them forward to gain clearance and I also had to grind and sand the underside front edge of my fiberglass hoods, thinning the material to gain enough clearance for the headlight markers. I then repainted the underside of the hoods and my results, no more broken headlight problems!

Long post short? Adjustment is very important, as well as being gentle when closing the hood.
If ya drop your hood, chances are your gonna break your lights.

good luck