Going LED

[Derek Simpson]

So I'm in the middle of replacing a bunch of the little stuff and I was wondering if anyone swapped all their lights (brake, turn signals, reverse, interior, etc) to LED. I know the current draw would be less plus the added bonus of being very bright!

 

[Gerald Morris]

I admire your efforts here and will watch w interest, as I mean to do the same in due course....

 

[Turboomni]

First question for me would be can they be dimmed if too bright on the dash? If you leave one Edison bulb it would be much more dim than the led's??. I have installed led's on my fury exterior but left the front turn signals Edison style with good results.
I am really looking forward to hearing how it works for you!

 

[1966newport]

my 66s tailights where actually dimmer

 

[Derek Simpson]

Really? I'm hoping to go with bright white for the brake, front directionals, and reverse lights. Then warm for the interior lights.

Superbrightleds.com


They have a great search tool that will give you all the numbers you need

 

[1966newport]

used thoose in rear and they dont fill out the lenses, just a red spot in center

 

[Big_John]

Some good info here:
Exterior Lighting Resto/Maintenance/Upgrades

 

[Gerald Morris]

I used red LED tail lights with EXCELLENT results compared to incandescent 1157s. They run for ~$16 @ Sprawlmart. Liked the results so much I added a LED license tag illuminator as well. I'll replace all the lights with LEDs as budget allows, and need dictates. I think Cree makes some nice headlamps for ~ $50. I'll wait for that to come down a bit before spending such dough.....

 

[Turboomni]

I used Sylvania LED tail lights. The running lights were dimmer but the braking lights and turn signal lights were brighter than the Edison bulbs. This was luck I believe. The front LED turn signal lights were terrible. This was bad luck. This was because the direction of the light did not hit the reflectors. Being so directional is a problem I think with LEDS because when they designed light housings for our old cars they took into account that the filament style bulbs radiated alot of energy in many wave lengths in ALL directions,,which the LED's do not.
I am hoping there will be some good efficient LED head lights ,,at least the desired beam direction is down the road. Also our antiquated wiring at least for head lights will then be over kill because of the hopefully much lower power draw .

 

[Gerald Morris]

I just salvaged the old broken map light fixture by replacing the switch, which was broken, with a plastic rocker switch from a 12V lamp from an RV trailer I used to inhabit. Had to use a bench grinder a little on the lovely chrome steel fixture and the switch, but with the LED 1157 bulb I used to replace the old burnt out 1004S, my efforts all bore excellent fruit. I then noted that map lights run beween $50-$65 on eBay, so I count myself well ahead. It throws plenty clean white light in the same direction the original was meant to. I expect it to last for decades....

 

[Turboomni]

Nice !!!

 

[Fast Eddie B]

I swapped out my 73 mustang with LED inside and out (except headlights). Brighter, much faster blinkers and brake lights. Dash is night and day better. I used a company hipoparts.com for those. They were good people to work with. I tried superbrightleds.com for my GTO and found they were not as good. The 1157's didn't fit the sockets. Trashed one of them trying to make them fit. They didn't help me out and replace it but they took the other ones back. I went back to hipo.

When I get to the lights on my T&C they will all go LED for sure.