Replacing headlights

Michael Soldan · Mar 28, 2019

I put new headlights in my sn95 after buffing the old ones several times with not real great results. They did look better but I decided to replace them. There are several You tube videos showing how to do it , but I learned a whole lot that the videos don't show you. I learned to set my old headlight beside the new ones and count the number of threads on each mounting rod. By setting the new headlamps identical to the old ones I found they fit in and were aligned almost perfectly to the old ones , this makes adjusting the headlights easy if one assumes they were aligned before , so a few turns here and there and you have them dead on. Just a thought when you go to replace your headlights . Mike in Exeter Ontario

Tillerman77 · Mar 30, 2019

Which headlights did you go with? And are you happy with the light output while driving?

FivepointSlow · Mar 31, 2019

Tillerman77 said:
Which headlights did you go with? And are you happy with the light output while driving?

My experience with SN95 headlights (foggy stocks, restored stocks, smoked, cobra, and a few other variations of aftermarket reflector headlights) is that Ford dropped the ball and all reflector style halogen headlights for our cars sucks.
Anything short of a projector in our cars doesn't have solid light output.
And I have also put HIDs into an aftermarket reflector style housing... While this solves the light output problem, the reflectors arent designed for those bulbs and will both give you a scattered pattern and blind every single driver on the road with you.

Michael Soldan said:
I learned to set my old headlight beside the new ones and count the number of threads on each mounting rod. By setting the new headlamps identical to the old ones I found they fit in and were aligned almost perfectly

This is one of those things I seem to always realize AFTER fighting with aligning new headlights... Huh it would of been easier if I just did it that way...

Wish I had this tip fresh in my mind prior to installing any headlights.

Michael Soldan · Mar 31, 2019

Tillerman77 said:
Which headlights did you go with? And are you happy with the light output while driving?

I went with stock headlights from O'Reilly's. They look mvery good on the car. I haven't had the car out of winter storage yet. From what I can tell in my shop the lights have good illumination and are set pretty much on , but I will go over the settings some warm evening when I can park outside the garage door , tape an "x" where the ligts shine, back up 25 ' and fine tune the adjustment

Tillerman77 · Mar 31, 2019

Michael Soldan said:
I went with stock headlights from O'Reilly's. They look very good on the car. I haven't had the car out of winter storage yet. From what I can tell in my shop the lights have good illumination and are set pretty much on , but I will go over the settings some warm evening when I can park outside the garage door , tape an "x" where the lights shine, back up 25 ' and fine tune the adjustment

Thanks. How about a picture or 2 of the finished work?

g36 monkey · Apr 4, 2019

Every time I see threads about SN headlights, I am thankful for having a new edge. Headlights take literally seconds to change out

ttocs · Apr 4, 2019

people make a big deal about them for some reason. Pull the clips off and then push them from the back with a 5mm socket I think it is and they pop right out in 5-6 secs

Michael Soldan · Apr 5, 2019

I believe its a 12mm wrench that fits over the rubber snap ends. I had a lot of trouble getting the old lights out. There are a number of reasons , the 29 year old rubber retainers were hard as rocks from age and would not squeeze in , even with a box end over top of them. I had to use a pry bar against the adjusting rods and pry against the rad cradle , with a great deal of force so it may not be as easy a job as what you have experienced. I did put some tire bead lube on the rubber ends to help them slide out. When you watch videos on changing lights out it looks pretty simple but sometimes in reality things don't work as expected.

Wood's 5.0 · Apr 5, 2019

I wish mine would have just "popped right out in 5-6 seconds". Shoot, 5-6 minutes would have been a blessing. They were a flippin' nightmare to get out. Of course, had I been in the same position for 22 years I would probably be stubborn to move as well. They did go back in right easy, tho. Well, once I rearranged and properly oriented the mounting assemblies/retainers. Seems like everything I do to my car is a PITA.

g36 monkey · Apr 5, 2019

Wood's 5.0 said:
I wish mine would have just "popped right out in 5-6 seconds". Shoot, 5-6 minutes would have been a blessing. They were a flippin' nightmare to get out. Of course, had I been in the same position for 22 years I would probably be stubborn to move as well. They did go back in right easy, tho. Well, once I rearranged and properly oriented the mounting assemblies/retainers. Seems like everything I do to my car is a PITA.

99-04 is literally pulling two pins and pulling the light forward, then unplugging the bulbs.