well i was curious on how hard it would be to take the front emblem on my 84 cougar and make it illuminated? would it be just like doing the side emblems? id probably repaint the emblem too. just kinda curious on it
somebody already did something like that. i think the took the emblem off, cut the back of the header pannel, put clear plastic on it and stuck the emblem back on, then put a neon light behind it. hopefully somebody will post the picture they made
As far as I know, Eric was the first one to do that.
I did the same thing with a factory illuminated c-pillar emblem on my '86 GS. I could not have done it without Eric's help, however.
The EL plate and trasformer were shot, so I installed a small 12V lamp (grain lamp with leads).
This made for a "hot spot" in the center of the emblem, so to smooth out the illumination I cut a circle of plastic (from a CD case) and sanded it down on both sides.
This made it thin enough to fit within the unit and it also helped to diffuse the light.
I had to drill into the header panel for the mounting posts on the chrome ring, but that was no big deal.
Hmmm...I put an EL coach lamp in place of the flat emblem on my old '84 back in 1989 or so. That was the first I'd ever heard of it being done. That's obviously the easiest way to do it, provided you can find a good, working coach lamp.
Cougars2Go and Scott Payne have both done great work with simulating the EL coach lamp by using other means.
do you guys have any photos you can share?