Modifying

As much as you may otherwise believe, I’m just an average schlub like you. I have a regular job with regular pay, most of the time I have weekends off, and if there’s any spare time during the week I try to get into the garage and work on the cars. And when you have more than one car that you’re trying to keep roadworthy, of course, that gets really tricky…and expensive. But that’s how I roll.

So I set off in the winter of 2018 with the hopes that I could actually accomplish something great on at least one of the cars. The goal: convert an entire car over to modern LED lighting and make it look as stock as possible. Every single bulb. As it turns out, not only was the mission accomplished but I was able to convert BOTH cars in the same timeframe. It’s not often you can say that, right?

PART I: THE ’84 COUGAR GS

PROLOGUE: THE PREMISE

As we all know, our cars were created in the golden age of the incandescent 12v automotive bulb. They were dutifully used for many decades without much of a real improvement, save for maybe halogens. They gave off a yellowish light, they burned out after some time, and they generated heat. Those were all givens. But probably the most important, yet least thought-about, element of the incandescent bulb is that it gave off a consistent light pattern from all angles. You and I never really gave it a second thought, but all of our light housings and surrounding reflector areas were designed around this basic characteristic.

So when you start messing around with other types of bulbs such as LEDs, you begin to discover rather quickly that not all bulbs are created equal. And not all bulbs will mimic that omnidirectional light pattern (I’ve got bags full of unusable LED bulbs to attest to that).

Therefore my goal—and yours—is to find a bulb that mimics the stock bulb but in an LED pattern, and is also dimmable when needed.

Also, I must say that money was no object in my case. Whatever it took to get the job done, I was willing to pay for it. Just like any other trial-and-error automotive experiment, that means I have a few hundred US dollars’ worth of bulbs I’ll never use. So be it. I took one for the team so you don’t have to.

STEP ONE: BEGIN SMALL

I found that converting the smaller bulbs is the easiest. Why? Well, LED bulbs that aren’t pulling a lot of power will generally not need an inline resistor. They’re just literally plug and play.

The most common bulb on our cars is the 194 (or 168, similarly) so that’s where I started. And the first place to get that new bulb would be the front side marker on my ’84. I’d know how well a bulb worked in that location because it would easily show uneven lighting. Plus, I could look at the car from the front and see both lights…if something was off a bit, I’d surely know it.

So off to eBay I went. There are lots and lots of different types, light ranges, and configurations out there. I quickly learned that the clustered, unidirectional bulbs aren’t worth squat for our cars. They make a single bright spot and that’s it. Next, I tried a round, domed bulb that looks similar to the incandescent bulb it’s replacing. Close, but no cigar…the light was still going in more or less one direction. At least they were inexpensive at under US $1 each.

At this point I was so disappointed with the early test bulbs that I decided to just stop looking for the time being. Multiple eBay and Amazon searches weren’t yielding any promising leads, and more of the same old bulbs that I’d just purchased were the only options, it seemed.

Then one day I was in a US national parts chain store and saw some name-brand LEDs hanging from the shelves. They looked interesting but I wasn’t sure. There was a tester display for them that seemed to work impressively well. However, I was giving a hard stare at the ~US $9 price tag. If the bulb worked, it was not going to be cheap to upgrade the whole car. But I was in this all the way, no turning back now.

The younger salesperson working at the store told me he used these same bulbs on his truck. We went outside and he showed me the bulbs in action for his license plate lamps. Even in the late afternoon sunlight, they seemed pretty strong and bright. So I bought one to try out.

When I got home, I was shocked at the evenness of the light. THIS is what I had been searching for!

The winner: Sylvania/Philips. They currently have two different product lines and I honestly can’t tell you what’s different about them. All I know is, the more basic bulb in the white packaging is more common in whichever stores you frequent. So that’s what I went with. These are the 6000K bulbs, by the way, also known as cool white.

It was at this point that some of the information I’d read about LED bulbs turned out to be true. If you’re putting an LED bulb into a colored housing, the bulb should also be that color. So in an amber housing you’d want an amber bulb, red bulb in a red housing, and white anywhere else. This ended up being true for almost every situation. Otherwise the colors will be off, and not in a good way. (Purple taillights tend to attract unwanted law enforcement attention, if you know what I’m sayin’).

Left to right: stock bulb, no, no, OH yes.

Also, it is true that LEDs tend to work only one way in the socket. If you install one and try the light, and it doesn’t work, flip the bulb around the other way and it should. That’s because it is a diode, after all. That makes it VERY important that you try all the new bulbs out before you start reassembling.

Later on I swapped out the white LED for the amber version in the front housing, and it is definitely better. It’s very hard to tell that there’s an LED bulb in there, almost impossible in fact. That made me very happy, as it foreshadowed the rest of the bulb replacement process.

At this point, the front side markers, the rear taillight markers, and the license plate bulbs were all replaced. That was as far as I could go on the outside with 194 bulbs.

Total so far: ~US $60.

STEP TWO: DO THE DASH

One of the most annoying issues with the 1983-84 dash is the lack of good lighting at night. It’s never been that good, to be honest, and over time the bulbs will start fading and dust will collect inside the cluster housing. This is one area where we all can use some help. So into the dashboard I tore.

For the 1983-84 cluster there are only 4 main 194 illumination bulbs. After swapping them out, I made the garage dark and hit the headlamp switch…what a HUGE difference in lighting quality. Best of all: they are dimmable! Now you’re not going to get the same kind of dimming as incandescent here. It will go from super bright down to bright-ish, but not dim like before. Just so you’re aware. But for my tastes, these were perfect as I always had the dash lighting cranked up anyway.

Upgraded dash lighting makes a world of difference.

Full disclosure: to save a little money I did not change out the warning lamp bulbs nor the turn signal indicator bulbs. Those will get replaced with LEDs when and if needed.

Eventually I also did swap out the clock bulb, the heater panel bulb (fun!), and even the bulb inside the lighter. What, you didn’t know there was a bulb in there?

Next, I tackled the console with the ashtray bulb. This marked the end of the interior 194 bulbs…the rest would be different types that I hadn’t found quite yet.

Total so far: ~US $140. (Ouch.)

STEP THREE: KEEP WORKING

So far, the most straightforward bulbs had been replaced and I was about a third of the way done. It felt good to accomplish this but I knew there was a lot more work ahead, and also some more research needed.

I wanted to work on the exterior lighting once more, and not knowing if the Sylvania/Philips bulbs were going to work, I decided to try some cheaper omnidirectional white 1156 LED bulbs that I found on eBay. Those are used for the backup lamps, and the trunk and hood lamps. They did not disappoint: lighting was even and very bright. Another few off the list! (In hindsight, the Sylvania/Philips bulbs would also be just fine in these locations).

So out back, all that was left was the brake/turn signal bulbs, and in front, the turn signal/marker bulbs and headlamps. I’d get to those later.

Back inside the car, I went on to replace the courtesy lights with the same 1156-style bulbs.

Then it was time to tackle the dome light. Did you know that there were two different styles of map dome lights in our cars? It depended on the model year, but the earlier cars had the older, fuse-style bulb while later ones had the plug-in style base. For my car, the 1156-style LED bulbs worked awesome in the map lights but I didn’t find the correct fuse-style LED bulb for the dome light itself at the parts store. In the end, I bought 4 different ones off eBay and used the brightest one. Can’t tell you where it was from. I don’t know if Sylvania/Philips has an equivalent. But I can tell you that WOW what a difference in interior lighting now. When the door is opened, there is real, bright, usable light. It’s probably enhanced a bit by the blue interior color too, but it’s still quite impressive.

The console bulb was a little tricky, as Sylvania/Philips doesn’t offer that size. Again I went to eBay and was able to find one that worked. It’s not ideal, as the bulb isn’t frosted so it’s more of a uni-directional light, but it’s pretty bright and makes the console usable again.

That leaves the glove box lamp. And boy, did that ever kick me in the backside. After struggling with a lot of popped fuses over a few weeks’ worth of fiddling, it turns out that the stock glove box lamp holder does NOT like LED bulbs. At all. However, with the help from the message board, I was able to “fool” a bulb into working by covering up one side of the contacts. That was actually the very last bulb to get converted on the whole car.

Total so far: ~US $180. (Starting to hurt).

STEP FOUR: SIGNALING THE END

At this point the car was about 70% converted and I was pretty happy with the results. But the hardest part was still ahead: getting the brake lights and turn signals to work with LEDs, and without killing anything in the process.

I had heard some things about this whole deal, and in the end they turned out to be mostly true. In order for LED turn signals to function like an incandescent setup, you will need an electronic flasher, and preferably one made for LED bulbs. The new flasher will have a ground wire coming from it, and that wire will absolutely need to be grounded before the flashing can occur with LEDs. Fortunately there are a few spare screws hanging around the fuse panel area that go right into direct metal. That’s where I put the ground. The flasher was US $7 from eBay and it’s round, just like stock. I know there are some square ones that could work with wire extensions but don’t do that unless you have to. You will not need to change the 4-way flasher, by the way.

(Interestingly enough, with the new LED flasher installed, I tried the incandescent bulbs first and they still worked fine. Good to know in case you ever need to change them back or change out a dead bulb when you’re on the road, or if you’re mixing LED and incandescent bulbs in your particular setup.)

Also, I’d heard that taillight bulbs were the trickiest. Most people want you to believe that the “tower” bulbs are what you want. But I wasn’t so sure because the ones I tried were rather unimpressive, and not very bright to boot, despite their high brightness ratings. I decided to try the Sylvania/Philips bulbs because so far, they were doing a great job at everything else.

What turned out to be semi-not true is the need for any inline resistors. In general, older cars like ours don’t need them; however, in the case of light bleed—where even with the lights off there’s still a faint residual luminance from the bulbs—then resistors might be needed. More on this below.

So I got my amber 1157 LEDs for the front turn signals and tried them…very nice, and they flashed just like usual. Again, I got the Sylvania/Philips bulbs in the white package. The ZEVO ones are a little weird looking and I didn’t really care to try them.

With the front of the car mostly done, it was time for the rear brake/turn signal bulbs. I was sweating on those, because of the all-or-nothing move…plus, when you’re dropping US $60 on the bulbs, you expect them to work like you hope they will. Well, they turned out pretty awesome. The red Sylvania/Philips 1157 LEDs are very bright. I am pretty happy with them, and although I wish there was more of a difference between the dimmer and brighter flashing, I’m not about to go looking for different ones right now. They’re doing their job just fine.

The car, at this point, is about 95% done. All that’s need now is LED headlamps. But do those even exist?

Total so far: ~US $267. (Holy moley).

STEP FIVE: AN ILLUMINATING EXPERIENCE

It turns out that, yes, LED headlamps do exist. This is the standard 4×6 sealed beam style, and if you go on eBay or Amazon, you’ll find an absolute boatload of them for sale. But are they any good? I’ve seen different ones in real life and looking at them from outside the car, they sure seem pretty bright. But you never know until you actually drive the car at night to figure out if it’s going to work.

Most of these headlamps look okay. Some are gimmicky. A good majority of them don’t have a good warranty, which means they’ll likely die prematurely, which means I wasted money. Some are completely sealed up…again, that’s fine but I don’t want something that gets thrown away.

My goal here was to find stock-looking housings with replaceable LED bulbs. Sounds easy, right? Then you try to find them. Not so fun. I mean, I could buy stock-looking H4-style housings and put LED bulbs in them. But then you have H4 wiring to deal with. I’m too impatient for that sort of thing. I want a well thought-out solution.

Which one is stock, and which one is LED?

Fortunately I found them after digging for weeks. The winners are from Octane Lighting. It’s nearly impossible to tell these H4-style LED housings from stock. And the light output…to say it’s like daylight is pretty accurate. The bulbs are pre-wired for older cars so not only can they get replaced if necessary, they won’t require fiddling around with the wire harness or require an adapter harness. The warranty is pretty good, too.

A really unique feature of the bulbs are the built-in cooling fans. Each bulb has one, and when you turn the lights on they whir and whir like a 1996 Windows laptop. Seriously, I have no idea if they even could get that hot, but it’s nice to know they’ve got some assistance in any case.

One thing I discovered is that these particular LED headlamps put out the same general side-to-side pattern as the stock headlights, but the they tend to aim pretty high. You have to adjust them almost all the way down to get them correct enough. I’m still fiddling with the adjustments but at least oncoming cars aren’t blinded anymore.

LED on the left, and the rest are stock.

LED headlights are just awesome and make a huge difference in visibility. These ended up being around US $40 each, which isn’t cheap but have you priced regular sealed beams lately? They’re approaching US $15 each now and you can’t even replace bulbs in those. These ended up being a relative bargain in that respect, and for me it was the best decision.

If you are switching to LED headlamps and try different ones, please let us know about your experience. There is no “right” or “wrong” here, just whatever works for your preferences and your budget.

GRAND TOTAL: ~US $427. (BIG OUCH.)

RETROSPECT: OR, WHAT I’D HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY

So now the ’84 has a really modern lighting feel, and such usable light that I wonder how I’d put up with the old lighting for so long. It turns out that technology had to catch up to our lifestyles first, and in doing so it got pretty reliable in the process.

That being said, what I really wish is that Sylvania/Philips or some other major brand-name manufacturer would start marketing a “nostalgia” line of bulbs that are in the 4000K light range. That way, we could have modern LED bulbs but in the same yellower color range as stock (3500-4000K), with none of the disadvantages. I mean, sure, you can find 4000K bulbs on eBay but will they put out a good light pattern? Will they start flashing after awhile, as some people report? Will they last for a long time? Do they even have a warranty? That’s why a major brand name needs to step in. Marketing that to people with old muscle cars would be an easy task. Even putting together conversion kits could be a thing. It sure beats piecing it together like I had to do.

Alas, I don’t know if there’s much of a market for some of the odd bulbs in our cars, at least for a good name brand. I really, really wanted to go all Sylvania/Philips with this conversion but it just wasn’t possible.

Amazingly, most of the bulbs marked as 6000K actually were in that range. Sure, a few of the eBay ones were bluer, but it didn’t really matter in the overall scheme of things. Getting a consistent color range across an entire car is now mostly possible…as long as you like bluish white.

There is a slight amount of light bleed in the taillights when the headlights are off and the car is running. It’s not annoying and actually photographs way worse than it looks in real life. And it doesn’t affect performance as far as I can tell. I’ve been told that the taillight bulbs might need inline resistors to resolve the issue, and that makes perfect sense to me. When time allows I will definitely experiment with them and report back here.

Thus far, I’ve notice no interference with the radio when the lights are on (another warning from teh intarwebs) although I haven’t really put it to the test that much. Also, none of the bulbs flicker or have had any issues staying lit for extended periods. That’s undoubtedly because of quality control by Sylvania/Philips. I suspect if any bulbs start going, they’re going to be the eBay-bought ones.

Lastly, Octane Lighting doesn’t sell any 5000K headlamp bulbs. Maybe one day they will. Or maybe someone else will make them in H4-style, and I can just swap them out. But until then I’ll be happy with these.

UPDATE 1: Recently, the car site Jalopnik ran an article about putting quality LED bulbs in your car, entitled Why You May Want To Buy $10 LED Bulbs Even If $3 Ones Are Brighter. It basically reaffirms what I discovered in my own conversion and is well worth the short read.

PART II: THE ’86 COUGAR CONVERTIBLE

If you’ve read the article thus far, there’s no real need to rehash things for the ’86 as the bulbs are almost all the same on that car as well. Well, it doesn’t have a dome light. But there are door courtesy lights and the rear reading lights that got turned into entry lights, so I had to replace those.

A dramatic difference in visibility.

Also, the convertible has AutoMeter aftermarket gauges and I have to say that I’ve always hate, hate, HATED the stock incandescent bulbs in them. They made the gauges practically unusable for me. Well, after some Sylvania/Philips 194 LEDs, I’m happy to say that they are now just awesome. Very bright, details really pop out, and they’re much easier to see at a glance. Couldn’t be more pleased. I went ahead and replaced the turn signal, high beam, and other indicators with LEDs in this car, by the way.

One of my main areas of concern with the convertible was how the LEDs were going to affect the sequential turn signal kit. I’ve been using the Cougars Unlimited kit since 1997 and it has never failed me. But I know LEDs can throw things into chaos if not done properly. Fortunately, Vic the owner is still around and a few quick emails to him got me on the right track. Instead of replacing my main sequential electronic unit, I just had to buy an add-on box to take care of the resistors, and a custom-built electronic flasher unit. These were both not cheap but they were still cheaper than a completely new full LED sequential box, and they were both plug and play. Couldn’t have been simpler. Again I used the red Sylvania/Philips 1157 bulbs for the taillights.

Here is a view of the front turn signals, along with the cornering lamps:

So now, as the French say, the piece of resistance: the headlights.

To say I wanted a major cool factor to them would be an understatement. And I got them. Again from Octane Lighting, behold:

The halos are LED and are nearly identical to the style used on OEM vehicles today, meaning they’re high quality with consistent light flow and no cold spots. You can wire them in however you want, but I just put them on a switch. Some people like to use them for daytime running lamps and that’s fine also. I went with the 6K white halos, but Octane has all kinds of different colors if you so wish. (It would be cool to have amber ones for turn signals, though. Just saying).

The bulbs themselves are similar to the ones in the ’84. These H4 housings are diamond cut with clear outer lenses and a chrome bulb cap. They look awesome in the daytime as well as at night. These bulbs have similar cooling fans along with braided straps on the back to further help with heat dissipation. There’s kind of a lot going on behind the scenes, meaning between the header panel and radiator core support, as this kit has a lot of wiring and the braided straps and the inline resistor boxes. I was able to zip-tie them up out of the way for the most part.

Going off-script, I treated myself to a new LED clear/smoked third brake light for the trunklid, from a Chevy Blazer. Also got a new “hot rod”-style LED light for under the hood.

I actually worked on both cars simultaneously for the LED conversion. It didn’t cost any less to do the convertible either…in fact it was more, because the headlights were more expensive. For the convertible I’d venture to say the overall total spent was around US $550.

So…two cars, nearly US $1000 spent on things I really did not need to have. In the end, was it worth it?

Every penny.*

* Overall, I suppose that had I been pinching pennies, I could have likely gotten a majority of the bulbs cheaper on eBay or Amazon. They might have been okay, might have been in the correct color range, might last as long as these. There were a lot of unknowns going that way. You may or may not have a similar experience.

PART III: YOUR TURN

Hugh sent us these photos of his ’83 converted over to LED headlamps, the common variety that’s found on eBay:

Hugh said that last photo was with the headlight covers on…that’s how bright they are!

We’d like to hear from you if you’ve also done an LED upgrade—let us know what you used, where you got the bulbs, how you like them, etc. and we’ll be happy to share your experience on this page. We encourage you to send photos as well, even though we know they don’t always photograph correctly. That’s okay, we’d just like a visual representation of your work.

There’s one place on these cars that can always use a custom touch, and that’s in the area of lighting, particularly with the headlamps. The 1983-86 models have the standard 4×6 low and high beam sealed units that had been used for many years prior. One nice thing about that standard is how the lighting pattern was consistent across vehicles. While that’s great, there’s always room for modernization and improvement. The aero Fox Cougars saw a dramatic change in headlight design, beginning with the 1987 refreshening, with the new flush headlamp system and replaceable bulb. While a little more limited in upgrading, there’s still something that can be done if you want to make your Cat stand out at night.

HEADLIGHTS

1983-86

Before going into any kind of wild/exotic headlamp setup, if all you’re looking for is a brighter and whiter light then look no further than the Sylvania Silverstar headlamp. It is a quality name brand and does deliver on its promise: the light is whiter, a bit stronger, and plays nicely with the System Sentry/lamp out system for those cars equipped with it. That’s because these are still halogen lamps. They are really close to stock appearing and we can attest that they look great. Don’t expect a miracle, but do expect a better light experience.

The H4 conversion is the next step up from stock headlamps. The H4 headlight is relatively new to North America, although they have been available in Europe since the 1980’s. The idea is that they combine the size and shape of traditional 4″x6″ sealed beam headlamps, only with a replaceable bulb. Standard halogen bulbs are available, as well as hyper-white and xenon-imitation bulbs, and even full bi-xenon HID bulbs with conversion kit.

Unlike sealed beams, the H4 lamp will continue to function even if the lens is cracked or shattered because there is no high-pressure gas inside. But the real boon to H4’s is their light pattern: it works almost like a fog lamp, with excellent side-to-side lighting and the virtual elimination of a bright spot for the low beams. This is truly a blessing for those that want to upgrade to something more modern. Some versions are DOT street legal, while some are intended for off-road use only, so be sure to check first. Legality with H4’s is a delicate situation.

A few things to note about H4’s: they work off a totally different setup as far as wiring configurations. Fortunately, most H4 kits will come with a minimal conversion harness that plugs right into your own stock harness, so be sure that you get this with yours. Better yet, if you can, buy a separate harness like the one shown here. It’s the ultimate in wiring security because it lets you run higher wattage bulbs (don’t even try it with stock wiring!) and it also pulls its power directly from the battery, ensuring a full 12v at each lamp. As far as the bulbs, the standard 60/55w bulb will probably be too dim. The 100/80w are good, or there’s even a 130/90w bulb available.

This illustration shows the wiring changes needed to accomodate the H4’s bulb configuration. Since the blades are in different positions vs. the stock setup, you will need to make sure that everything is wired for the H4’s. And if you are going to use H4’s for your high beams (inner lights), you may need to bend the top (middle) tab down on the bulbs.

Similar are the H4 crystal/diamond headlamps. These have a totally clear lens with a patterned internal reflector. Good crystal H4’s come with a bulb cover to keep from blinding drivers’ eyes in oncoming traffic. Again, check the legality in your area first. They are also available with black reflectors for a totally different look. These lights are readily available eBay.

Another choice would be projector conversion headlamps. This uses a standard 4×6 headlamp housing and inserts newer projector beam technology inside. We’ve talked to a few people that have tried using them in a Cougar and they didn’t recommend them, as the beam was nearly unusable, but you may have a better experience.

Fast becoming another option is the LED projector conversion headlamp. The combination of a projector lamp with LED accents provides a great look for street and show. Multiple colors are available for the LED accents, and some you can even convert to use as turn signals. Be sure that they are DOT street legal if you’re going to use them for daily driving.

We now have the luxury of installing full LED headlamps. Obviously there would be no worries about ever changing bulbs again. And the light output is going to be very, very bright. Plus they’ll run a lot cooler than traditional bulb-driven units. They are more expensive than any of the other lamps listed above, but longevity and brightness are good payoffs for the price.

1987-88

As you know, your headlamps are pretty unique to the car (well, the 1988-94 Lincoln Continental had them too), so there is no swapping of Mustang headlamps into your car, we’re sorry to report. But you can swap out bulbs—carefully.

Your stock 9004 bulbs can be replaced by any number of aftermarket bulbs, including hyper-blue, hyper-white and imitation xenon blue. Your local parts store probably has quite a few types on the shelves as you read this. Generally, the better bulbs will be more expensive. You may end up spending $50 US or so to change your bulbs, so be warned. And there is no guarantee that the hotter bulbs won’t melt your headlamp housings. Use at your own risk.

You might be tempted to buy a full xenon/HID conversion kit for your headlamps. In theory, xenon bulbs will never burn out and will only need replaced if they’re smashed or damaged. But true xenon/HID setups are amazingly complex and require unique wiring that is much better than what came in your car. The way the system works is that a high-voltage ballast ignites each xenon-filled bulb when the headlights are switched on. The effect is similar to sodium vapor lights used in gymnasiums: initially the lights are dim but rapidly get brighter. Each ballast throws off roughly 20,000 volts, which is enough to do some damage to your body. In other words, this isn’t something you just play around with. You can use an HID conversion kit, which comes with everything you need including wiring, bulbs, and the ballasts. They are available on eBay or through JC Whitney.

SIDE MARKERS

1983-86

The stock side markers are, shall we say, rather large and not congruous with some paint combinations. Unfortunately there aren’t many choices for customization but you can always paint them.

For this custom side marker, it was simply done by painting over a custom vinyl Cougar logo and the clearcoating it. The trick is to not layer the basecoat on too thick if you want some light to shine through the painted part. Check the opacity of the paint by shining a flashlight inside the marker as you paint. You should find that 2-3 thin coats are about what you’ll need for lighter colors, and 1-2 coats for darker colors.

1987-88

Again, there are no aftermarket clear markers for these cars. Still, they are semi-clear from the factory which is a good thing, because you can make your own clears if you’re careful enough.

Start by removing the marker assembly. Using a Dremel or similar cutting tool, hack apart your perfectly good stock marker, then remove the amber reflector from inside. Then seal the whole thing up with copious amounts of silicone, and there you have a custom factory-style side marker. Simple, easy, and best of all, free of charge…if you don’t ruin your marker in the process, that is.

The 1967-73 Cougar (along with the 1964-73 Thunderbird and a few Shelby Mustangs) had one of the coolest and most unique features: the sequential taillamps, where the turn signals flash in sequence in the taillights. At the time it was called “gimmicky” but now this cool mod is enjoying a comeback. In fact, Ford brought back the feature for the 2010-up Mustang. The best thing is that it’s part of the Cougar’s history—you need not feel like it’s a passing fad; it’s here to stay. Now until a few years ago, you either had to try and splice in a system from the original Cougar (VERY problematic, and difficult to do), or try to find someone who could build a solid-state control box with Radio Shack parts. Well, thanks to newer companies, you can simply buy the pre-built kit and install it yourself in just a few hours.

We are not aware of any “plug-and-play” kits for our cars, so that means you’ll need a universal-style kit to retrofit your car. Below is a list of known, quality vendors that sell sequential kits:

• Cougars Unlimited has created one of the first mass-produced, modern era kits. This is the kit we used because it was the best available at the time. Please check their website for current price information.
• Web Electric Products sells a universal, low-cost sequential kit that is popular with hot rodders and car enthusiasts of all kinds.

BEFORE YOU INSTALL

There are a few things you need to know before you buy the kit and begin installation. The kit you purchase will need to work with any vehicle that has 3 brake light/turn signal combo bulbs per side (except those specifically designated as a 2-bulb system). All 1983-88 Cougars and most Thunderbirds have 3 bulbs per side, but one of the bulbs is for marker lights only, not for brake lamps. Which leads to the next point: there is some rewiring and modification to the taillamp wiring harness in order for the 3-light sequencer kit to work. We’ve figured out a way to significantly reduce the need to hack up your stock harness, and those pointers will be made below.

What comes in the kit?
The kit consists of a control box, wiring harnesses, mounting screws, a new heavy duty flasher, and instructions.

How does the kit work?
In a nutshell, the control box acts as a central brain or junction box for the brake signals and turn signals that go to the rear taillights. With this system the box controls everything automatically; this is why you need to do the rewiring. Also, you will replace the stock flasher with the special heavy duty unit supplied by the kit.

What do I need to start?
Basic hand tools (wiring strippers, screwdrivers, sockets), electrical tape, butt splice connectors, and 6 additional taillight bulb sockets (if bypassing the stock harness). A test light is also very handy to use here.

The following photos are a step-by-step tour of installing the Cougars Unlimited sequential turn signal system. It may or may not be similar to other kits. This section is only meant as a supplement to the instructions that come with the kit. You assume responsibility for any actions herein.

NOTE: All photos are taken from a 1986 Cougar. Your car’s setup may vary from the car shown.

INSTALLATION

After disconnecting the battery, remove the trunk liner (if applicable). This is the stock wiring harness, driver’s side, for a 1985-86 Cougars. Sockets from left to right: backup lamp, lights-on marker (inner), turn signal/brake lamp (middle), turn signal/brake lamp (outer). Your bulb order may vary, but you do have the same kind of sockets regardless.

This is the stock wiring harness, passenger’s side, for 1985-86 Cougars. Sockets from left to right: turn signal/brake lamp (outer), turn signal/brake lamp (middle), lights-on marker (inner), backup lamp.

This is the Cougars Unlimited kit: both wiring harnesses, signal box and flasher. You should mount the box somewhere out of the way where no wiring will rub against metal, and also where it will be protected from water.

This box was mounted behind the driver’s side trunk liner panel, on top of the wheel well. Since most of the stock taillamp wiring is on this side, it’s a logical choice and out of the way of objects in the trunk. The box is being held down by simple zip ties. It’s okay to make a custom mount for the box, if you wish. All wiring was tucked into wiring loom after the install.

In order for the kit to work, you need 3 brake lamp/turn signal sockets on each side of the car. For 1983-84 Cougars, you have to convert the outer marker lamp over. For 1985-88 Cougars/T-Birds, you have to convert the inner marker lamp over (next to the backup lamp). The hole above can easily be cut with a Dremel tool or sharp knife. The trick is to get the hole to look like the hole next to it…

…just like this one, so obviously you have to make the other hole bigger. Neatness does count for the most part, although it’s possible to be a little off. So long as the bulb socket goes in, turns, and locks, you are good to go.

This is step 1 for the taillight socket hole. It’s simply rounded out with a Dremel tool and sanding disk.

After cutting up the rest with a utility knife, this is what the hole more or less will look like. Make sure to double check the bulb so that it doesn’t pop out accidentally. If you do take too much out, you’ll have to fill the area with JB Weld and try again.

Instead of hacking up the stock taillight harness for the wires, you have a better option: buying new Ford taillamp sockets, as shown here, and splicing them into the wiring for the control box instead. You’ll need 6 total, 3 for each side, and it doesn’t matter if the sockets are for the 1157 or 2458 bulbs—your call there. This way you can preserve your stock wiring harness in case you ever need it again. You will still need to use the stock wiring harness for the backup lamps (and side markers on 1987-88 cars); the other sockets will simply need the bulbs removed. There is enough room at the bottom of the trunk well and behind the taillight panel cover of the trunk liner to let the wiring just hang.

WIRING TIPS

1) Disconnect the battery before attempting to install this kit.

2) When connecting wires, use butt splices or solder all connections. The principle behind this box is that it bypasses the stock wiring for the turn signals and brake lamps. In other words, all faith is put into this box. Therefore all wiring MUST be secure and permanent or else you run the risk of losing your brake lamps and/or turn signals as you drive. And make sure that no wiring will get in the way of moving parts (i.e. brake pedal).

3) There are two wiring harnesses associated with the box: one is for power input, the other is for power output. The input harness is where you should start first. For that, you will need to get a pure brake signal, and a pure turn signal for both left and right signals. NO CHEATING HERE. If you own a 1986-up vehicle, the brake signal can come directly from the third brake lamp in the rear window. For all pre-1986 cars, you MUST run a wire all the way up to the brake switch on top of the brake pedal (green wire), as there is no other place in the car to get this signal.

4) For the turn signals, all cars must get the signals from the switches on the steering column. You don’t have to strip the wires on the column or for the brake lamp; you can use a simple Scotch-Lok connector to piggyback those wires. Wiring may vary from car to car so you’ll have to get the signal yourself. To get the signals you will need a test light. Remove the steering column cover. Temporarily connect the car’s battery and carefully turn the key forward, but do not start the car. Put the driver’s side turn signal on, and test the wires in the turn signal harness on the column. You should find that one wire flashes the test light—that’s the wire you will need to hook up to the box. Repeat the same for the passenger side signal, then disconnect the battery again. Piggyback the wires and run them to the box. It’s easiest to run the wires underneath the carpeting along the driver’s side of the car.

5) Once all the input signals are taken care of on the box, go to the other harness for the lamps. Each socket will have 3 wires going to it: one for the brake/turn signal, one for the lamps on, and one for the ground. It’s helpful to chain all the grounds together, then to one master ground (either a ground wire or bolted to metal). You will also need to chain all the lights-on wires, tapping power from one such wire from the main taillight harness. Take your time and follow the instructions carefully. Once you have all the output wires situated, plug both harnesses into the box.

6) Before you reconnect the battery, you must change the flasher under the dash to the new heavy duty unit. This is because you’ve added more sockets to share the signals. If you were to use the stock flasher, the sequencer would work too fast and you’d lose the effect. The provided heavy duty flasher slows down the signal to the box and lets it sequence perfectly. After changing the flasher, reconnect the battery—it’s time to test the turn signals and brakes. A helping hand is good here.

7) Hopefully you’ll get the sequence in the first shot. If not, you’ll be checking the wiring extensively. Be patient! Once you’re working fine, double check all of your connections, then properly secure all wiring away from metal and out of the way.

When the aero Cougar first appeared in 1983, a few critics noted that the car had some holdovers from previous Cougars that dated the new body style, such as the stand-up hood ornament, ultra-plush LS velour interior, and the exterior coach lamps. Now here at COOL CATS we have always loved those coach lamps. And all these years later, electroluminescent coach lamps have seen a comeback with import tuners. We were definitely ahead of the trend! If you’ve always wanted the Cougar’s coach lamps for your car, but it never came with them, this section will help you with information and installation.

The factory electroluminescent coach lamps were standard on all 1983-86 Cougar LS models, and 1983-84 base (GS) models that had them as an option. No XR7 model had them, and no post-1986 Cougar had them. Here’s how they work: inside the emblem’s tan-colored casing is a miniature power inverter that works off 12v. The inverter is attached to a thin electroluminescent plate via two copper bands. When lit, the plate will emit an audible hum or whine. On top of the plate is a light diffuser, which helps to distribute the light evenly, and then the top acrylic Cougar logo. The acrylic is glued to the casing from the factory. The entire assembly is held to the car via a metal retaining ring with rubber on the back to prevent water infiltration. The ring has 3 prongs on the back side, which go through the car’s rear quarter panel, and attach inside with aluminum quick-nuts. The bolt pattern for the ring favors the 1983-86 cars, as the bolt pattern shrunk just enough not to make these usable directly on 1987-97 cars.

The hardest part about the EL coach lamps is actually finding them. They are not sold at Ford dealerships anymore, and NOS lamps go for big bucks on eBay when they’re available, which isn’t often. Used units do show up on eBay, albeit very rarely. You may have to go hunting at swap meets or the local salvage yard. Remember, there are plenty of 1983-86 LS owners that are looking to replace their burned-out lamps, so the competition will be fierce. Also don’t forget that you will need the EL lamp assembly as well as the retainer (trim) rings to hold them in—both are necessary.

TESTING

If you acquire a set, the first thing you MUST do is test them, so that you don’t end up drilling holes in your car for nothing. The lamps invert the power off 12v DC, so usually you’d just hook up the power (brown) and ground (black) wires to a car battery to test them. However, a neat trick is to carry a 9v battery with you and test the light out on that. It won’t show at full brightness but you will be able to see if it does light up at all, and you should hear the inverter hum a little. If so, you know you’ve got working units at least, and you’re ready to install. If not, see the Troubleshooting section below.

INSTALLATION

Installing the coach lamps is not terribly difficult, although you do need to drill a hole in your perfectly good rear quarter panel to mount these lights. Start by removing your interior sail panel, remove the black insulation panel underneath it, and there you have the quick nuts for the original Cougar emblem. Remove the nuts and the emblem should just pop out; if not you may need to gently pry the emblem off the car.

Notice the two small holes that are directly opposite each other (the third hole is for the guide pin on the emblem). Find the exact center between them and make a mark. Then, using a 1″ hole saw, drill the new hole. This large hole is necessary because the electro coach lamp casing has a shaft that contains the power inverter; you cannot get around this. It is usually okay if you’re not exactly in the center, but you don’t want the casing to touch the metal, or else the acrylic outer cover will crack with road vibrations.

You will need to apply some type of gasket on the back of the electro emblem before installation. A hand-made rubber gasket or silicone will work; even electrical putty is fine. The trick is to completely eliminate the chances of water entering the new hole you just made. Also, you may wish to treat the bare metal around the hole with paint to prevent rust. Remember that this part will not show so feel free to use anything, like touch-up paint or even nail polish. Tighten up the nuts inside the car, and the emblem is officially mounted.

Now you need to find some electrical power for the lights. From the factory, these lights required the interior reading lamps for the back sail panels, because both worked off the same wiring harness. It’s impractical to find and use this harness. Your best bet is to run the wiring from the lamps to the trunk, and tap into the marker lamp (not a brake/turn signal lamp). These coach lamps require very little power so you don’t have to worry about any type of power drain. The electro lamps have a simple two-wire hookup: power and ground. If you can clip the harness end and some of the wiring from a donor car, this is a plus. Otherwise you can use simple speaker clip connectors. After the wiring is completed, try them out, reassemble the interior, and you’re finished.

TROUBLESHOOTING

So what happens if your lights don’t work, and you’re positive that the wiring is correct? Well, that’s the gamble you take with old units. The problem with these lights is that they’re well over 20 years old and will stop functioning sooner or later. The inverters seem to be the problem. Once they’ve lived their useful lives, they will no longer transfer power correctly, and the light will flicker and cut out. Also, a very loud high-pitched whine can sometimes emanate from the lamp when they’re about to die. Eventually the inverter quits altogether and the lamp will no longer light up. The inverters do have a Ford part number stamped on them, but that number is obsolete and the chances of finding any older inverters laying around is slightly less than a snowball’s chance in Hades. In this case you have three options:

1. Live with them not working.
2. Disassemble them and install a regular light bulb.
3. Find a way to install a new electroluminescent plate and inverter.

(We’ll assume that option 1 is not an option at all.)

Some people have gone for option 2 and have cracked open their lamps, removed the inverter and electro plate, and installed a simple Ford factory bulb holder and bulb. This is good because it’s a replaceable bulb. But bulbs do not distribute light evenly, which is why they weren’t used in the first place, so the electroluminescent effect is totally lost. You can try using a piece of scuffed-up Plexiglas, or even frosted Lexan, to help with light diffusing. It’s about the cheapest and most practical way to keep the lamps lit, although it’s not going to have the same effect.

Option 3 demands that you put a new electro plate in there. It may be possible to pirate parts from one of the newer import car electro emblems and reuse them in your coach lamps. Don’t forget that technology has changed dramatically in the last 20 years—newer electro emblems have much smaller power inverters. You can also do a search on the Web for companies that sell electroluminescent lighting. This is an option that can definitely work, and will definitely get the correct look back.

Stephen has written and reported this:

“I read your part about the electroluminescent coach lights, and I have some new info for you. The newer EL stuff is available as a complete experimental kit from an electronics parts supplier, All Electronics Corp. The kits run about $24 US for a complete kit. I found them doing some research for my other hobby, rebuilding and building custom dashes and gauges. I plan to use my existing emblems on the sides to make my own EL coach lights.”

Cougars are great for doing taillight modifications. No matter what year Cougar you have between 1983 and 1988, there’s always something that can be done.

But first we have to dispel some rumors. Smoked taillight covers don’t exist for these cars. Never have, probably never will. There are a number of reasons why, but most of all because the cars are so old now. Besides, the 1985-86 cars had factory smoked taillights. Do not expect to ever find smoked covers unless somebody has made a set out of their garage. We’ve tried before and it’s not easy to do because of the compound curved surfaces.

Also, it is not possible to swap 1983-86 taillights for 1987-88, and vice versa. And you cannot use Thunderbird lights in your Cougar. Nothing between all of these lights is common besides the light socket locations, and even those vary greatly. The shapes, angles and mounting points all vary between cars and body styles. The only way to get any of these to work would be to do some major welding and bodywork. Really, because of the metal taillight mounting panel differences, it’s not even easy to swap 1983-84 taillights into 1985-86 cars (and vice versa). It can be done but it’s not pretty and it’s definitely not simple.

So you’re kind of stuck with what you’ve got…but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as you’ll see below.

1983-84

These taillights got the short end of the deal as far as customizing goes. They do look sort of trick as they are, and they fit the lines of the car nicely. Still, if you want to be different, there’s not a whole lot you can do besides blacking them out (see 1987-88 section below). You can also paint the cat head in the backing light a different color, as well as the stripes between the tiers. Wax and grease remover will take off the chrome from those areas quite nicely, leaving a clean look. Unfortunately there’s not much else that can be easily done.

1985-86

Now these taillights are much better for customizing because of their flat surface. If you’re looking for something other than a straight blacked-out look (see 1987-88 section below), here are some cool tricks.

1987-88 THUNDERBIRD SIMULATION
How about some cool 1987-88 Thunderbird-style round taillights for your Cougar? All you need to do is create a mask that’s sandwiched between the outer lens and the housing. To remove the lens simply pull on it gently; take your time because you can easily crack the lens if you’re too rough or impatient. Doing this on a very hot day with the car out in the sun will help a lot. Once the lens is off, cut some material to use as the mask. Thin black foam found at craft stores works great because it’s water resistant and easy to cut. Find the center of each square in the housing, then mark that center on the foam. All you need to use to cut the circles is tracing around a roll of masking tape or similar sized object. After the mask is completed, simply use black electrical tape to attach it to the lens, then put the lens back on the housing. Can’t be simpler, and the effect is so similar to the cool round T-Bird taillights that people will do a double take.

CUSTOM PAINTED LENSES
This is about as tricked out as we’ve seen for 1985-86 lenses, painted with the early 1990s Mercury signature “laser stripe” motif. Essentially this gave the lenses a retro look, similar to the original Cougars in the 1960s. In addition, the backup light area was painted with the Cougar logo, resembling 1987-88 Cougar taillights. Then the nomenclature was removed from the bottom reflectors, their indents filled in, and the reflectors painted body color. Everything was then clearcoated with automotive urethane clear for a nice, bright finish and durability. Now you don’t have to be a painter to emulate this…the basic striping can be done with vinyl, which also makes removal a possibility if you don’t like them anymore. A body shop could help with the taillight reflectors and clearcoating. The possibilities are endless…use your imagination.

1987-88

With the new body style came new taillights, and these are pretty cool and easy to modify.

CLEAR RED LENSES
Ever been jealous of 1996-2004 Mustang owners because of their clear red taillight lenses with clear bulbs? Well, envy no more because you can emulate this look very easily on your 1987-88 Cougar. Best of all, this trick is free of charge. All you need to do is remove the factory reflector inside each lens. This is okay because there will still be a reflector around the backing light when finished, so you will stay legal.

Start by gently pulling on the lens until it comes off, leaving the housing on the car. You may want to do this in warm/hot weather, or in a well heated garage, so you don’t risk cracking the lenses.

Here is the lens off the car. You’ll notice that the whitish-colored reflector is attached to the lens. It’s not glued on but rather attached at several points with heat, which melted the two parts together. The “welds” are strong enough for daily driving, but gentle enough to allow the lens to come off. Firmly pull the reflector off, one weld at a time, carefully using constant pressure.

When the lens pops completely off, this is what you’ll end up with. We recommend saving the reflectors in case you ever need to reinstall them.

Lo and behold, upon reassembly you have a clear red lens, just like some newer Mustangs.

This is a before-and-after shot. The left lens has had the reflector removed; the right one is still stock. During the daytime there isn’t a dramatic difference from a distance but you will notice it up close. At night, the stock clear bulbs are really, really, REALLY bright without the reflector in there. You may want to consider using red-colored bulbs or doing something to tone down the light a bit, so that you don’t have any unwanted law-enforcement attention.

sarjxxx has provided photos of this mod on his own car. Note the absence of black in the center section. This may or may not create unwanted blinding to the cars behind you so please consider that.

BLACKED-OUT LENSES
By far this is one of the most requested taillight mods for any 1983-88 Cougar. Before you start, consider that a blacked-out lens is illegal in some places. This is because of reduced light transmission and a general dark lighting situation. Do this mod at your own risk.

The usual product used to create this effect is called Niteshades. You can find it at your local parts stores or online. It’s a liquid that you spray onto the outside of the lens for a permanent smoked look. It will take about 5-7 thin coats per lens to get the desired effect.

Start by removing the lenses. Wipe the lenses down with rubbing alcohol or wax/grease remover and let air dry. Then run a tack cloth over the surface to get any debris off. You’re now ready to spray away. This stuff is pretty tricky because if you put too thick of a coat on, or if the previous coat hasn’t dried enough, it will sort of push the previous stuff away and generally look nasty. Or it can run down and make a real mess. Take your time and put thin coats on. When finished, they should look similar to the car at left.

Here’s the same car with the lights on at dusk. In this photo they look pretty red. In reality these are darker, and in the full darkness of night they will appeared smoked.