I had to change one of the bulbs in my factory driving lights on my 88, I never saw much difference in the brightness when I turned on the driving lights before and figured I had to go to a higher watt bulb, but didn't want to do that due to higher draw on the still stock alternator and light switch. I noticed that inside of the housing is a small metal deflector that covers half of the bulb and forces the light down, I understand that FOG lights should force the light lower to the road, however, one should have yellow bulbs to be effective FOG lights. I wanted brighter driving lights. What I did was remove the small metal diffuser inside of the housing. First I broke it free from the housing by moving it back and forth. Once free, it was a matter of using needle nose pliers and some small snips to break it apart and pull it out if the light bulb hole. Took maybe 20 minutes for both lights, put the stock wattage bulbs back in and tried it that night. Noticeably brighter than before. Light now shows the sides of the roads better. Figured I would pass this along to you all, wish I took some pics, but should be easy enough once you see it.
Kuch Wrote:I had to change one of the bulbs in my factory driving lights on my 88, I never saw much difference in the brightness when I turned on the driving lights before and figured I had to go to a higher watt bulb, but didn't want to do that due to higher draw on the still stock alternator and light switch.
IMHO I think you should read Jeff Korn’s excellent how-to on adding a relay to your fog light circuit. Those things run at 30 amps and again, IMHO are the most probable reason for battery drain, alternator damage and biggest of all, ignition switch connectors burning and melting.
http://turbotbird.com/faqs/#Rewire_Fog_Lights
After studying what he wrote and thinking about it, it makes perfect sense. Why not have a relay do all the work? (I hate cliches so I will defer from the use of the term “heavy liftingâ€.)
Also—there are several colors of lamps available for the fog lights (do a Google search). I ended up getting some bluish-white ones from O’Reilly’s Auto Parts (formerly Checker, depending on where you are) that work much better than the original stock white ones.
The relay mod for the headlights and driving lights is one of my to do items for the spring. I know about the draw of these lights through the factory light switch and the issues with charging. However, the lights themselves seemed to be rather dim, even with new factory wattage bulbs. I simply tried this to enhance the throw of the light to better light up the road and sides. As far as different colored bulbs, I still find the good old slightly yellow/white style to be the best, the newer bluish tint ones don't seem to light the way as good. At least for me. I just used them this morning, and was surprised how much brighter the sides of the road was. Even did a few off/on comparisons, glad I removed the small diffuser.
I replaced my non OEM driving lights and headlights with LED units (18 high brightness LEDs per side in the driving lights) last year. They make the incandescent bulb driving lights and headlights look like candles, and draw less than 1/2 the current of the incandescent bulb units. I did have to mod the driving light brackets considerably, but it wasnt a real big deal. LED headlight bulbs were almost plug and play.
Kuch Wrote:As far as different colored bulbs, I still find the good old slightly yellow/white style to be the best, the newer bluish tint ones don't seem to light the way as good. At least for me. I just used them this morning, and was surprised how much brighter the sides of the road was. Even did a few off/on comparisons, glad I removed the small diffuser.
Hmmpf. Well, maybe I’ll get some yellowish bulbs as you describe and see how they work for me. I understand completely your decision to remove the diffuser; I played around with removing mine but in the end decided to leave them in. I tried painting the plastic reflectors with
alleged chrome paint, which of course was only silver, really. The chrome plating on them had started to peel so I figured the silver paint was better than nothing. I tried gloss white on one and the “chrome†on the other, I didn’t see much difference, except the silver gave the fog lamp a warmer glowing appearance, for whatever that’s worth. Probably need an old-style photo light meter (or something) to gauge the actual difference in brightness. Aside from Jeff’s suggestion, probably the better choice is just to find some NOS or barely used fog lamp housings with OEM chrome still intact...if you want to stay as stock as possible.
Jeff K. Wrote:LED headlight bulbs were almost plug and play.
I like that idea, Jeff. Even with the housings “restored†the headlamps are still not as bright as the wife’s PT Cruiser with its clouded lenses, and I just installed the Sylvania SilverStars in the TC a few years ago.
Again—hmmpf.