The 1986 thru 1991 have the sealed glass headlamp envelope. All the later model years accept for a few 92 delivery vans have the Lexan envelopes, with the separate bulbs. You would have to change Headlamp Door Assembly, and the head lamp plug to go to the Glass envelope. If you've had a rock bust out a head lamp and have a front tire blow out on a van from hitting it you'll never want glass again.

 

I'm still a bit confused. I picked up a pair of H6054-HO glass bulbs, they're not even close to fitting. I'm not looking to replace the whole front end, just replace stock plastic with glass. Is there not a direct replacement?

John

 

They won't fit without getting 91 or older parts, read my message above. You'll also need the headlight retaining rings, and a bunch of little plastic threaded clips. If Lowes parts drawers are well stocked you can get them from there. Much easier to just sand and polish the Lens out. Also the Glass envelope headlamps run hot on the Aerostars???, and you'll be replacing the lamps more often.

 

You should visit your local scrap yard to find the parts you need to retrofit sealed beam light bulbs to your later vans.

A rock can crack a plastic lens as well; it's just a matter of how big a rock or how fast it comes at you. It costs a lot more to replace that plastic lens assembly than a glass sealed beam bulb. Also, you can get clear plastic covers to put over the rectangular glass lenses. See my site:

http://geocities.com/eycchu/euro_head_lamp/lights.html

Those covers work very well. They actually cost more than most sealed beam halogen lights, but I was using them to protect some very expensive E-spec lights.

 

I used the GE HO headlights before I went with the aftermarkets w/H4 bulbs.

As everyone said, you need to replace the buckets the headlights fit into, get the old style adjusters, and get trim rings with the rubber skirts around them. You can replace the entire turn signal assembly if the space around the headlight bothers you.

If you're concerned about breakage, carry a spare with you. The light output from the sealed beams is far superior to the factory composites, IMO. These old eyes need more light at night.

 

Wandered the junk yard today, found the buckets/trim. Counter guy wanted $300. Then he came down to $100 and then $50. I wouldn't have given him more than $10. Gonna keep looking.

John

 

Saw the Sylvania Silverstar halogen headlights at a couple of parts places in town. I also see they are a sponser here. Just wondering if anybody has installed these headlights on their Aerostar? If so, what is your opinion of this product? ...

 

Same kinda question as Ed: Looked in a parts catalog at Sylvania 9007ST, says they are the "brightest, 100% street legal halogen on the road." $20 ea.

John

 

300 bucks for those buckets? ROTFL. They weren't gold plated, were they? I got one from the boneyard, and the other one new from the dealer.

I don't remember how much they are from the dealer, but they're certainly less than that. You know, they look like a universal design, I bet buckets from a lot of other vehicles, especially Rangers, etc., would work.

I just replaced my H4 bulbs w/Silverstars. Not bad, light output is pretty good. The color is rated at 4000 K, it has just a hint of blue color to it. Seems like a lot of lights are now being rated at degrees K. I need to read some more about that stuff.

 

I'd check around on the boards under Headlights and see if anyone had temperature problems with different bulbs. On a friends Aerostar, after conversion, the glass envelopes ran hot, and yes I checked them with a Fluke 54 II. We couldn't figure out why they ran hot and we checked the same bulbs in his pick-up, they were cooler.

 

All,

A WORD OF CAUTION HERE! DO *NOT* BUY REPLACEMENT BULBS THAT DRAW MORE AMPERAGE THAN THE ORIGINAL BUBS WITHOUT MODIFYING THE HEADLIGHT WIRING HARNESS! A*s already suffer from "headlight switch meltdown", loading the headlight circuit further could cause a fire. You can find these "hyper-bulbs" for sale everywhere (eBay, JCWhitney...), and they may have their place, but it's NOT on a stock A*! Off my soapbox....

For one reason or another, I've tried all the "better than OEM" bulbs. The Silverstars seem marginally whiter and brighter, especially when new... Having said that, PIAAs are the only same-amps replacement 9007 bulb I've found that are REALLY, REALLY whiter and brighter (but they better be at $60-$80 per pair!).

DadVan

 

That seems excessive. But most places like that will try to get away with as much as they can. But if it includes the doors and turn signals, then $50 would be reasonable.

The little adjustable bowl that the sealed beam lamps sit into are interchangeable among other Ford trucks. Of course, so are the chrome rings that hold the bulbs into the bowls.

The light bulb filament is a black body radiator, with the center frequency of the strongest emissions somewhat related to the temperature of the radiator. The hotter the filament, the higher the center frequency (more blue it appears). That's why professional lighting systems rate their outputs by temperature in Kelvin. For reference, the sun emits at about 6500K, and since we evolved with that light, its spectrum appears most natural to us.

As I mentioned in past postings, a lot of the "brighter" lights, either sealed beams or the replacement halogen capsules, will draw more current on the low beam. (That's how they are brighter; duh.) The stock sealed beams have a 35 watt low beam, while the stock 9007H capsule has a 45 watt low beam. The brighter lights all have 55 watt low beams. This will present a greater load on the stock wiring harness and light switches, so it's a really good idea to install relays into your switching systems. Most people don't use their high beams all that often, so its even higher power, 65 watts for all lights, will not be a problem for the stock wiring unless it's used for extended periods of time.

If you install a higher power light, it WILL generate more heat. Remember that even the most efficient halogen lights will convert only about 2% of the electrical energy into visible light. Most of the rest of the energy is turned into heat, with some going to UV. This means that you need to be careful of lights using plastic housings. Those who have had to replace their plastic light housings may have noticed that on the roof of the housing, just above the light capsule, there is a metal plate that helps shield the plastic from the heat. This also means that it would be a really bad idea to install those super high powered (100/130 watts), and often illegal, light capsules in those plastic housings. In addition to melting the wiring and burning out the switches, you will also melt the plastic housings.

PIAA cheats a little by placing their filaments in a slightly different position than all the other bulbs. This gives you a hot spot in front, which gives the appearance of a brighter light. This comes at the cost of more uniform distribution in front of you. There is no magic; given the halogen technology available today, a certain amount of electrical power will only produce so much visible light. PIAA charges a lot for their bulbs because they know people will pay for them. But my experience is that they do not last very long.

 

Posted earlier that the 93 I just purchased had a damaged lamp that I thought had mounting clips broken by previous owner. Went to a local salvage yard and picked up a new lamp housingwhich cost me $10.00 while I was pulling it I decided to pull the housing bucket, the part was just thrown in for nothing. When I pulled the old lamp I realized it was the bucket not the lamp housing. It was a good thing I grabbed it while I was there. lol An easy fix and I have still got a good replacement housing which after a little elbow grease with cleaning compound DOES look as good as new. New halogen lamps inside and I am very happy with the results. Now all I have left is the infamous clockspring problem. Which thanks to the great people here I will be working on that next weekend.

 

WHy not put some sand or baking soda in them and shake them around till it polishes up the inside. Maybe even some oxiclean might even help

 

The oxidation of the plastic is primarily on the outside so compounding them does the trick. None of my caseings show any yellowing on the inner surfaces.