foglights in the grille?
so I'm thinking about adding foglights to my 71 duster
I don't want to mess up the looks of the car, so here is my thought...could I replace the small running lights with the indicators, which fit in between the headlights, with a set of foglights?
does anyone make a bolt in replacement for that?
In short, no.
I considered doing this with (driving lights, not fog lights) the Demon, but decided not to go ahead. I was planning to use 64-65 Valiant turn signals over the corner of the lower front valence panel. I've been dragging around a pair of Cibie model 95 with the high wattage filament in them since I left Germany in 1986. I Photoshop-ed them into the grille in scale, so I knew they would fit the space available. Decided against doing this because the plastic grille would not afford a solid mount for the pair of driving lights.
If you are hell bent on making it happen, here are some things to consider.
1. Electrical load. Make sure wiring and switches are up to the task. Suggest direct run from battery via a switched relay.
2. Mounting. Make sure the light has a solid mount. It doesn't take much vibration to make a car look like an on-coming motorcycle charging over a washboard. It compromises the effectiveness of the light and is distracting to other drivers, if not for you as well. Make sure, too, that the mount allows proper aiming of the light. Especially critical for driving lamps.
3. Qualilty. Spend more to get good stuff. The items marketed as fog lamps or driving lamps in big box parts stores are not good. Cibie, Marchal, Lucas, PIAA, and Hella are old line makers I can recommend. Look at the headlight covers on modern pro rally or off-road trucks for other potential manufacturers. I have no experience with LED auxiliary lighting, so I can't say if it is better than filament types by any measure.
4. Fog vs Driving. Generally speaking a fog lamp will have a heavily fluted lens interior for good light dispersion. Fog lamps typically have a wider beam dispersion. While on the subject, fog lamps can be either yellow or white. Why yellow? Yellow, IMO, is less likely to be reflected by fog. In France, cars were required to have yellow headlight until 1993. They only changed then because of pressure from the EU. (It's now illegal in France unless the car was registered prior to 1993.) Cibie is a French company that made OEM as well as aftermarket lighting solutions. Cibie lights were "in" with customizers in the late 50s-early 60s.
A driving lamp is usually white with a long reaching beam. Cut-off between what is lit and what is not is fairly abrupt. The lens has little or no interior fluting. The Cibie 95s I have are good for 1ΒΌ miles, when properly aimed, on a clear night. They will illuminate a clean reflector even farther out than that. I once made the mistake of turning them on in heavy fog. It was like someone had thrown a pillow case over the car.