Lets talk about complete LED conversions.....

Prime Lord

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#1

• Oct 28, 2009

• #1

I've been working on this for a while now....but I want to change EVERY bulb in the car (save the headlights/foglights) to LEDs.

Thusfar I have changed the front and rear turn signals, reverse lights, dome light, corner markers, 3rd brake light, hatch light, & license plate lights.

Every bulb I've bought has been from SuperBright LEDs. They are fantastic. I have also found V-LEDs and they look intereting but I have not purchased anything from them yet so I don't know if they are brighter than SuperBright's.

I will take & post up some pictuers when it gets dark so that things can be seen better.

Eventually, I want to change all the bulbs....the dash illuniation (including the headlight/hazard switches), the glove box, everything.

The next project is to make the corner markers blink with the turn signals. Because of the reduced draw of the LED lights, there is no risk of running two full size 1157 type bulbs in the front. I've ordered a new set of diamond clear corners from 50Resto and when I get them, I'm going to dremel the opening to accept the full size 1157 socket (which I cut off of a junkyard ford) and then wire everything up together. Thus making both the inside and outside lights blink when the turn signal is activated.

After that, its the brake lights and rear markers, then moving on to the dash.

Suggestions? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Contributions?

 

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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#2

• Oct 28, 2009

• #2

Prime Lord said:

Suggestions? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Contributions?

Click to expand...

Did you go with the LED boards or just bulbs in the brake/turn signals?

I only ask because LED's should be directly projected and not reflected by design.

I know those sites do sell the boards that plug into the stock bulb sockets, but i was thinking of soldering up some boards and trying it out on the reverse/rear turns for now

 

1990Coupe

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#3

• Oct 28, 2009

• #3

I want to do this as well. I have LED's in my front marker lights. I want to change the blinkers but i dont know what resistor to get to prevent them from flashing a million miles an hour haha.

I'm with 5L5 did u use the boards in the back??

I was thinking about buying trailer LED taillights, and taking them apart and installing them underneath my fox housing. I've had this plan for years just other things keep coming up lol

 

82CapriRS

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Oct 28, 2009

#4

• Oct 28, 2009

• #4

i have LED's in my dash an for heater controls, and the license plate lights which are all from super bright led's .com. i have the bright white bulbs an they look good but i havent figured out on how to make it look more even yet. also, with my aftermarket crap white gauges it doesnt line up good enough for me but its surprisingly better then alot i have seen. i was also thinkin about doin other lights like the tails an whatnot but just havent looked into it yet. all the bulbs i have are the 5 led, 4 around the diameter an one straight up. i can take pics if anyone wants to see but im pretty sure somethings wrong with a bulb or two in the cluster. it'll give you an idea on what it looks like. lemme know guys

PimeLord: you have a list of bulb sizes an what you used for the tail lights an all the exterior lights you did? pics? very interested in that setup. what tail lights you have?

 

woodyy24

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#5

• Oct 28, 2009

• #5

id like to see what some LED tailight bulbs look like. seems like a not bad idea to brighten up the dim stockers.

 

82CapriRS

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#6

• Oct 28, 2009

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i thought about orderin the bulbs when i got my dash lights an stuff, should have done it, they are pretty dim.

 

Prime Lord

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I have these in all my turn signals.

I have LX lenses out back and a 6-piece diamond clear set up front. I've noticed that the fox tail lights are ridiculously dim...so a few years ago I took the lenses off, masked everything out and sprayed the reflector portion of the lenses with chrome spray paint. I have heard from many people that I have the brightest mustang tail lights they've ever seen. heh.

as far as the reflector vs straight out design, LED's are by default a directional light source. They have to be altered with a lens in order to project light in any other direction. This is why 100% of the new LED tail lights you see on cars have lots of individual lights that make them up. They can direct the light straight back and get the maximum effect. So in our cases it would be ideal to take the lenses apart and make a custom circuit board with LED's to fill the ENTIRE front of the lens. But lets be realistic...its just not practical. Which is why I am only using the replacement bulbs and taking full advantage of the radial mounted LEDs that the units I linked to above have. They work great in the reflectors. I wish they were a little brighter in the front, but the backs are perfect. I will go out and take some pictures when I get a minute.

As far as the turn signal flash...SuperBright has an LED flasher unit that is a direct swap for our stock turn flasher. Its square instead of round and it does not click, but it works perfectly. That is what I have installed in mine. The main problem I've run into is that w/ the LED's there is not enough load to trigger the hazard flasher. Now, I would just swap that out w/ another LED flasher like I have for the turn signals, BUT, that flasher is in the round hole on the back of the fuse panel and can't accept the square design of the aftermarket flasher. I'm still working on a solution to that.

82Capri....are these the bulbs you have in the dash?

 

82CapriRS

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#8

• Oct 28, 2009

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nice, can you post some pics of your lights? i have the same exact setup, curious to see what it looks like.

these are the bulbs i have in my dash...the cool white bulbs.
WLED-x5 (194 type) Wedge Base bulbs Specifications

 

Mustang5L5

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Curious to see pics.


I see a lot of cars retrofitted with LED's on the road and they are just not as bright as you'd want them to be. Plus the effect they give is a bright point of light in the center, and the reflected portion is just not as bright.

However, i bet most are using normal LED's, and not some of the new SMD technology. I have a set of 8W SMD's as reverse lights in my G35. While not as bright as my original incandescent bulbs, they are still plenty bright enough to back up with.

These are the actual bulbs I have for reverse lights. It's a CLEAR lens, so you can see the bulb through the plastic. SO no light is lost to lens diffusion. The OEM bulbs were still brighter
V-LEDS HID WHITE 19 M-SMT 8W HIGH POWER BULBS 917 918 920 921 922 923

However, they are not a critical lamp on the car. That's why i've been hesitant to do replacement bulbs in a diffuser style taillamp. Plus add on the fact that I have Cobra taillights and you have a big black bar right over the bulb.

SO i may leave my stoplamps alone, or experiment with a board style bulb like this in the turn/reverse lights
V-LEDS HID 5K WHITE 48 M-SMT PCB 194 921 1156 3175 211

But I am more curious to see the interior stuff. I have LED's everywhere in my G35, so when i get in my Mustang and see yellow incandescent bulbs and lighting everywhere...it just looks "old"

 

1990Coupe

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Oct 28, 2009

#10

• Oct 28, 2009

• #10

Got a link for this new "flasher" that takes care of the blinker issue?

 

82CapriRS

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#11

• Oct 28, 2009

• #11

But I am more curious to see the interior stuff. I have LED's everywhere in my G35 said:

ill go snap a shot of mine. like i said i believe 1 or 2 bulbs crapped out on the stock tach but i dont have it hooked up so its not to bad. ill eventually fix it...sooner or later lol. gimme a min an ill post a pic

Click to expand...

 

82CapriRS

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ok it'll have to wait till it gets dark to get a good pic but ill post one

 

82CapriRS

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#13

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RedFoxGT said:

This is also a nice option instead of the bulbs. I thought about buying it a while back but wasn't sure if it would work well on GT taillights.

LED TAILLIGHTS NON-SEQUENTIAL 1983-1993 - CJ Pony Parts, Inc.

Click to expand...

never saw those before, does anyone have these installed?!?! pics?!!?

 

82CapriRS

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#14

• Oct 28, 2009

• #14

wont open for me

 

82CapriRS

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#15

• Oct 28, 2009

• #15

got it to work, i dont like the brake lights on that car, the gap doesnt have the normal mustang look. without the break in between the two led strips an it would be nice. i like the blinkers though

 

82CapriRS

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#16

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so my digital camera is dead an could only get a pic of the tach with the led in it to show the color an how bright it is. in the tach i ran a different bulb which is a single led from superbrightleds.com

 

Prime Lord

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1990Coupe: The FL2 Red is the right flasher

Videos:
Rear turn signal
Front turn signal

I didn't see the point of doing both the left and the right as they are exactly the same. If I get a chance tomorrow I will do some daytime shots of the same.

Sorry for the crappiness of these pictures....but for some reason this camera takes really crappy low light shots.













That link referenced above: That guy took the lenses off and hacked in the oval truck lights. That's why there is a break between the tail light bulbs.

 

Reactions: Essn95

Mustang5L5

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Oct 28, 2009

#18

• Oct 28, 2009

• #18

I like!


Guess i got my winter project now

 

1993SSP

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#19

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Damn, I am diggin the LED's. I was planning on getting some ultra clear 6 pc headlamps from 50 resto this winter. I'm thinking those bulbs would look super goofy with those clear lenses

 

Prime Lord

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SSP, those are what I have for headlights. I'll get some daytime pictures tomorrow and you can judge for yourself. I personally like it because the lens is has no hint of amber to it until you turn on the light.