My high beam lamps went down......

[Toploader]

So I am on the east end of LI with the '86 MGM Tudor............day turns to night and on come my headlights........after a small bit I saw I needed some extra illumination so........clicked the high-beam on.............puff..........had no idea that one H4651 sealed beam was out........picked up a new bulb, then discovered the headlamp door is not secured with standard Phillips head screws:-(

Can someone advise what kind of screws (head type) Ford used to secure the chrome headlamp door?.....and where a cheap driver can be obtained??

Thanks in advance gents.

[bgreywolf]

Are they the star-shaped "Torx" head screws? Or, worse, the "star shaped with a little peg", "Tamper-Proof Torx" screws?

i thought only GM did that crap in the 80s. Available at most home improvement stores and auto parts stores; pretty likely you can get a cheap set wherever you got the headlight.

If you have a screwdriver that takes 1/4" hex insert bits, buy a set of the Tamper-Proof Torx (work in regular Torx screws) for around $10 at any of the major chain auto parts stores.

[87gtVIC]

Haven't dabbled much with the GMQ's but CV stuff was standard phillips deals securing the headlight doors/bezels. Its possible someone changed them out to mae it more difficult for perps. I know my pops used to silicone the heads to make it more difficult to get a screwdriver to grab.

[VicCrownVic]

At least on '88+ MGM they are standard phillips head screws. +1 someone changed them at some point.

[jaywish]

I would double check as maybe there was dirt in the slots of the Phillips head screws.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

All the sealed beam Fords I’ve messed with have Phillips head screws.

[Toploader]

All the sealed beam Fords I’ve messed with have Phillips head screws.

I looked again and they appear to be spline head screws.

[Toploader]

Jay, the heads are not Phillips.

I would double check as maybe there was dirt in the slots of the Phillips head screws.

[sly]

got a pic?

Everything I've worked with from the 82 Mark VI to the 88 Mad Marquis... and even the aeros and whales all use phillips screws on the headlamps/parking lights unless it's a hex head bolt. I've never seen a spline (12 point? triple square?) head used.

[Toploader]

Will try and borrow a camera and take a picture.

got a pic?

Everything I've worked with from the 82 Mark VI to the 88 Mad Marquis... and even the aeros and whales all use phillips screws on the headlamps/parking lights unless it's a hex head bolt. I've never seen a spline (12 point? triple square?) head used.

[gadget73]

I've honestly not seen a non-Phillips screw in a sealed beam car of any make.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I've honestly not seen a non-Phillips screw in a sealed beam car of any make.

Some late ‘80s GM stuff used star bit style stuff. The full size Blazers with the small sealed beam lamps come to mind.

[Toploader]

This is what the spline screw looks like

[gadget73]

Some late ‘80s GM stuff used star bit style stuff. The full size Blazers with the small sealed beam lamps come to mind.

leave it to General Morons to fuck up headlight screws.

[kishy]

Those screws being Philips has been a gigantic thorn in my side every time I've had to fuss with them. Philips is perhaps the worst screw head in the history of screw heads due to the great disparity between its design intentions and how it works in reality. With one of those guys corroded, you end up with lifetime headlamps.

But it seems a lot more likely to me that they'd be Torx, because that's fairly prevalent in the automotive world, and also super user-friendly, so a person who previously had to deal with this may have opted to put those in. Spline is an uncommon screw...not impossible for it to be that, but you generally don't just find those in unusual places. Torx would be 6-point though.