Cheapskate LED marker lights for 68

Cougar Community Classic Cougar Maintenance Restoration and Repair
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This is really only a 10-15 minute project and will net you nice, bright LED lights for your 68 front marker lights. As I recently learned, the owners manual calls for a 97NA bulb which is actually a misprint. There used to be an amber version of the 1178 bulb but these are becoming scarce. A clear version is still available at most parts places and you can paint it, but if you use your lights with any regularity (as I do) the paint will soon burn off.

While scrounging through the clearance bin at the local Walmart, I came upon a pair of amber LED 1156 bulbs and got to thinking, how hard could it be to simply swap bases with an 1178 or burned out original marker light bulb.

Turns out, it’s actually pretty easy. Here’s how:

Step one: Remove the LED base by either de-soldering or filing away the solder that holds the base to the LED assembly.

Step two: De-solder, file or drill out the solder blob on the bottom of the LED base. You can then simply twist the base and it will pull free from the LED assembly, leaving just a wire for the +12vdc connection. Actually, if you use some restraint, you can simply smash/rip the base off since that wire is the only thing inside it. Trim or break the wire off at the point where it attaches to the LED assembly.




Step three: Remove your old bulb from the marker light. Don’t worry if you have to break the glass to get it out, since you only need the base.

Step four: Carefully pull away all traces of the bulb filament (unless it’s already been burned away) and tin the two wires that held the filament with solder. Solder one of the two wires from the old bulb to to the spot where the 12vdc wire attached to the LED assembly. There is a small solder tab along side that which is a ground. That’s where the other wire from your old bulb gets connected.
Step five: Carefully squish the old base and the LED assembly together and solder them together. Test out your new bulb with a 12vdc power source by touching + and - to each of the two bumps on the base (the base itself is not used for ground with these marker lights).

Keep in mind that LED bulbs are polarity sensitive, so when you install it, turn the lights on first and then stick the bulb in. If it doesn’t immediately come on, turn it 180 degrees and try it. It should work then.

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Well, lookit you…well done!

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Very good idea Jody. How does the light look with the lens in place?
Steven

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Unfortunately, these particular bulbs are a bit too much on the yellow side (see the turn signal for comparison). But because they stay cool, I can probably just stick a piece of orange or red cellophane over them.

5

Very cool!

6

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

7

That looks pretty darn good. Well done. :thumbup:
Steven

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Can you convert them all over to LED.

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Actually you can still buy the proper yellow bulbs… Just not at your local auto parts store. I bought a box of ten off a guy on E-Bay. Good price and they were at my home pretty quickly. He also sells them individually.

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I am working on a tech story for Legendary Cougar Magazine that will cover the ins and outs of LED conversion. To make it work you really need to change out the sequencer since the LEDs don’t pull enough current to make the original flashers work. Also, the '70 and up used the turn signal lamp filament in the front signals to provide a ground path for the side marker lights that also flash as a turn signal. You have to isolate them and fortunately there is an adapter for that. I am doing the installs now and it all goes easily enough. Congratulations to Vic at Cougars Unlimited for bring this technology to our Cougars. And yes I will do some sort of article here to explain the same thing.

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After adding a wee bit of red paint to the LEDs:

The color is now more orange than yellow, like the turn signal lamps.

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The “wee” bit of red paint makes a big difference in matching the parking lights. I smiled at the “wee”, my mother used to use that term. I figured It was just part of her Irish heritage. Thanks for the happy memory.
Steven