Fox T-Bird/Cougar Forums

Technical => Body/Appearance/Interior => Topic started by: Romeo2k on May 01, 2007, 12:34:38 AM

Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: Romeo2k on May 01, 2007, 12:34:38 AM
Been a long time since i posted, Havent progressed much on my project... Lack of time and room to work. :punchballs:
But i've been picking up various parts along the way, So i'll have em ready to go when the time comes. :hick:

Anyway, I was looking into headlight covers for a nice clean look for the front end.
I'm only finding GTS brand to be easily avalaible.
I was thinking of going clear so i wouldnt have to switch out the smoked ones at night, but im unsure of how this would look... Does anyone have any pics of these installed on an 83-86?
And does anyone know of any other makes that are avalaible? Or have pictures of any old makes installed?
I'm trying to get an idea of if i would really care for this look or not.

Thanks!
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: 83Heritage on May 01, 2007, 10:11:38 AM
I have a picture of the smoked ones that are on my car. They don't cover the marker light, I used night shades and did that my self. It is a PITA to see at night, I rely mostly on my driving lights, but I just recently did the H4 conversion with 90w low, and 130w high, but I havent driven the car yet this year to see what kind of difference that has made.
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: 1WLD BRD on May 01, 2007, 11:42:10 AM
Here is my Cougar with a blue set and a chrome set I made.
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: Red_LX on May 01, 2007, 12:54:18 PM
Quote from: 83Heritage;144066
It is a PITA to see at night, I rely mostly on my driving lights, but I just recently did the H4 conversion with 90w low, and 130w high, but I havent driven the car yet this year to see what kind of difference that has made.


Or you could just take them off...
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: Romeo2k on May 01, 2007, 01:48:27 PM
Nice,
That's more of the look i was going for in both the pics, The previous one i had seen had covered the nearly entire housing assembly.

Do the clear ones get scratched/dirty and ugly a lil after while?

I found some really nice NOS stock ones on ebay from wade, but tryed to bid at the last second and it had jumped almost $30 so i missed out. :flame:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=011&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=320107380178&rd=1,1
Anyone know if wade is still making guards for these years?
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: 83Heritage on May 01, 2007, 03:07:11 PM
These are on back order for the next month, but you could call them and bug them.

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?N=700+4294908331+4294925044+4294907842+115+400397
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: Romeo2k on May 01, 2007, 08:17:14 PM
Awesome, Thanks for the link.
I was hoping to pay about that much for them, My local autozone has a pair in stock but they want 77.99 for them. :punchballs:

Any info about the clears getting discolored, faded or ugly after awhile?
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: rodsterh on May 02, 2007, 10:17:23 PM
Quote from: Romeo2k;144175
Awesome, Thanks for the link.
I was hoping to pay about that much for them, My local autozone has a pair in stock but they want 77.99 for them. :punchballs:

Any info about the clears getting discolored, faded or ugly after awhile?


Probably depends on the material they are made out of.

I had clear Ford Motorsport covers on my '83 for years and they never got ugly. There was some slight pitting but with regular cleaning and waxing the stayed nice. A stone finally cracked one so that was the end of them.
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: Romeo2k on May 03, 2007, 08:39:09 PM
Sounds good, Thanks for the info, Sorry to hear one broke. >.<

And 83Heri and 1WLD, Did you paint your corner lights in those pics?
And did that work out well?

I was interested in smoking mine like these:
(http://i9.ebayimg.com/07/i/000/9a/8c/fec0_1.JPG)

But i'm not completely sure how to go about doing this.
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: 1WLD BRD on May 03, 2007, 11:52:24 PM
yeah mine were painted, but I have a cougar outline left on it so when the lights were on the cougar emblem lit up.

Like this:
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: cougrrr302 on May 04, 2007, 12:07:42 AM
1WLD BRD: How did you make those chrome ones?
Anyone ever painted their side markers body color with the Cougar emblem. I know Eric did on his Convertible.
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: 1WLD BRD on May 04, 2007, 12:23:03 AM
it's top secret....  I could tell you but then I'de have ta kill ya.....  J/K, chrome 5% window tint.  best part? I never had to remove them for night driving....  either pair.  they were bright enough to safely drive at night with them on.  with the chrome ones, you couldn't even tell they were on at all, the light shined through that well.
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: 83Heritage on May 04, 2007, 09:36:01 AM
Quote from: Red_LX;144107
Or you could just take them off...


Then every time I drive it at night, I would have to remove them, the put them on again the next day. It just seems like more trouble than it is worth when I can just get brighter lights to compensate for them.

Quote from: Romeo2k;144593
And 83Heri and 1WLD, Did you paint your corner lights in those pics?
And did that work out well?
I was interested in smoking mine like these:



Mine are "smoked" I just did it really heavy, to match the car. I used nightshades. Its also available at Summit Racing. The number of coats you do determines the darkness.
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: ipsd on May 04, 2007, 09:41:36 AM
Those of you that have made your own did you use plexi or lexan? Also did you just use a flat sheet and cut it to shape or is there some sort of bend needed that I can't make at home? Also what did you use to attech them to the car? I was thinking about some sort of heavy rubber type weather strip with some velcro on it. Then the velcro would hold them on but you could remove them if you wanted. I also had a set of AVS headlight covers but one blew off after about 3mos. I still have the driver side like that does me any good.
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: 1WLD BRD on May 04, 2007, 10:12:52 AM
You cant get Plexi around here, in fact I dont even think they make it anymore. 

So, I made mine out of a sheet of 1/8" Lexan, you have to heat the outside upper corner and put a slight bend in it to fit them right.  I also made these brackets from the same lexan.  They screw or double sided tape, to the sides of the light housings, then the covers atach with little squares of velcro.
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: rgobble2 on May 12, 2007, 09:19:04 AM
i have some smoked one that iwon off of e-bay several years ago from someone "down under" looks good makes my black bird look bad easy to take off simply take out of the channels taht hold it in
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: 1BadBird on May 12, 2007, 09:48:44 AM
83Heritage, that car of yours is killer looking. On the H4 converstion, what and where did you get it from?? The 90w/140w ?? where'd you find them ???? What else did you have to change to make them work??  I love these cars in Black!!!  :bowdown:

John
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: rbohm on May 12, 2007, 09:31:59 PM
whne i had my old 84 tbird, i put the clear cover on the car, but i painted the headlight surrounds flat black, and from many angles the covers looked like they were smoked, or blacked out.
Title: Headlight Covers/Gaurds
Post by: 83Heritage on May 14, 2007, 08:43:01 AM
Quote from: 1BadBird;146668
83Heritage, that car of yours is killer looking. On the H4 converstion, what and where did you get it from?? The 90w/140w ?? where'd you find them ???? What else did you have to change to make them work??  I love these cars in Black!!!  :bowdown:

John


Thank you for the compliment. I got everything I needed from Summit Racing. The bulbs are made by Hella, and they are part number HLA-H83140011 $9.39 each. Taking Eric's suggestion, I added the upgraded the wiring harness part number AMC-509103 $32.39. I used the Matrix Angel-Eye housing, part number GRM-09-1050 $24.95 each. I have yet to hook up the angel eye part, so I am not sure how it looks. So for everything I bought it was $169.75 plus tax ( not sure how the tax situation works if you don't live in a state that has a retail location), they do offer free ground shipping though. The only thing I needed to do in order to get them to fit was trim the metal bracket that they bolt into, and install the wiring harness. The wiring harness will also need repinned. See this post for more information. http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com./showthread.php?t=11045&highlight=h4