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Topic: Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help (Read 4108 times) previous topic - next topic

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

I will be in the the market for fog lights for my bird.  I am converting the front to the turbo coupe style and will be putting ground effects on. 

The original fog lights are hard to find and often not in very good shape.  Since my car did not have fog light originally, I will have to install them as new anyway...

Does anybody have any suggestions as to what aftermarket fog lights look good and fit?
===85BIRD===
:birdsmily:

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #1 –
Those are on Ebay all the time.Look up Marchel fog lights,Mustang foglights,Lincoln Mark VII foglights.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #2 –
If I get the actual stock fog lights . . . . is there a wiring kit and switch that can be purchased... or am I better off just getting something aftermarket that fits?


Quote from: vinnietbird;214144
Those are on Ebay all the time.Look up Marchel fog lights,Mustang foglights,Lincoln Mark VII foglights.
===85BIRD===
:birdsmily:

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #3 –
Your best bet is to wire them yourself using a factory switch and a relay. Ford wired them in a stupid way (the headlight switch carries the current of the headlights AND fog lights) which results in a lot of burned out headlight switches and reduced brightness for the fog lights.

As for the lights themselves, I installed a TC front clip on my car and used a set of cheap Blazer "OEM" fog lights. A very minor modification to each factory fog light bracket (a 3/8" hole drilled in the bottom of each one) and my own wiring and that was that. I also drilled a 1" hole in the bottom of the bumper cover on each side so I can get a socket on the fog light bolt - it's under the car so nobody can see it anyway. Only a Turbo Coupe purist would be able to tell they're not stock, and since the car is not a Turbo Coupe I'm not particularly inclined to please the purists :D
2015 Mustang GT Premium - 5.0, 6-speed, Guard Green - too much awesome for one car

1988 5.0 Thunderbird :birdsmily: SOLD SEPT 11 2010: TC front clip/hood ♣ Body & paint completed Oct 2007 ♣ 3.55 TC rear end and front brakes ♣ TC interior ♣ CHE rear control arms (adjustable lowers) ♣ 2001 Bullitt springs ♣ Energy suspension poly busings ♣ Kenne Brown subframe connectors ♣ CWE engine mounts ♣ Thundercat sequential turn signals ♣ Explorer overhead console (temp/compass display) ♣ 2.25" off-road dual exhaust ♣ T-5 transmission swap completed Jan 2009 ♣

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #4 –
The hole I drilled in the bottom of the bumper cover:
2015 Mustang GT Premium - 5.0, 6-speed, Guard Green - too much awesome for one car

1988 5.0 Thunderbird :birdsmily: SOLD SEPT 11 2010: TC front clip/hood ♣ Body & paint completed Oct 2007 ♣ 3.55 TC rear end and front brakes ♣ TC interior ♣ CHE rear control arms (adjustable lowers) ♣ 2001 Bullitt springs ♣ Energy suspension poly busings ♣ Kenne Brown subframe connectors ♣ CWE engine mounts ♣ Thundercat sequential turn signals ♣ Explorer overhead console (temp/compass display) ♣ 2.25" off-road dual exhaust ♣ T-5 transmission swap completed Jan 2009 ♣

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #5 –
Aaahh.  That's the ticket.  They look good to me.  I do not really care if they are the original lights or not.  Something like that will give my bird the attitude it needs.

Quote from: Thunder Chicken;214150
Your best bet is to wire them yourself using a factory switch and a relay. Ford wired them in a stupid way (the headlight switch carries the current of the headlights AND fog lights) which results in a lot of burned out headlight switches and reduced brightness for the fog lights.

As for the lights themselves, I installed a TC front clip on my car and used a set of cheap Blazer "OEM" fog lights. A very minor modification to each factory fog light bracket (a 3/8" hole drilled in the bottom of each one) and my own wiring and that was that. I also drilled a 1" hole in the bottom of the bumper cover on each side so I can get a socket on the fog light bolt - it's under the car so nobody can see it anyway. Only a Turbo Coupe purist would be able to tell they're not stock, and since the car is not a Turbo Coupe I'm not particularly inclined to please the purists :D
===85BIRD===
:birdsmily:

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #6 –
The only problem with what you want to do is that the bumper cover alone won't be enough to hold up fog lamps. You will definitely need a bracket system upon which to mount the lamp housings. And with the funky angles of our front bumpers that's not going to be easy to do, unless you happen upon OEM-style brackets...which are also difficult to find.

As for wiring, a good universal wiring kit does a good job. Just be sure that it has a quality relay and decent gauge wiring. You can find an OEM fog light switch from 1985-88 Turbo Coupes, 1985-86 XR7's, and Mark VII LSC models. It's very easy to wire in the kit to the OEM switch. In fact, that's how I have it set up on the convertible. Then you'd only have to find the appropriate headlamp switch panel with the factory fog light switch cutout, and those are floating around here and on eBay, as well as at boneyards.

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #7 –
there isn't too much that is special about the factory brackets there are just a large C shaped piece of metal. holes in the top to mount it to the bumper and a hold in the back to mount the light. i did the same as thunder chicken and bought a set of blazer units at work. they work great. i also just wired them right into the factory wiring. the biggest noticeable difference is the factory lights have the cat head in the center.
also i will ask if the factory fogs are running there power though the headlight switch then why is there a factory relay for the fog lights? are you guys sure you aren't looking at the diagram wrong. the headlights have to be on and on dim to make the fogs come on.
84 Turbo coupe 2.3T Modded with 88 upper and lower intake, 88 injectors, E6 manifold, T3-4 AR.60 turbo, 31X12X3 FMIC, Homemade MBC , Greddy knock off BPV.
4 eyes see better than 2! 
Da Bird!

FreeBird

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #8 –
I already have the brackets.  , hard to come by and they want a pinkie finger for them.  But got em. 

I see, I was wondering ... and hoping that there was a way to make the fog switch look factory.  I'll keep my eye out for that stuff.

thanks!!!
===85BIRD===
:birdsmily:

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #9 –
The lights that Chicken is using may be a little smaller than what came on the older Turbo Coupes.The Marchell lights were bigger.Just look around and find what fits well.I bought a brand new set of Hella lights complete with a new harness,relay,and switch about a year ago (still in the box).I want factory appearing as much as possible.I've seen decent looking lights at Autozone complete with harness,relay,switch and light covers.Just dig around.
'88 Sport--T-5,MGW shifter,Trick Flow R intake,Ed Curtis cam,Trick Flow heads,Scorpion rockers,75mm Accufab t-body,3G,mini starter,Taurus fan,BBK long tube headers,O/R H-Pipe, Flowamaster Super 44's, deep and deeper Cobra R wheels, Mass Air and 24's,8.8 with 3.73's,140 mph speedo,Mach 1 chin spoiler,SN-95 springs,CHE control arms,aluminum drive shaft and a lot more..

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #10 –
Ive got a pair of Hella FF75 driving lights onmy car. My stock fogs were trashed. The FF75's outshine the high and low beam together. Theyre driving lights though, so they have a long and narrow beam, rather than a short, fat beam like fog lights. I have them wired to come on with the high beams. Its like daytime :)
93 Festiva L, 193k miles, BP+T/G25MR swap, T3 50trim .48/.42, SRT FMIC, Capri electronics/Rocketchip, 2.5" exhaust
bests: ET 12.86, MPH 110.25, 1.92 short
02 Subaru Impreza WRX, 129k miles
97 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport, 236k miles

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #11 –
those lights that thunder chicken are using are the same ones i'm using i couldn't tell any size difference between my old broken  84 factory ones and the blazer units. in the 83-84's they just have a switch mounted to the bottom of the dash. it is factory but still looks tacked on.  not to sure about the 85-88 fog light switch.
84 Turbo coupe 2.3T Modded with 88 upper and lower intake, 88 injectors, E6 manifold, T3-4 AR.60 turbo, 31X12X3 FMIC, Homemade MBC , Greddy knock off BPV.
4 eyes see better than 2! 
Da Bird!

FreeBird

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #12 –
I got Navigator NV 100Z lights for the daily driver.  Not as good as the factory Marchals of course, but they fit very nicely, are bright and inexpensive.  The only downside I've noticed is that the mounting nut seems to come loose too easily, so use some loctite.

I'd give you a link, but the O'Reilley's search feature blows.
__________________
Twin '85 TCs
White/ Grey 2-tone
#1 (left): undergoing top-to-bottom rebuild     
#2 (right): DD, power everything (sorta)
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #13 –
Quote from: ipsd;214187
also i will ask if the factory fogs are running there power though the headlight switch then why is there a factory relay for the fog lights? are you guys sure you aren't looking at the diagram wrong. the headlights have to be on and on dim to make the fogs come on.

The high current power feed for the fog light relay comes through the headlight switch, then the high/low beam switch, then the relay, then the fog lights. That's why the headlights have to be on and in "low beam" mode. The fog light switch controls the low current side of the relay. It's really a monumentally stupid design, as having all that wiring and then feeding the relay through the headlight switch kinda defeats the purpose of having a relay to begin with.

The Blazer lights are pretty much identical in width to the factory ones - in fact the parts TC I had had factory lights with Blazer lenses rigged in (looked like poo, but was functional, apparently). The difference is in the width of the glass itself - factory lights had full-width glass, while the Blazer ones have a 3/8" wide plastic retainer on each side, making the lens about 3/4" narrower.
2015 Mustang GT Premium - 5.0, 6-speed, Guard Green - too much awesome for one car

1988 5.0 Thunderbird :birdsmily: SOLD SEPT 11 2010: TC front clip/hood ♣ Body & paint completed Oct 2007 ♣ 3.55 TC rear end and front brakes ♣ TC interior ♣ CHE rear control arms (adjustable lowers) ♣ 2001 Bullitt springs ♣ Energy suspension poly busings ♣ Kenne Brown subframe connectors ♣ CWE engine mounts ♣ Thundercat sequential turn signals ♣ Explorer overhead console (temp/compass display) ♣ 2.25" off-road dual exhaust ♣ T-5 transmission swap completed Jan 2009 ♣

Fog Light Suggestions & Tech help

Reply #14 –
Quote
The high current power feed for the fog light relay comes through the headlight switch, then the high/low beam switch, then the relay, then the fog lights. That's why the headlights have to be on and in "low beam" mode. The fog light switch controls the low current side of the relay. It's really a monumentally stupid design, as having all that wiring and then feeding the relay through the headlight switch kinda defeats the purpose of having a relay to begin with.

Pretty much sums it up. I've always tried to figure out Ford's thinking on this arrangement, and the only thing I've come up with is that they would rather have the headlight switch blow out than a relay because (no surprise) that would mean a trip to the Ford parts counter for a new headlight switch. The 1985-88 switches especially are just fragile little beasts to begin with. They are barely adequate to handle the amount of stock electrical current going through them, let alone handle an additional set of fog lamps. Even if you look at the design of the switch itself you can see that if it were any more fragile, it would be made from glass.

What I did with my car is obviously to separate the wiring from the headlamp switch. I already have the H4 conversion in the car, with a relay for each side and direct power from the battery, so that wiring is already better, safer and more efficient than stock. From there I fed the low beam power wire (I believe it's red/black) to a separate relay, then over to the fog lamp main power in. Basically it just gets the main feed from the low beams, which is how the factory sets it up, but is not back-relayed through the headlight switch itself. I had the fog lamps hooked up with ignition-on power at one point but got tired of manually having to turn them off and on all the time. So I reverted back to a stock-type setup but in a safer, more isolated way. Obviously not everyone has the H4 harness and whatnot, but no matter what year vehicle you have, tapping into the low-beam wire (or ignition-on, whatever you prefer) for your main switch power is easy enough, provided that wire is outside the area of the headlamp switch harness. ;)