Mod Box - 85' Grand Marquis

[sly]

I think I posted about the mirrors somewhere earlier in this thread. I ripped apart Muth mirrors that I had on my 96' and used the LED modules on box mirrors.

oh yeah, that's right... forgot about that. I've been thinking of putting a semi side marker on my car somewhere just to help with that. Also had a bright idea of using the side moldings on my 88 and running some LED strip lighting along them and tying that into the blinkers up front for some very long whole side of car blinker lights.

[87gtVIC]

Dude. I hope after this is all done you get into a magazine for all of this cool work.

[Mr Bean]

That would be pretty neat but I am not even thinking about that right now.

I would like to know what bean counter at Ford thought it was a good idea to use the dullest shade of silver paint on the tail light reflectors? No wonder stock tails are dimmer than nun's hoohoo. Was there a year between 1979 to 1987 when reflector was actually chrome?



Oh well, ghetto mods to the rescue. It's not mirror finish but way more reflective than stock shit.



Also, something else weird that I noticed. The 2 tail lights aren't exactly the same. They look identical on the outside but when I pulled them off the rubber seals against the body are different. Driver side has 2 seals. Outside and center bulbs have one seal around them and the inner most bulb has a separate seal. Like so (image stolen from ebay),



On the passenger side tail light there is a single seal around all 3 bulbs. What's the deal with that? Was one of the tail lights swapped in the past or did Ford install whatever tail lights they had in the parts bin at the time?

[Bobcat]

You know, the mod box is cool and all. But the sequential tail lights are what really makes it unique, y'know.

I like that you're keeping the bottom trim, trim is classy.

[FatNasty]

Interesting, mine was just the opposite, single seal on drivers side, 2 on passenger side. I had never noticed until you mentioned it and I went back through the pics I took at the time. You can see the outline of each seal in the pic.

[slack]

What did you use to ghetto shine the inside of the tail light reflectors?

[Mr Bean]

What did you use to ghetto shine the inside of the tail light reflectors?

Home Depot sells rolls of chrome insulation tape. It sticks very well. I cut out small squares to minimize wrinkles. I read that 3M makes a similar product as well.

[Mr Bean]

Ghetto modded tail lights comparison.

Stock on the driver side, modded on the passenger side.

[HiFiMerc]

I've been wanting sequentials on mine for several years now. Care to enlighten us with more details on that? Wiring, etc? Or did you do that already?

[Mr Bean]

I used universal kit from here,

http://www.webelectricproducts.com/products.htm

Wiring is pretty simple. They provide you with a diagram. Tail lights use stock wiring. Turn signals have individual feed wire coming from the module going to each bulb.

[miamibob]

Which exact kit did you use? The Mustang one or something else??

[HiFiMerc]

Then just mod the inner most socket to use an 1157 one. Simple enough.

The tail light reflector was dull like that on my '84. Though it was stupid back then. Even more so now.

I traded those tail lights for a nice stainless steel battle axe. I miss that car.

[Mr Bean]

Which exact kit did you use? The Mustang one or something else??

STS Universal Sequential Turn Signal System
STS-1 Sequential Turn Signals, $69 ..........
- For cars with 3 lamps on each side

[miamibob]

STS Universal Sequential Turn Signal System
STS-1 Sequential Turn Signals, $69 ..........
- For cars with 3 lamps on each side

Many thanks!! Have to check it out....Bobby

[miamibob]

Did you change the flasher or keep the stock one in??