Functional grill lights?

[Ragamuffin]

Pretty sure this is the DD light they are using. They then 3D printed the mounting brackets.

SS3 LED Fog Light Kit for 2006-2009 Ford Mustang (diodedynamics.com)

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[murick]

It is good to see the topic is getting some traction.

You can take the plastic cover of your car directly and made the 3D CAD model within minutes, even a cardboard will do the trick as quick prototype, and look for someone with a 3D printer. Some ideas to explore.

This was basically my plan too except I thought I would be doing the electronics as well. Already posted about it here: https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/euro-headlight-harness.172208/post-3657300
I guess this thread might not be of much use to US models, but maybe some parts may be similar or even the same.

I admit I am not particularly hooked by the lights from DD posted earlier in this thread. On the other hand I really liked the lights @Rhyanski mentioned here (https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/my-mach-1-changes-coming.170623/post-3570717) and I already ordered 3 different samples from aliexpress for testing and just received them yesterday.

Here is a link for aliexpress page I bought them from (again, thanks to @Rhyanski to identify them):
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32977591005.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.2a1d18022F6aFW
The ones I ordered are the 1st, 2nd and the 5th from the end and are rated 40, 80, 45W. Though it is hard to say what exactly does it mean, as I was able to trigger them in the smoke test with small 12V/2A power supply. I chose those three to begin with as I really like the uniformly lit ring (which even can change color to orange).

So far there seems to be two major hurdles:

1) Creating the bracket which would snap on the front grill in the same manner as the original lids do and hold the lights in slightly elevated direction as the front grill has negative elevation and to make the lights shine more in line with the OEM lights some adjustment is probably needed. At least if one would want to use not only DRL feature, but also low beam (or even high beam) features some elevation adjustment might be needed even just for not blinding the cars coming in the opposite direction.

2) Correct wiring of the lights. The lights from aliexpress do not have any control unit, and are just power on/off, while the OEM lights might be actually controlled by "signals" (but this is still to be clarified). Plus if one would want to use all the features it would require tapping both harnesses (for the headlight and for the parking/fog/turn signal light).

Anyway it would be good to pull together on this one as there seems to be no interest from the industry.

 

[Coastal-Mach]

I have asked Oracle if this type can be made to fit in our cars. Once they reply, I will let you guys know. I also told them if they needed any additional information from the car I would provide it.

 

[Rhyanski]

@murick - The solutions for your 2 hurdles that have been done on the pictures I've shared are as follows:

1) Positioning, height adjustment and attachment - the guys from the workshop that installed them have made the necessary measurement and have cut the back of the oval openings on an angle that matches the height of the low beams. So, you have to adjust by the low beams height.
Then they've glued them in place. This makes the lights kind of impossible to change / replace, but obviously no one is considering replacement as these are LED, hence not that much prone to burn / get replaced.

2) Controlling the DLR/outer rim was bound to the autolight and there's a switch to change color between orange and white. So, turning off autolights / DLR turns off the rim light.
For high and low beams there were dedicated switches installed under the steering wheel (on the plastic cover on the bottom side of the steering wheel console). So these are pretty hidden and still easy to access if you want to turn the lights ON/OFF. The guys told me that they couldn't figure it out how to control it using the car light controls, but I guess they didn't want to go too much into investigating the options. To be honest, I am not 100% sure whether the ON/OFF button was for turning on low beams only, and swithcing low/high was done by the car... and I'm not sure I can verify the setup anymore.

 

[Crew4991]

I'm not that into the grille light design. I liked them much more on the older S197 mustangs.

I did find one that looked pretty decent for the S550 online though. From a company called Black Beat Motor? Never heard of them.

 

[Rock50]

I have asked Oracle if this type can be made to fit in our cars. Once they reply, I will let you guys know. I also told them if they needed any additional information from the car I would provide it.

These were installed by Gus Gomez in an old thread here.

I purchased this from Oracle. Can be cut to size and flex. Just a bunch of LEDs on a flexible strip inside a silicone type tube. Feel like they should be half the price and are not as bright as I expected. But this is what I plan to install as they form to shape nicely and I will probably just run them from the parking lights.

 

[Coastal-Mach]

These were installed by Gus Gomez in an old thread here.

I purchased this from Oracle. Can be cut to size and flex. Just a bunch of LEDs on a flexible strip inside a silicone type tube. Feel like they should be half the price and are not as bright as I expected. But this is what I plan to install as they form to shape nicely and I will probably just run them from the parking lights.

Thanks for the post, I did not see anywhere on the site about the lumens, so I figured they were more of a decoration than an actual light.

 

[murick]

Then they've glued them in place. This makes the lights kind of impossible to change / replace, but obviously no one is considering replacement as these are LED, hence not that much prone to burn / get replaced.

I have quite a bad experience with some cheap "corn" LED lights from aliexpress - they started dying on me afer two or three years. Even though the lights you pointed out look much more solid, I would rather keep an option to be able to change them.
The other concern of mine is that I might need to remove the lights, or adjust them. So I am primarily thinking about some modular solution where I will be able to remove, replace or adjust the lights.

2) Controlling the DLR/outer rim was bound to the autolight and there's a switch to change color between orange and white. So, turning off autolights / DLR turns off the rim light.

That is what I had in mind too. But I thought it would be cool to have the complete light wired to the factory controls. Now I just need to figure if it is possible and how to do it. I got some ques from the schema @RasJeremy posted in the other thread, but unfortunately, so far it does look like it might not be possible by simple wiretapping and some additional "control unit" might be needed.

This of course depends on the lights one is using. More advanced lights could already have the control unit built-in and then could be just wire-tapped to the original wiring. I am also curious what @Coastal-Mach will find out. Not anymore

 

[Ragamuffin]

These were installed by Gus Gomez in an old thread here.

I purchased this from Oracle. Can be cut to size and flex. Just a bunch of LEDs on a flexible strip inside a silicone type tube. Feel like they should be half the price and are not as bright as I expected. But this is what I plan to install as they form to shape nicely and I will probably just run them from the parking lights.

I like your idea. I'm not really looking for lights to give the car additional night vision, I want them for aesthetics, and I think those LEDs look like they would fit right in with the look of the OEM headlights. Wiring into the parking lights would also be an easy fix. Please share pics once you get them on.

 

[Rhyanski]

I have quite a bad experience with some cheap "corn" LED lights from aliexpress - they started dying on me afer two or three years. Even though the lights you pointed out look much more solid, I would rather keep an option to be able to change them.
The other concern of mine is that I might need to remove the lights, or adjust them. So I am primarily thinking about some modular solution where I will be able to remove, replace or adjust the lights.

I agree with you. Actually LEDs produce quite a lot of heat, so being just in front of the massive cooling unit, I'm not sure it would do any good/ better for them, hence replacement may be imminent. I didn't like the 'gluing' option, but this is how the guys went.
Me personally, I think that if these outlets are considered 'fog' lights, ideally they should be pointed downwards to light up the road 'under the fog', so aligning them to the low beams will not help in fog conditions. If we follow this logic, then cutting is also "no go" for me.

That is what I had in mind too. But I thought it would be cool to have the complete light wired to the factory controls. Now I just need to figure if it is possible and how to do it. I got some ques from the schema @RasJeremy posted in the other thread, but unfortunately, so far it does look like it might not be possible by simple wiretapping and some additional "control unit" might be needed.

This of course depends on the lights one is using. More advanced lights could already have the control unit built-in and then could be just wire-tapped to the original wiring. I am also curious what @Coastal-Mach will find out. Not anymore

Indeed linking to the behavior of the standard lights would be awesome, but I have no idea whether it is possible or not. But, if you link them to the fog lights and use them as such, apart from the DLR rim, then it may be cool and won't need a controller (I guess)...

I still can't make my mind yet, and honestly the accenting vinyl orange stripes in some other builds are intriguing. So many options are overwhelming at times, so I will see what will grow on me in time

 

[kellyreno]

So the Mach 1 has been out for almost a year and there is not one single aftermarket supplier that makes a kit for the grill inserts That have to tell you something.

Same boat. They look stupid. Where is the aftermarket??

 

[Coastal-Mach]

Update from Oracle lighting:

After speaking with Oracle, they do not have any application for our cars, because "they do not have access to the car". I offered to provide any pictures, measurements, etc. I was thanked for my interest and given a discount code for a future project.

They also stated that part number :1334-001 can be made to fit, but do not offer much in the way of lighting.

I will reach out to DD, as well and offer them the same for pictures and measurements. I know several members have approached them already, but the more people that inquire, the better chance we will have for a viable fog light option.

@Ragamuffin. I know you were spearheading this, so I do not want to step on your toes. I work from home, its easy for me to send emails and give additional information.

 

[swoop1156]

I work from home, its easy for me to send emails and give additional information.

Same here, so if there's any way I can help - please do let me know! I used to have an "in" with Rigid Lighting, let me see if I can reach out to them. (Unless they've already said a hard 'no', I've not reviewed this entire thread 100%.)

 

[Coastal-Mach]

Same here, so if there's any way I can help - please do let me know! I used to have an "in" with Rigid Lighting, let me see if I can reach out to them. (Unless they've already said a hard 'no', I've not reviewed this entire thread 100%.

Thanks for the help. I don't think anyone has mentioned Rigid Lighting.

 

[JeffTheEmailer]

Hey guys, Jeff from 777 here. The GTE lights we sell for the Mach 1 is an homage to the endurance racing cars that compete in WEC and Le Mans. Side note, pretty awesome that Ford is returning to compete in WEC with a Mustang this time around, rather than a GT. As per the brackets themselves, we use an industrial printer to produce our brackets, same machines used to develop MotoGP parts by Markforged. They are a mix of high temp resistant chopped micro carbon and nylon, not a PLA commonly used by inexpensive and traditional FDM printers. We also got back from SEMA, was cool to see additive manufacturing in such extreme applications such as the interior clamshell of the Hoonipigasus. My question is, how can we improve our GTE lights, and what is it that you guys would like to see from us?

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