2015 Project Thread!

no I bought a bunch of bulbs from them to test and evaluate and let people use to get their opinions. i dont want to put something out there that is junk. now I have to get rid of them. remember I bought a bunch from another company and they didn't perform well, so I sent them back (at a 20% restocking fee). these bulbs are good, but are excess. to get a good discount you have to buy quite a bit of stuff, and i dont have a bisiness license. I cant sell the bulbs in competition with the dealership, that wont go down well at all. I think they have a clause saying that somewhere.
apparently there was a problem with the plug & play sockets, so they took them off the market, I wanted to get a price for some  7443 sockets they are all out of stock also.
at least you have the car down now for other things, that's a bummer about the white clips, maybe it's a packaging problem. have you tried the help section at AutoZone? there is also a online magazine for Dorman & help.

Yeah, I'm going to have to do some more digging online for the clips. I did look in the Help section at AZ, but didn't see them. The counter guy was "helping" me, so I didn't get the chance to look that closely, but he said "no, we don't have them". At this point it doesn't matter because I won't get the chance to touch the car again until next weekend, so I might as well look around online and not give The Zone that business, even if they did have it (which they probably didn't). I'll look at every Mustang parts site I can think of and see if I can find anything under headlight components. And I'll check out Dorman and Help too. I also did email Late Model Restoration, so they may have something to offer too. I've bought enough stuff from them, I think they can help me out of they can.

Well, my sockets were made by aftermarket companies, so they may have improved the design, I guess. Maybe that's why those pigtails were so expensive because they had to redesign them or something. See? I can be optimistic too!

Ah, so you pretty much have to give the bulbs away then. Well, that's nice of you to do.

somebody has to have those clips, have you tried that CJ Pony  site yet? I'd like to think they are available, I hate to think this, but weren't all the headlamp buckets pretty much the same, kinda like saying try classic industries to see what they have.

Went to Help's website first, and did not find them. I did submit a new product idea for them though. I found in my travels though, that they can be called "Headlight Bucket Bearing" or "Bearing pad". I found a seller with several boxes of 27 for sale on eBay for about $20, so I bought one of those. After that, I decided to try other places, just to see. I first went to National Parts Depot. They DO have them! They sell them individually too, so you can get as many or as few as you want! I really wish I'd gone there first, but I can live with it. CJ Pony only has the kits that include the adjuster screws. Classic Industries is all GM and Mopar, but I see what you mean. That's why I thought it was so ridiculous they couldn't be had! I didn't dig deeper there just because there's no reason to at this point I guess.

I'm going out to see Stymee on Wednesday. He has a power steering pump bracket spacer for me, so I don't have to have a stack of washers there, haha.

good work finding the bucket brg pads. it would be worth trying to get that window regulator piece and do everything at once.
you never know you might win another "ride of the month" later on, or some other big contest.
di the pwr strg bracket spacer fit?

Yeah, I think I'm going to start trolling ebay for those glass brackets in metal. I had hoped I wouldn't have to take that whole window mess apart, but I don't see any other way. I'm just a little worried I won't be able to find the right size rivets.

I'm really hoping for some kind of recognition at a show this year. Gotta put the dang thing back together in time to go to one then though, haha. Hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now though since head swaps are new territory for me.

I measured my stack of washers and told Eric the number, so it should be the right spacer. I'll know after tonight. I'm hoping it helps my pulleys line up a little better.

the rivets can be replaced with bolts, you don't have to use rivets. I believe I actually red that in a manual. If you choose to use rivets, they are 1/4 inch diameter, NAPA sell them.

Yeah, I suppose you're right about bolts. I seem to recall too, a rivet gun I had years ago wouldn't allow rivets big enough to do any good. Like it wouldn't do lock actuator rivets. How stupid is that? I bought a new one last year, so I hope that's not the case with this one.

The spacer is too long for the spot, so I'll have to cut it down. It'll look a WHOLE lot better though.

I got all my clips in the past few days, so I was able to put the headlights back together today. I'll hang them back on the car tomorrow. Man, that was a WHOLE lot more trouble than it should have been. Out of the old clips, only 2 were still intact. The ones that weren't broken outright were about to break. I even broke a new one installing it. That tells you how brittle those stupid things are. They should be a LOT more widely available than they are.

Happy Easter.
sounds like a lot of work, but now that you've completed it, and you know the job was done right, you'll at least have the confidence to drive at night; knowing  your headlamp alignment wont shift if you hit a bump, something we all take for granted.
I spent a lot of time trimming bushes & shrubs and cutting the grass in the yard yesterday, think I may have gotten a bit dehydrated...
I did manage to modify some bulbs to fit some side lights, I'll see how they work.

Happy Easter to you too!

I put my headlights in the car yesterday. Odd thing I noticed. When I turned the brights on, the beam was actually LOWER on the wall than the low beam. That might just be how 9007 bulbs are though, I'm not sure. I looked at several sources for the pinout before I wired them.



Working on the front of the car, I saw that my bumper REALLY needs to be raised. There's a huge gap below the grille. I'm almost always working alone though, so I couldn't figure a way to do it on my own.

We're a little ways from doing yard work here; the grass is still really brown. There was a neighbor mowing the other day for some reason though. Not sure what he was thinking, haha. We had a pretty good rain storm the other day though to wash the salt off the roads. If my car was driveable, I'd be driving it.

I want to modify an LED bulb to fit in my lighted shaving mirror. They don't make that kind of bulb in LED yet, and it's nowhere near bright enough.

I don't know how I'm going to cut that power steering pump bracket spacer. It's too short to be able to hold it against the wall on the chop saw to keep it straight. I would worry that any hand tool would cut inconsistently or crooked. I wonder what a machine shop would charge me for that...

do you have vise maybe you could cut the bracket with a hack saw and fine tune it with a file. what part of the bracket do you need to cut and why do you need cut it. I've never heard of any body cutting the power steering bracket. is it because of the mods you've done. however I don't recollect seeing only a power steering bracket without A/C.
your headlights look great, however I thought they should high as higher beam ,and low as low beam??? maybe the wiring diagram is incorrect, what happens when you hit flash to pass?
I wonder about that bumper, weren't they all that way. have a look at your buds car.
it's going to look really cool once you hit the street with the LED's and new lights.

I do have a vice, but it's just a really small metal tube that I need to cut. really hard to keep under control. My power steering bracket is one that comes with a March underdrive kit. I'm not going to keep it long, since I plan to go to a standard front accessory drive (although with a smog pump delete pulley) next year when I add the A/C back on. I don't like the idea of my alternator not spinning at full speed with that stereo I have.

Thanks for the kind words about the headlights. When I hit flash to pass, both filaments light up. When you look at a 9007 bulb, the filaments shine downward, as opposed to forward like a 9004 does. Maybe the high beam filament is "in front of" (below) the low beam filament and that's why it appears lower with the front of the car close to the wall. Maybe farther out, its angle is higher. I think my Focus might use 9007 bulbs, so the next time it's home I'll see what it does.

Eric is where I got the idea to adjust the bumper. He has his up, almost flush with the grille.

Yeah, I can't wait to hit the shows this year with everything I'm going to have done. It feels a long ways off now though.

I did get a good tip about what may be wrong with my passenger door glass workings. A guy said on his, the holes in the glass bracket that ride on the regulator were worn out way big, so the glass was free to move around in his door. Another thing that would be easily solved with an LTD METAL glass bracket. I think I'm going to have to hit a junkyard to find them, which sucks. I don't get a lot of time to go to them.

Here's a pic of the brackets from Red 78'. Mine is just like the plastic one.

yeah the plastic ones do wear out quicker, no doubt, but you did get 35 years out of it. I guess getting one from the bone yard would be the right way to go. theres no sense doing the job 3 or 4 times.
when you put it back together try using PTFE lube, it thin and really good for regulators. I can get you a part# for the small tube from FORD, I don't know if they sell it down town as most people confuse it with dielectric grease..

Funny, I was just wondering what kind of lube I should use on that. Maybe post that part number when you get it. If I can't find it though, will dielectric work?

I pulled the passenger side plastic bracket out yesterday. It's not obvious that that's what caused the problem. If I hadn't gotten that tip, I may not have figured it out! I found the passenger side metal bracket on ebay, but not the driver's side. I found some listings on car-part for LTD regulators though, so I guess I'll have to email a yard that says they have a regulator and see if they'll send me just the bracket. I also ordered the plastic bushings that ride on the metal bar from Late Model Restoration. Luckily the rear quarter windows on a Mustang convertible use the same ones. The door glass on Mustangs use a different one. You know, for two cars that were developed pretty much side by side (Fox Mustangs and F/Zs), there sure are a lot of weird differences.

don't use dielectric grease, it attracts too much dirt & debris, and it gets dirty quick, it's not a good lubricant for anything with a lot of movement, it is just a heavy silicone brake caliper grease, its supposed to be water & heat resistant.XG-3 or XG-3A Dielectric Grease is primarily used for brakes and spark plug wires, it serves no purpose for electrical uses where you would normally use XG12 electrical grease like for your headlamp sockets.
XG-8 PTFE Lubricant is the stuff you want for the regulator.

Okay, good to know, thanks.

I cut that spacer with a hacksaw yesterday. I don't know why I was so hung up on getting it perfect. It turned out fine. I did have to use one of the washers from the "stack o' washers" that was there before just to get the spacing right, but you hardly notice it.  I took some sandpaper to it to shine it up a little, but now it just draws attention to how dirty my water pump and front cover are. hahaha!

You know, I was impressed that a small town junkyard even HAD an email address (the one that has an LTD regulator), but that turned out to be premature. They seem to be ignoring my inquiry. I didn't want to have to call because describing something over the phone to a crabby counter guy (aren't they all?) is way harder than simply emailing them a picture of exactly what I'm looking for. (SSSSIIIIGGGGHHHHH)

Angry counter man emailed me back right after I wrote this, haha. He said they only sell the bracket with the glass, and I'd rather not inquire as to how much it would cost me for them to ship GLASS. Screw that.

that's a problem nowadays, you either buy the whole assembly or pay the same price for the part, well done on not biting' let the yard crush them all. there are parts out there at reasonable prices.
it's like e-bay, a $6 hat cost $12 SHIPPING.......that's why I go to Walmart.com, sears .com or amazon with free shipping for so many things nowadays.

Haha, I'm not holding my breath for another one to turn up on ebay, but I do know I'll find one at this one junkyard, it's just a matter of getting the time to go. I'd rather wrap things up on the car first. The plastic one on the driver's side is in decent shape, so I don't mind letting it go a bit. The only question being, once I get to the junkyard, do I just smash the window, rather that drilling the rivets just to save time? Hahahaha! Oh, and the passenger side bracket I DID get is actually New Old Stock! It's never been installed on a car! And best of all, I didn't have to pay that premium you normally find for NOS stuff.

I'll get some quality time with the car tomorrow. I should have time to put the passenger side back together. Both the bracket and bushings have arrived already, so I'm good to go there. I also decided to just bite the bullet and buy a new dimmer switch, rather than living with the broken one or cobbling something together to go there. I also decided not to use the power lock switch I put on the console. The kit I got automatically unlocks the passenger door when you unlock the driver's door, so the switch is essentially pointless. I'll find something fun to do with it. haha

how much time do you have to spend at the bone yard, would it be worth it to figure out what you need and just go for it all in one trip? i'd like to have a driver side window bracket if you find one.

I'm pretty sure the mustang dimmer switches are still available. I think the problem with them is they don't get used enough and are just left on high all the time, and they are just getting old.

the car should be pretty sweet once completed, but in my case I never get this car completed, I just find something else to do.

I wonder if the DeLorean fashioned it's headlamps on the Fairmont/Zephyr.

I don't know. I always feel like I'm pressed for time when I go. Especially at the yard that will have this bracket. I'll definitely bring my list and see what I can find though. I'll grab 2 brackets if I can.

Yeah, I bought a dimmer from Late Model Restoration. Almost all my dash switches are new now.

Yeah, I can't wait to get this year's stuff done. It'll really be fun. I'm kind of afraid there will always be more to do though, just like yours. Once the engine is rebuilt and A/C added back next year though, I'll have replaced or somehow renewed pretty much everything on the car. How weird is that? haha. It'd better be reliable at that point!

No doubt they were, haha.

how far away is the salvage yard? I have to go to Tucson sometimes because of the price differences. we have a young fellow who goes up there a lot, but it seems when he goes, they never seem to have the parts we need.
well; we're off to England tomorrow, the mother in law is in the hospital and not doing too well, so we'll be gone for a week. I may get on the net, but don't know if we'll have time.

The yard is a good hour drive or more. It's really only run by one guy and his wife, so they like to close for an hour for lunch and stuff like that. So it's best to get there first thing in the morning, or right after lunch. The cars are sitting flat on the ground, and if you need something that's not accessible, it's pretty much just too bad for you. He doesn't want you jacking for safety reasons. He has a front end loader, but he only likes to start it up when it's "worthwhile". He's a nice guy, but a little quirky like that and can be frustrating to deal with as a result. I shouldn't have trouble getting at the window brackets though. I hope. Sometimes the cars are really close together too.

Have a safe trip. Sorry to hear about your mother in law.

how did you get on with our quest to procure parts from the salvage merchant.