So I spent quite a while searching and troubleshooting my LED conversion. While I found a ton of info that gave me the impression that upgrading to LEDs was difficult. I found that it's super easy (at least on my 1962 292). Here's what I used and learned along the way. Bulb removal was easy on the tail lights, but the front parking lights were corroded to the socket. I had to twist the glass bulb out and use some pliers to get the rest out. Thankfully nothing broke. After removing everything, I replaced the parklight lens' since they were cracked and cloudy. I bought the parklight lens' from Dennis Carpenter for $7 each (part # B9C-13208-A) and got new lens gaskets for the front and rear (part #'s B9C-13211-B and B7C-13211-A, respectively).

The picture below shows all of the LED bulbs and the load resistors I bought from SuperBrightLEDs (SBL). The bulbs turned out great and are a welcome upgrade over the dim incandescent bulbs. I bought the items below because that's what most info I found said to go with. In the end, however, I did not need the load resistors.

Once I got the bulbs in, I saw that my turn signals no longer worked. Most of the info I saw about this was if the turn signals were hyper-flashing, which mine were not. They just turned on and didn't flash. I didn't see anything online for my case and I really didn't want to splice anything into the wires, so I kept looking for another way. I found some info about changing out the flasher, but nothing was conclusive and I didn't see a specific part I should use. So I did a little trial and error at Autozone and found that the Novita EL12 was exactly what I needed. As soon as I hooked it up, the flashers worked. Easiest fix I've done. Now, hopefully this helps someone else make the switch to LEDs.

 

So really all you changed were the bulbs and the flasher?

 

That’s it. LED bulbs and a new flasher.

From the searching I did prior to upgrading, I thought I might need a whole new wiring harness and an electrical engineering degree…

 

Excellent! And the only reason you need to change the flasher is because older versions use amperage to the lights to heat a bimetal switch (low power usage on led’s usually have trouble tripping the switch) and disengage the circuit until it cools. Rinse & repeat. LED flashers use timer circuitry and relay to do the same thing.

 

I changed the same lights over to LED as well. Yes, all you need is the new LED capable flasher. What a difference for the tail lights!!!! Superbright is a place you can get a variety of bulbs. I got my set from that rain forest place for a few dollars less. But...You need to look at the specs on the bulbs. Some are brighter than others of the same price.

And also go with the colors beatnavy did. A clear bulb behind a red lens bleeds out the red lens.

EDIT: If you have a tail light like a Jeep or trailer that is a tail/brake license plate light. A red bulb will light your plate red. Superbright has a bulb that the bottom LEDs are white to solve this. Downside is that the bulb is not as bright as many just red bulbs.

Well worth the few bucks!
Tom

 

In the case of the light for the plate I have seen little LED's that go where the bolts are to hold the plate to the bracket that might be used.
No I have not used them so dont know how well they work.

Something to think about
The 80 - 86 flare side lights (like the Jeep lights) Ford paint the inside of the housings white and not a gloss but a semi gloss.
Someone did a test with silver, white gloss and the semi gloss the the semi worked the best to put out the most light.

Another thing I had not tried if the leans is kind of flat and dose not spread the light well is to get some of the 4ft over head light leans in what they call Chrystal cut, smooth on 1 side and like broken glass on the other side.
The broken glass side goes to the bulb and when the light hit it it spreads out.
They say place between bulb and leans and it should spread the light out.

I have a car I am going to try this on when I get it on the road because when the tail lights are on you only see a dot where the bulb is and the rest of the large leans is dim.I may also add a 2ns bulb as the area is that big to do so.
Dave ----

 

Beat Navy, thanks again for your help. I used the parts you listed above, replacing the front turn signal amber lights first. Worked great, much brighter than original bulbs! When I replaced the rear bulbs with the new red LED ones, I had the same problem you started with - solid lights, no flashing. I used the same Novita EL12 flasher that you used so I'm curious as to why I can't get LEDs to work on both the front and the back. Anyone have any ideas or workarounds that don't involve hacking into the wiring harness? Another flasher possibly? Thanks for any help!

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/32487719096...YAAOSwyvBhFAKN

I used an older version of this cheap flasher. Turn the adjustment screw till it flashes the speed you like...
It is not load dependent simply a relay you set the speed of contact pulsing.

 

Maybe I got lucky with how I put everything together! Keep us posted if you get it working. These LED light conversions seem simple, but you never know what gremlins are in that old wiring.