Since my thread on using the 56 headlight rings in a 53-55 grille has been destroyed by photobucket, I'm trying to bring it back to life here on FTE. I might add that since I originally posted this on the Hamb site roughly 5 years ago, I was informed that this mod would work on 48-52 F series trucks.



My current build is a 55 F100. One of the things that I personally have never cared for on the 53-55 F100s is the bug-eyed look of the headlights. I have read discussions of using the 56 F100 headlight trim rings in the 53-55's but I've never seen any details on exactly how it was performed. So this is my approach for using the 56 trim rings in the 53 grille that I intend to use.

I initially did a lot of over-thinking about how I wanted to go about this. I duplicated the original headlight openings on poster board and applied some dimensions to work with.








The 56 ring won't fit flush into the opening without some surgery.







I found that the 8 1/2" dia. shown in the drawing would allow the trim ring to sit flush in the opening.

I made a poster board pattern that had a 9 1/2" outer diameter which is equal to size of the headlight housing and a 8 1/2" inner diameter. I lined up the 9 1/2" outer diameter with the headlight housing and taped it down.




After I got the pattern located I marked the cut lines that would allow the ring to sit flush.




Take note that the 8 1/2" dia. will leave a portion of each of the 4 depressions in the opening after the metal is cut away.




I decided to use my trusty 4 1/2" grinder with a 60 grit flap disc to remove the necessary metal. As I noted above after cutting away the metal that there will be a portion remaining of the 4 depressions that located the screw clips used to hold the headlight buckets. They came in handy for me in locating the headlight bucket and maintaining the correct orientation of the bucket so that the headlight fits correctly.




At this stage I decided I would weld in some tabs at the 12 and 6 o'clock positions that would be used to hold the trim ring in place. Just some simple sheet metal tabs that I pre-drilled and used J clips to run the trim screws into. I welded the tabs in using the wag method to determine the angles they needed to be located at.







I really tried to make recessing the headlight bucket difficult, but after a little thought I came up with this. I made up 4 angle brackets for each bucket out of 14 ga steel. The 1 1/2" measurement locates the bucket at what I felt was the best depth.




I really tried to make recessing the headlight bucket difficult, but after a little thought I came up with this. I made up 4 angle brackets for each bucket out of 14 ga steel. The 1 1/2" measurement locates the bucket at what I felt was the best depth.

I located the brackets at each bucket mounting hole as shown and drilled holes and bolted them in place.






I failed to get a photo of this but I assembled the headlight into the bucket with the retaining ring and did some checking as to where the brackets would line up with the depressions that I referred to earlier. Some minor tweaking of the brackets were necessary to get everything lined up and centered in the 56 trim ring.

This is where some extra hands could come in handy. I just got comfortable on my shop stool with my mig gun close by and I did some trial fitting and when I had it right I did a quick spot weld and rechecked my fits. Once I got all four brackets spotted, I rechecked my fits and when satisfied, I welded all 4 brackets solid.










I smoothed off the welds and assembled everything to see how it turned out.



For comparison I assembled the other headlight in the stock configuration.



Also another modification that will have to be made will be an indentation in the air deflector to clear the headlight bucket after it has been moved back in the headlight opening. If you happen to have 56 air deflectors, they already have the indentations.

And finally installed in the truck.

 

looks easier than I thought... my only problem is my grill is already chromed and wonder what all that welding will do ???

appreciate all that work... don't you love Photobucket for doing that ??

j

 

Equates to holding your photos ransom as far as I am concerned.

 

I like it. I might have to try that. I like mods that use other year parts.

 

I don't have a problem with the 53-55 headlight but I do like your idea for the amber LEDs hidden behind the grille. Manufacturers still often make them unattractive to this day on cars, trucks and motorcycles.

 

John, after some thought, you might be able to modify the tabs that are used to set the headlight bucket back and use automotive structural adhesive to mount them to the grille. The adhesive is a little pricey but much cheaper than having a grille chromed.

 

That looks really nice, Good job!!!

 

Nice work and a great write-up Drew. I have done the same mod but rather than welding in tabs to hold the headlight bucket I made an insert that attached to the inner wall of the grille bucket. Interesting that John raised the chrome question and you suggested structural adhesive since this is exactly what I did to my "already-chromed" grille. The wife's family live in Lebanon, TN...I really like the countryside and your place looks like heaven to this SoCal suburb dweller!

 

Charlie, I was hoping you would chime in. I knew that you had experience with the adhesive. I know there are other ways to approach this modification. Always interested in other ways to do things.

We're just a hop skip and a jump from Lebanon We've lived at our present location just shy of 40 years and we loved it here until we started having subdivisions popping up all around us. Fortunately we have 13 acres and we can maintain some distance from some of the population increase in our area.
I lived in Carpinteria, Ca for about a year back in the 60's. I loved the car and motorcycle culture, just didn't care for California that much.

 

Drew I am so glad yhou dfid this I have your old post on this saved with intentions of doing it to my truck. You even made more streamlined.
Thanks again. Reps sent.

 

Thanks for redoing this. My IH suffers the same issue and I was planning on doing this same thing (but tweaked for my particular brand of truck haha)

 

Thanks Drewski 2. I would like to do this with my truck as well. Now to remember it when time to do the work.