Headlight buld retainers

[turbizzy]

Does anyone know where i can get those twist on plastic flushlight bulb retainer thingy? Its for the later style haedlights and it is used to hold the bulb onto the housing and thus sealing it from moisture. I was missing one when i did my flushlight conversion and now im on my 3rd bulb in 2 months due to moisture getting into the housing, condensation inside and everything but only on one side. Is this something i can get from another Ford? Does someone have one? I buy!

[SVOBart]

Anything with 9004 bulbs should work. I had a spare that was a little shorter than the originals (it looked like the ones off a later model Mustang) but it still worked fine.

[GAboySVO]

5.0 Resto has 'em.

[bendutro]

I've had plenty experience with this...

Stick the bulb into the housing and then snap-1/4 turn the retainer clip onto it. (If the clip gets seated too far onto the bulb, you can't get it off unless you cut it) The wires get plugged in AFTER the bulb is attached to the housing.

Do yourself a favor, even with the retainer clip water will get in. I guess the "quality is job 1" thing was after the SVO's build date.

I had three blown bulbs before I pulled the headlight lenses and removed the rubber trim and RTV'd the living sin out of the lens-housing seam. No more leaks!

Anytime I see one of those green ground screws while I'm working, I take it off, clean the screw, ground wire and the surface with scotch brite, wipe dielectric grease on and reassemble. It's easy preventative that will save future headaches.

[mutant]

Water in headlights

There's 2 ways to not have any water.
1. seal the living $#!^ out of the plastic bulb to prevent water getting in.
2. drill small holes in the bottom of the plastic bulb to let water out. I use 1/16" holes. 2 in front, 1 in back

After trying method #1 with no luck, I tried method #2. I'm now water-free.

-Dana

[turbizzy]

Well thanx alot for the help fellas. I was kinda wonderin if i can get the retainer from a car off the JY but its cool, maybe i should just buy new. cheap enough.

About the water in my headlights, i got them from Daniel Carpenter brand new from original tooling and only the side with no retainer is the headlight that gets condensaion in it and we get 100% humidity throughout the night and 40 degrees. The other side is moisture free even during rain. I inspected my headlights before i installed them for this reason after watching a Ford training video showing a F150 comming back numerous times for a bulb replacement and found out the lense had a pinhole in it and i made sure they were sealed tight.

thanx again.

[WaltM]

I bought a new retaining ring at Autozone for $3.99. It was on the "Help" display; it's specifically for 1985 and newer FMC products. It looks identical to the original and fits perfectly. I originally tried a dealer, but he couldnt find a part number.

I still have the packaging if you need the "Help" part number.

Let me know.

[turbizzy]

Got one too

You beat me to it, i was just going to post that i bought the same retainer at autozone for 3.99 and it is the exact one. It says something like "for Ford products with 9004 bulbs". Thanx for the help fellas. For future reference, they are available aftermarket like autozone.

[WaltM]

Headlight Stuff

Glad you found it!

Btw, did your conversion kit come with the rubber gaskets that surround the headlight? Mine are original and I'm looking to replace them as they are weather worn.

[turbizzy]

No, just the housings by themselves. I heard SVPU has them new but i tried emaling them but no response, must not want my money I got the buckets and clips with seals from a local guy selling old svo parts from a wrecking yard.

[WaltM]

Let me know if they ever respond. I've tried to call them in the past but never got a call back. I guess they have bigger things to worry about than selling parts.

[bendutro]

Again, Paul is there and DOES respond to e-mails. It helps a lot to send any correspondence as 'high priority' with the little red exclaimation point. He's very busy with lots of stuff besides selling SVO parts.

[WaltM]

Sorry about the SVPU "bashing" Bendutro, but it can be frustrating. Especially when you want to buy this great stuff (paint, spats etc.) for your car and you couldn't get through to anyone to make it happen.

[bendutro]

Just trying to keep the facts straight. There are precious few vendors for SVO parts and even fewer guys like Paul who actually care about serving our club and not price gouging.

[turbizzy]

Originally posted by WaltM
Let me know if they ever respond. I've tried to call them in the past but never got a call back. I guess they have bigger things to worry about than selling parts.

Well they are in Florida right. I heard they were where thos hurricanes hit the hardest and/or have recently relocated to another location and were trying to set things up. This is the last i heard of SVPU and that was few months ago so i dunno what soing on now. We want to buy from SVO vendors specifically but it can force us to buy from others sometimes just to keep on the road like my haedlight retainer. I even see people on turboford asking/complaining what up with SVPU and why no responses. Theres usually someone always there to keep the peace though and to inform us Paul is hard at work.