LED front head lamp replacements

[Unique427]

Here's the complete LED conversion route I took.
Sorry for the wall of text but this covers it all.

Headlights:
The following is a direct replacement if you have 3 prong H4 connectors
most halogen or 7” sealed beam equipped Cobras have. It’s minimal
fuss and will require less than 20 minutes even if it’s the first time.
Hella lamps are all glass and DOT compliant. There’s a bulb reflector inside
to eliminate head-on hot spots that annoys oncoming traffic. The JDM
LED headlight puts out 2200 lumens at 6500K each, and requires no fan or
power converter. They easily fit inside the light bucket without modification.
Hella lamps come with 2 rubber dust boots to seal out moisture at the
electrical connection. Draw a 1-1/4” diameter circle on the back of each
rubber dust boot. Carefully cut out with a scissors. It will now stretch fit
over the back of each installed JDM LED and create a moisture resistant
seal where the Hella and JDM join.
1) Hella Vision Plus7” Sealed Beam Conversion Headlamp (DOT) # 002395301
2) JDM 4S H4 9003 LED Headlight Conversion Kit # 4S-H4-2200

Running/Turn/Brake Lights:
The LED bulbs listed here are about 4X as bright as comparable halogen
bulbs they replace. Please note that for amber and red, use a color
matching LED for the respective lens. A red LED through a red lens is
brighter and far more vibrant then white. 100% of the light emitted is
transmitted through a similar colored lens . For this scenario I had
(2) Lucas L539 Amber up front and (4) Lucas L692 Red in back. All were
1157 style bulbs. If some of your light sockets are 1156 do not interchange.
1157 have two staggered contact prongs and 1156 has two non-staggered
contact prongs. The LED supplier listed makes both base styles.
1) iBrightstar 1157 BAY15D LED – Amber #X001JCP9KP
2) IBrightstar 1157 BAY15D LED – Red #X001IPJ4EF

License Plate Lights:
This is for Lucas L467 License Plate Assembly and requires (2) LED bulbs.
1) Superbrightleds BA9S LED 5 SMD Tower 6100K # BA9S-CWHP5

Instrument/Cockpit Lights:
This is for Stewart Warner based gauges that have removable bulb sockets.
These are located at the top of the gauge, are friction fit and come in
one or two wire versions. It’s plug and play for either version. It will
require patience if doing while gauges are wired in place. Not much room
to work but doable. These LED’s are available in cool or warm white,
amber, red, green and blue. I went with cool white for speedo and tach
and red for system gauges. At 96 vs 36 lumens, they are bright and make a
gauge face really pop!
1) Superbrightleds BA9S LED 5 SMD Tower Cool White # BA9S-CWHP5
2) Superbrightleds BA9S LED SMD Tower Red #BA9S-RHP5

Misc:
Switching from halogen to LED turn signals can introduce either a hyper-flash
or no flash/steady on condition with turn signals. The electro-mechanical
relays use load resistance from the halogens to switch on and off. LEDs
require only a fraction of power and hence produce very little load resistance.
You have (2) options here. Splice in a load resistor into each turn signal circuit
that mimics the halogen and fools the relay, or replace it with LED
compatible solid state relays. Option 2 is better and cheaper. Plus those
load resistors can get hot enough to melt plastic. You will need to replace
(2) relays. One for turn signals, the other for hazard lights. My relays
were (2) prong Tridon 552. Some of you may have (3) prong relays.
Superbrightleds.com offers a (3) prong LED compatible relay.
1) CEC Industries LED Compatible (2) Prong Relay # EF32SS-R

Misc 2:
After switching to LED compatible relays, if you still experience a
no flash/steady on condition, the relay socket was reverse wired. Old
electro-mechanical relays are not polarity sensitive and hence the
technician who wired it did not care to check. No worries. Easily
corrected with a relay polarity adapter. The CEC Industries EF32SS-R
plugs into the adapter and together they plug into the relay socket.
1) United Pacific Relay Polarity Adapter # 90650A

Hope this helps others here. Good luck!!!

[Tom Wells]

Unique,

Thank you for the detailed and clear writeup on LEDs! It has renewed my intent to convert the entire Cobra.

The reverse polarity wiring on the blinker relay will be the first thing I'll check.

Tom