Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #30 – November 01, 2012, 09:59:01 PM um,, LED headlamps eh?yeah, im interested,, anything to complement the headlamp relay mod woud be awsome.i still need to mod my headlamps like i did my sons. Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #31 – November 01, 2012, 10:52:30 PM Quote from: jcassity;401776um,, LED headlamps eh?yeah, im interested,, anything to complement the headlamp relay mod woud be awsome.i still need to mod my headlamps like i did my sons.well, if I destroy a heatsink by drilling and tapping holes, I can easily see how this idea would go if all the emitters were on a flat aluminum piece, shining through a projector. I've got the parts, but it will take some destruction and 30 minutes of wiring it all up. Lucky for my, my second half of my silicone wire just arrived today, giving me pleeeenty of 20awg wire that won't have the insulation pull back when soldered. 200 feet of the stuff.Edit: actually, I'll just mount them to some tiny led heatsinks, tape them to a larger heatsink for the flat surface, then go from there. Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #32 – November 03, 2012, 02:14:59 AM Well, I went to get the other tail light from the garage so I can start mounting everything...and I ran into a problem.Ignore the residual buffing compound that needs to be removed carefully. You can see that the lens on the right is basically LIKE NEW. Even the backup light plastic is perfectly clear with no yellowing. I can't be mounting these tail lights and having one light look perfect, and the other looking like Jerry rigged (nor jury) it up. It would just look off having such a cast difference. I can't even get the lens on the left buffed out smooth after spending hours on it. I assume this one was a new unit at some point, making me want to put it back together to keep as a spare part like my other one still in wrap.Anyone have one of these lenses from a tail light that may have been cracked on the outside? Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #33 – November 03, 2012, 05:55:05 AM i dont, have the interior housing and the one long narrow red lense thats removeable,, sorrytry the 3000 grit foam pad they sell at auto zone, water sand and then add polyurethan to the clear one only. Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #34 – November 03, 2012, 01:52:34 PM I can try getting shots without the flash it it may show the differences better, but the right one you can see the red circles in the same ambient lighting that you cannot see them at all on the left lens. I'm going to look at a junkyard with an '88 tomorrow to see what they have for tail light parts, and anything else. Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #35 – November 07, 2012, 11:38:27 PM It's perfect (taped in place)! :p Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #36 – January 08, 2013, 12:30:51 PM For the most part, bugs are worked out. I may replace the LED drivers with some from TaskLED due to having a full-bright flicker for a split second as the existing driver powers up, providing full power before it detects the DIM pin and pulls the brightness down (running lights switched on). It's a minor issue that would only appear when turning the headlights on/off, but it's probably worth going with better drivers just for the consistency and reliability. Now I just have to do what I dread - chop up the reflector portions of these lights. The reflector portions are in beautiful, like new condition, other than around the license plate nut clips where it's cracked. I'd REALLY like to find some more beat up pieces to cut up...I also need to pick up another 40W LED. I'd really like to use them for the backup lamps. This modification can be made later though as the boost driver(s) are $30+ each. Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #37 – January 10, 2013, 01:45:49 AM humm,,leme check the garage in the morning, for some reason i belive i kept the housing which has reflectors from mason's delivery day defective tail lamp. Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #38 – January 10, 2013, 01:47:56 AM i wonder if you couldnt mold to a reflector you have as a negative and then heat gun those mirrors that auto zone sell, they are plastic with mirror on one side. there has to be something at a craft store that would solve this reflector issue. Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #39 – January 10, 2013, 09:31:39 PM I think I'll have some spare tail light assemblies, with cracked lenses, on the way that I can use for this. I'm also going to just use my existing LEDs in the backup lights, four per side. This will let me use my cheap drivers, instead of using two $25 LEDs and two $40 LED boost drivers. I could have this thing done this week, but not wanting to ruin perfect stock housings is making it take longer than otherwise. I'm also out of space in here until the tail lights are finished, so the headlight project is on hold.I need to get it done so I can get them installed and run the car through DEQ. I know I only have a day's work of work left on them, but I need some spare/junk lights! Perhaps I'll even go look this weekend for something in yards so I can get parts sooner. The lights on the car now have mediocre lenses and I could try to use them, but I used WAY too much silicone on the things and an hour of prying wouldn't break one lens free. Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #40 – January 13, 2013, 03:35:18 PM I know this is a touch off topic but you mentioned a voltage drop in the rear tail lights. Is this a common problem with the Fox Birds? I really like the mod you are doing but don't think it would be worth it with my 83's rear lamps. However, if there is a voltage drop on mine a relay or two could take care of that as my battery is trunk mounted. Darren Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #41 – January 16, 2013, 03:11:57 PM Quote from: Aerocoupe;406831I know this is a touch off topic but you mentioned a voltage drop in the rear tail lights. Is this a common problem with the Fox Birds? I really like the mod you are doing but don't think it would be worth it with my 83's rear lamps. However, if there is a voltage drop on mine a relay or two could take care of that as my battery is trunk mounted. Darren There's always voltage drops...I don't know what is it at the tail lights. I'll see about testing that out tonight. I assume there's at least 1V from alternator to tail lights, and likely more, when the tail lights are on. Having the 6 lights in the rear (converted from 4), going through all the factory harness, it can't be good. If it's really bad (12v at bulb, 14.4 at alternator), we could get twice the output (will appear 20-30% brighter) but you WILL sacrifice bulb life. With the stock 27W bulbs, if they are running at 14.4v, each one should be around 700 lumens. At 12v, they will be around 400 lumens. At 10V, 225 or so lumens. This of course is with white light - most of which is filtered out with the red lenses.As a quick test, if you are getting 10v with the car off and tail lights on, and 12v with the engine running, you could expect that same relative brightness improvement by taking one step further and running better wiring and relays (or mosfets as in my case). I'm guessing you will find that it isn't worth the work since you have fewer lights and likely a similar base circuit resistance. Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #42 – January 16, 2013, 07:20:12 PM Thanks for all of the information, sounds like I have some time to spend with my DVM in the trunk of the car.Darren Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #43 – January 16, 2013, 09:28:17 PM So I got you some numbers, and they are worse than I thought. I used the stock harness/unmolested for the measurements to make sure the sequencers wouldn't modify numbers any. The tail lights' currently used harness is tapped in at the spare tire.Battery Power: 12.08V at battery4 tail bulbs, 2 third brake bulbs: 10.07V6 tail bulbs, 2 third brake bulbs: 9.05VAlternator Power: 15.10V at battery (Yes, my alternator needs to be replaced again...I have a quality one to use instead of the lifetime warranty NAPAs that fail)4 tail bulbs, 2 third brake bulbs: 12.6VIt looks like the stock harness is dropping ~1V per pair of bulbs (one per side). Multimeters were tested and measure the same. I had one on battery, one on brake light socket, and a tool box holding the brake on.I haven't measured with one set of bulbs (54W), but I'm assuming it will still drop between 1/2-3/4 a Volt. I expect up to 50W to be used for the LEDs and drivers. The stock wiring is just terrible. Quote Selected
Tbird taillight LEDs and modifications Reply #44 – January 17, 2013, 05:13:05 PM You know, even without the new tail lights being done, I'm going to take the car out this weekend. Just hearing the car run in the garage last night makes me miss it. It wasn't insured until a couple weeks ago since I had the interior torn apart for awhile. Get it nice a hot, get some new gas in it, and prepare for emissions testing the following week. I know it'll pass with the current gt40p heads and Oregon only requiring an idle test. Cruise at 25mph was always where it failed, according to records over its whole life, with the stock motor.What was interesting is the amount of glow/lack of it on the garage door when the brakes were on. With the engine running the door was open, but it would still look pathetic compared to the LEDs I imagine. Perhaps I do need to take another look at reducing the output of them. I was going to compare them side by side to another newer car for overall intensity and go from there. For all I know, the 1W may have done the wall test the same as the stock lights, at 12v. Quote Selected
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