2015 Project Thread!

Well, at least most of the important stuff is done on your car. It wouldn't take much to get it on the road. The LED dash kit is $40, so no big deal there. You should tell the wife you need the car TO TAKE IT ON THE HONEYMOON! Get those seats all recovered and refoamed to make sure you're comfortable for a nice, long drive!

I think I might wait on the exterior LED stuff a little while. I ordered dome light bulbs and a few others for the interior, but haven't gotten any for the exterior yet. I did get those 9007 halogen bulb headlight housings though. That'll be cool.

I also ordered everything I'll need to do the DA machine polishing on my paint. I'm looking forward to waking up that old paint job.

I just put some Superbright bulbs in my heater controls. They're the single LED kind, but they match nicely to my instrument cluster bulbs!

I ordered some of the "festoon" type for my '95 domelight... and they don't fit. Luckily they DO fit in the map light spots though. haha.

EDIT: Of course, I had to perform minor surgery on the map light contacts to get the bulbs to fit there too. Nothing ever just fits out of the box, does it?

I've had the new Fusion for about half a week now. Man, is that thing NICE!

I'm glad you got all your bulbs in, how do they look? it's got to be an improvement. have you considered using the led boards part# 1xboard_SMD6 or 1xboard_SMD12 in you dome light? I have the 6 led in my pick up and a 12 in my Camry, they light up the interior nicely. they both come with 194 & festoon adaptors.
yes the fusion is a very nice car to have, they are roomy as well, not a lot goes wrong with them either, so you should get many years out of it. don't see many in on trade, so that is good.

I ordered one of the shorter "festoon" type ones from Diode Dynamics. I think it has 4 LEDs. They just have them in there as a measurement, which is a little confusing. Is that the TOTAL length, or just the length of the middle part, minus the contacts on the ends? Who knows. We're flying by the seat of our pants here. I couldn't remember absolutely for sure what my dome light came out of, so I couldn't look it up by that. Those boards are okay too, I just went this route, I guess.

I'm going to use my original dome light as a trunk light. I had gotten a second "festoon" last time around for that, but it actually uses a mini-wedge base. I thought I remembered for sure I swapped my original fuse-looking bulb from my old dome light right to the new one, but nope. I slapped one of my cheapie ebay 194 bulbs in there and called it good, haha.

They do look nice! I can't wait to see them with the dash all put back together, but I'm still in the process (interrupted several times) of taking my center console out, so things are kind of all over the place. My repeated bulb issues keep getting in the way of any progress on that. Maybe I'll have time today. I was thinking of going to the Auto Show, but now my boy is pretty sick, so that's probably out.

I know I had been thinking of waiting on doing the exterior LEDs, but I noticed yesterday that one of my brakelight bulbs is out. I don't want to buy another incandescent for it, so it just might force the issue, haha.

I was looking at my '88 EVTM and noticed that there is no relay in the headlight circuit in the '87-93 harness like I thought there was. I thought for sure it used halogen bulbs, therefore it should have a relay, but it doesn't. I guess I'll be retrofitting that too. How dumb. I grabbed an under-hood maxi-fuse/relay box out of a Taurus to use to replace all my fusible links with maxi-fuses, and jettison the inner fender solenoid (since it serves no purpose now that I have a '93 and up mini-starter). And then I would use the relay spots as needed. That might have to happen sooner than later. By the time I'm done fiddling, my wire harness will be completely unrecognizable as an '87-93 Mustang one, haha.

Good to hear about the Fusions! I went through the process of programming my Homelink button to open my garage. What a clusterf**k of a process, haha.

You’ll need a 39 mm festoon bulb for the dome I believe depending on which dome light you have, mine is the big ugly chrome dome light with the cream colored lens. I swapped the lens for the clear one from LMC trucks and shoved a SMD 9 bulb in it, it’s way bright enough. I have a 96 mustang dome light, but no lens, they are $42, and I don’t have that kind of cash right now.
The mustangs didn’t use a relay for the headlights; it was all controlled by the headlamp switch. That’s all I had in mine and it worked fine for years, and I drive it all the time, and a lot of the time with the bright lights on, no problems.
After I replaced the starter on mine with a mini starter, I still used the regular starter relay to fire off the starter, as I needed the original relay to use as a bus for the power to the inside of the car as I didn’t want to add another fuse box. The mini starter uses a 20 amp fuse on the later models.
Don’t forget when you change the turn/brake lights; you either need to change the flasher unit or add resistors to eliminate the hyper-flashing.
that's a lot of work changing those fusible links to fuses, I remember thinking about that when I made my loom, but the math didn't work out. when using a fusible link, the rule of thumb is 4 gauges smaller than the wire it supports, but the length is important also.
Hope your boy gets better soon.

Good, that's what I ordered, a 39mm. You could find a lens for your domelight in a junkyard. Tons of Fords used those. Hell, I have an extra one if you want it.

Yeah, I'm not worried about whether or not it will work without a relay. I've just heard guys have had luck installing relays with direct battery power to the lights themselves making them considerably brighter. I mean, I don't want to blind people. That's not what I'm trying to do. It may just be more of an issue with the sealed beam lights though, and that's not what i'll be using anymore.

I'm not talking about starting over with those circuits though. I would just cut the fusible links off and then wire the circuits to a maxifuse of the same amp rating. Do you think that will work okay? Right now I have it wired with the inner fender solenoid still there, but the hot side lug is pretty overloaded with the extra things I have on there, the starter power wire, my electric fan circuit, and 2 large terminals for my amps. The nut barely even fits on there.

Yeah, I actually already have the no-load flashers. I got them just in case after I put the LED bulbs in the turn indicators in the instrument cluster.

I do too. He's actually still sick, much to my chagrin.

I ordered my exterior bulbs! I went with Diode Dynamics for the taillights and front turn signals, and then SuperbrightLEDs for everything else. Ended up being almost $400! I got all new sockets though too.

I believe there was a starter relay that had extended terminals on an F350, I've seen them, just cant remember which vehicle, if it was a ford part or aftermarket.
you might try looking them up on autozone or napa sites.
so far as changing the fusible links goes, I've never swapped them for fuses. are you talking about the fusible link at the relay and running them into the Taurus fuse box?

Yeah, I'd cut off the fusible links at the solenoid, and then wire those circuits to a maxifuse in the Taurus box. I'd just hate to be stranded by one of those fusible links. A maxifuse would be so much easier to service.

Also, is anything stopping me from bypassing the solenoid with the "Start" signal red w/blue wire and running it right down to the starter, rather than running it through the solenoid? I know the solenoid built into the starter has a bigger lug than the one on the inner fender, but do you think that would work?

you may find the Taurus fuse box has a relay and a 20 amp fuse, that will be strong enough for the starter relay. What worries me is getting the crimps tight enough for the wiring once you remove the fusible links. you may want to solder and crimp those wires once the link is removed, because everything runs thru the thick red wire that goes into the inside of the car. a/c, blower head lights etc, I think the power windows are on a separate circuit.
when I ran my mini starter I ran the main starter wire from the bus side of the relay, and still used the starter relay to fire off the starter with a 10 gauge wire.
the last time I replaced a fusible link was when somebody did a alternator upgrade and did not replace the main alternator cable, which was rotten anyway, however; fusible links are pretty reliable. I never got the full skinny on why they used them for so long, but they were used for many years.  the circuits are still protected by fuses.
if you do change a actual fusible link, use the correct gauge and  make sure you CRIMP the connections, don't solder a fusible link.
[ finally chased down the other Fairmont in town, I got his # and will try to get together.
I've been pretty busy trying to get this diode dynamics deal going with our dealership, and I have to get this right the first time, then get the right stock levels, then do some demo's. it's a lot of work.
I have come to the conclusion they are the best, after long term heat soaks and comparisons. I don't like sending stuff back, or waiting weeks to get it, they are quick and the gear is reliable.

Yeah. I suppose at worst, I can put things back to how they were if it doesn't work well.

That's cool you made that deal with Diode Dynamics. I certainly did my part to keep them in business buying taillight bulbs from them. I noticed something interesting though. Both SuperBrightLEDs and Diode Dynamics ship from Earth City, Missouri. So, either Earth City, Missouri is a hotbed for LED development, or they're the same company... Their bulbs sure look a lot different from each other though.

Cool you got to talk to the other Fairmont guy. it's always fun when that happens. It doesn't seem to happen often in this day and age though. With the internet, people usually know about each other, haha.

I went back to where I used to live the other week. There was a house nearby that had had 3 Fairmonts sitting in the driveway. I felt weird about just going to the door, so I never talked to them. The cars are gone now though, so I don't know if they moved or what.

I can’t say anything about the quality of super bright LED's, as I have never utilized any of their wares.   I have tried others and found that some are pretty good quality, but have a limited selection, others are just plain crap. Appearance size, packaging, failure rate etc. all factor-in.i have a display made-up, and heatsoaked it every day from 7 am to 6pm, no faulures… I believe I have made a wise choice, or when they kick me to the curb, I'll hear about it. The only issue I have at the moment with D/D is they seem to run out of items like switch back bulbs, so we’ll have to allow for this. I know NAPA uses street-glow LED's in their online catalog, so they must be good, I don't know what Autozone uses, but they are both national companies, and you mentioned Putco, so there are plenty of companies, really it's down to choice.
Wow three Fairmont’s, were any of them coupes? maybe they were moved to an alternate location.
I’d like to do more custom/bling items, but the market is very fickle. What’s cool today is history tomorrow, so we have to take it as it comes- Just like sunglasses! We used to do a lot of cold air intakes, then it kinda dropped off.
As long as you are sure about getting rid of the fusible links, go for it, seems like a lot of time consumed for little gain; like something I would do.....like battery in the trunk, battery back under the hood, battery in the trunk; but in the center under the parcel shelf, battery back under the hood......why?????? because I could......
If I remember; I try to fing out about the realy with the longer terminals, or you could run another bus from the relay using a single wire using a 150 amp fuse bus like the hot rodders use for alternators.

At least with the type of LEDs you and I are doing, they just go in the stock housings, and aren't obviously custom. I mostly like the idea for safety and power savings. They have practical advantages. It's not like underbody neon or something, haha.

I'm pretty sure it was 2 sedans and one wagon. One of the sedans might have been a Granada. It's been a long time now, so I don't remember that well. I'm pretty sure they had a big fat '70s LTD there too.

Yeah, you know as well as anyone that's a big reason why I don't like to put blatantly custom stuff on my car. Because that stuff doesn't last. I suppose you could look at a company like Edelbrock, that's not going anywhere...

Well, I'm not SURE, haha. I want to do it in a way that's fairly quick and cheap, and looks factory. I just think that solenoid sitting there just looks like a clusterf**k. And the fusible links scare me, probably because they're not what I'm used to. If one did fail, I see an auto parts store being more likely to carry a maxifuse the right amperage than a fusible link though in this day and age if I had a failure on the highway.

I'm getting a lot of stuff arriving today that I ordered. My buffer, and most of my bulbs are scheduled to come today. Pretty excited! It's like Christmas!

out here in AZ we quite often see 20/30 year old cars & trucks running around, the fusible links are still in place. you would need a substantial short to ground to melt a fusible link.
like I said before, just make sure you get the crimps tight, and, you can use solder on a crimp joint when adding the maxi-fuse if you are using copper wire, just don't use solder on a fusible link.
I like the idea of GEM/SJB/BCM. the later ones ARE EVEN MORE SOPHISTICATED, but not very useful for Fairmont's with 1/4 of the electrical accessories of a modern car.
almost anything you do to a Fairmont is an improvement, so go for it.
I'm glad your stuff is arriving; now you can get some experience on detailing, and get your dad's car looking good. that would be a nice surprise. our detailer at work can usually detail a car in a day, unless it's a turd, then it can take 2-3 days, so long as the paint is good and not sunburnt, they always look like glass or candy when he is finished.
dude uses a tricked-out Dewalt sander/buffer, at a fairly low speed. it's funny really, because people want him to use their gear, (waxes, pads, extractors etc). there are a couple of other good guys in town, they seem to be booked.
there was a chick at all tune & lube that my friend said could have tuned the whole shop into a detail shop/center, she was that good.....
good luck with the 2 cars, you are also lucky to have your fiend stymie to help you out and get started.

Wait, what? You're thinking about wiring in an additional module to control all the accessories? I don't know if I'd want to tackle THAT, haha. I'd say maybe if I had a body harness out of say a late '90s Explorer or something and was pretty familiar with how it all worked together. It's been a long time since I dealt with systems like that. Plus, I'd want to have my own Genstar or something, haha.

You know, a lot of what I heard when researching the whole buffing thing was that the equipment is good enough these days that it can make almost anyone look good. Most people just see doing that to their paint as some kind of scary voodoo. I know I did! Anytime someone ever started talking about "buffer" this and "wet sand" that, I got overwhelmed in a hurry! Plus, the price of admission is pretty dang high. It's a lot of expensive stuff to buy for the initial investment. Not to say there aren't skilled detailers out there. It's probable they learned before the equipment advanced to where it is now.

no.... I'm not going to add a gem module!!! you will be ok with the buffing stuff, just get with your friend. wet sanding is not for cars driven on the street everyday. I have watched it before, it's a sound/feel/look type of operation.
skill comes with experience.

I'll have car time today. I plan to play with the power accessories in the doors some. Made decent progress on power locks in the passenger door the other day. Had to put the actuator pretty dang close to where the window goes up and down, but I think it will be okay. Anywhere else, the inside door handle rod gets in the way!

what type of actuators are you using? I'm using some stock used Ford ones from something.....they fit fine and they work ok. I'll have to try to find what car they came out of, I cant remember what they came from, but they were pretty reasonable in price to replace if they go wrong.
have you been reading up on how to use the buffer with compound and polish. you may get bitten by the detail bug.....
do the cars up there get sunburned?
my sons paint job on his 81 Firebird lasted 6 years before it started to show signs of sunburn, we had it painted in Mexico. it looked like a piece of blue glass when it was finished.
you have quite a selection of LED from different manufacturers, do they all perform well, or are some better than others.

I got a cheapie ebay kit for power locks, so I'm using the actuators from that. I got a 4-door kit so I would have spare parts. I think I remember seeing that the Mustang actuators were kind of pricey.

I got one of my late Fox power mirrors installed on my car yesterday. I had to modify the housing quite a bit to get it to fit. I had to grind off everything but the housing itself. So, the flat parts that were meant to mate up with trim and such all had to go. I'm not sure how I'm going to make it look decent yet, but I'll come up with something, haha. I do need to paint them. They are gloss black and need to be satin to match my trim. There's something wrong in the car's wiring so that it will adjust the mirror up and to the left, but not down or to the right. So, I get to figure that out.

Yeah, I've been reading and watching videos and stuff about how to do detailing. It seems pretty foolproof. I'm sure I'll like it if I get good results. Cars do get a little dull up here, but rust is the real enemy. I had to park my Zeph outside for a few years when I lived with roommates, and the roof and trunklid are kind of dull. That might've been the case for a while though because someone repainted the horizontal surface of the front fenders and hood sometime before I got the car. You can definitely tell the cars that are well-taken care of vs. the ones that aren't though.

I haven't gotten the chance to put the exterior bulbs in yet, so we'll see how that goes. So far both SuperBright and Diode Dynamics stuff along with the Scott Drake ones all seem to perform pretty well.

try checking the power mirror sw, they are notorious for going south, that's one of the first things people wanted when I scrapped an mustang. the wiring is generally pretty solid.

Cool, I actually do have a spare switch. I'll give that a try.

I'm thinking maybe I'll just Bondo the mirror housing smooth. I made kind of a mess grinding them. I just used a cutoff wheel, so it's pretty hard to do that smoothly.

You hit the nail on the head with the mirrors! Bad switch!

I did the taillights today. I'm really happy with the Diode Dynamics "plasma" type bulbs I bought! I got the $60 3157s for the main taillights, and the $30 ones for the backup lights. The backup light ones do not fit, so I'm back to the drawing board there. All new 3157 sockets went in too. One of my marker light sockets was really bad too, so that was replaced as well.

I installed my SuperBright 194s in the rear marker lights, and 3rd brake light. All turned out to be a decent upgrade in brightness. I'm very pleased overall! Front turn signals tomorrow! I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about the backup lights though.

what exactly doesn't fit for the back up light bulbs, is the bulb too long?

Yeah, the bulb is too long. The backup light housing is pretty shallow on a sedan. I'm not sure if you have the same problem or not. It may be a combination of the 3157 socket and bulb being the problem, since technically they should be 3156s. It's weird, the backup light sockets and brakelight sockets were pretty different from each other. The brakelight ones were far deeper. I did find a bulb at Superbright that should still be an upgrade in brightness, and is not oversized. I just have to double check whether my new sockets will even fit using a regular bulb. If they don't, then I'd just keep the original sockets and do an 1156 bulb.

One of my brakelight sockets was seriously wedged in the reflector. That metal contact that's on the outside had broken loose and was acting as a barb in there. Thank goodness I was able to get it out without destroying the reflector.

Well I just ordered some billet trim pieces. Got a set of door latch trim bezels and coat hooks for the interior.
Nothing big but it's been on my wish list from Summit Racing for years.
Today is a very speedy day...took 3/4 of our tax return to have a new furnace and AC our in the house. Its the best time to buy...I'm saving $2500 from promos and repairs....so that's cool.
Wish I could be putting that cash into my car...but I need to keep the household happy and well AC this summer will be nice after work!