Ok so i switched all my dash lights to white LEDs to get a blue illumination thanks to raptor's how-to but one part was left out. The headlight switch is more of a pain to convert but is still very doable.

this is in no way a perfect method as ford has many switch configurations and there are at least two ive tried and been successful with. i am not a professional only a DIYer

on the 97-98

the switch body comes has clips around the edges and if you lift them up with a screw driver it comes apart very easy. i dont have a pic of the outside but heres what it looks like taken apart.



the arrow points to the culprit. if you turn the post to the right it comes out the back.

the leads for the stock bulb are wrapped around the base like shown




you can undo these and pull the bulb out. then with the Blue LED i got from radio shack (rated at 3.7V and 20mA) run the leads down the post just like the stock one. the long lead should be the positive but you can check this to make sure. you will need to add a resistor to the bulb so it wont blow the LED. i used a 680ohm 1/2 watt resistor from radio shack. then i wrapped the negative lead around the post like the factory bulb. then i wrapped the lead from the resistor around the other post like factory. then i trimmed the resistor lead to make the connection smaller. then solder the positive lead form the LED to the lead from the resistor.



bend them into a shape where they dont touch and will fit in the whole in the switch body. then you can re-install the bulb. it make take a little convincing to get it to turn but it will fit. test the light to see if its in the correct direction. the bulb is a diode so it will only work one direction. if it doesnt come on turn the bulb back out then turn the bulb 180 deg and try it again. should look like this.



then re-install the cover and your good. the cover may need to be slightly forced on since the new LED is slightly bigger than the stock bulb but it will work.

finished pic

 

did either the 98 or the 02 switch have a green film that you had to remove?

 

99-03

technically to do this mod you do have to "break" your switch the face does come off by pulling it and popping off the little tabs holding it on. it can be glued back on when your done.



the red arrow shows the face that must be removed. the green arrow are the clips that hold the inside in.

after the face is off it will look like




to remove the inside you must turn the dial all the way down. then you pull on the dial portion and release the clips shown by the green arrows above.
the insides will be removed as two pieces



then take the piece shown



there are four clips shown below that release the dial



after the dial is off you have access to the solder points for the stock bulb. with your soldering iron you can heat up the solder and pull the stock bulb out. then you must do the same configuration with the bulb as the 97-98 with the resistor and place the negative lead in the lower location the stock one was in and the positive in the upper. (if you are holding the piece with the stock bulb at the top as shown in pics) then solder the leads to keep them in place.

it will look similar to this. (im going to clean this one up to make it work better but i left the leads long while it tried the process.)



then just replace the part you modified then the dial portion and glue the face back on and your good to go. to get the best light output make sure the bulb is as close as possible to the factory spot.

hope this helps

any questions feel free to ask

 

on both switches the color came from a blue film on the stock bulb in the 98 and the 02 had a green cover over the bulb. the rest of the switch is clear.

 

ha awesome. can you do me a favor? good. can you find online the LEDs and the resistor that is used exactly so I dont buy something that I dont need. thanks man. and I just might do this.

and right before you posted this I figured out how to take my switch all apart. and now I just need to do it on my other one.

do you have the window switches blue too?

 

Man it'll be easier if you just go to radio shack and alot faster. The switch I did it on is the basic headlight switch, no fogs and I'm gonna clean it up and probably sell it if someone wants a completed one. All you need is a blue led ffrom radio shack and the specs on it are 3.7v and 20mA and then a pack of 680 ohm 1/2 watt resistors which together will cost you around 5 bucks. Plus you'll need a soldering iron.

My truck is no frills so I don't have any other switches to change..... Yet. I know I've seen a link here to a write up on that. It may be in raptor's how-to on the cluster

 

heres the finished photo of the 99-03 switch



its actually pretty bright. the one i did to test is installed in blackoutv6's truck and works very well

 

Very cool. I want to do this whole set-up. I have no clue whether or not my cluster has the whole green film thing so I have not done it. This is something I can see myself doing though.

 

the 98 has the blue film so all you need is the white leds for the cluster and your good. it was a very easy install.

 

Dang. I am doing it then!. I wonder what it would look like with blue LED's. Maybe SUPER blue. Thats what I am going for, because my head unit is all blue. I want it to match somewhat.

 

something like this? im also gonna get the blue led dome light and white led map lights now and more blue led strips for the back seats and maybe for the box

 

Thats intense. I notice you have a bigtime "hot-spot" from like 30-65.

What are those blue lights that you have shining on the floorboards? I want the same thing, but I want to wire them into my dome light.

 

that looks pretty baddazz dude. congrats!

 

thanks man look forward to seeing your get done

yea thats the area with the different type of led. it has like a 3 post deal and im going to be doing work on the dash soon and im gonna adjust them to even it out.

they are the 4" led cathodes from oznium.com and they are super easy to install. i ordered the rocker switches with the blue lights from them also. it was an easy install since i already had a power and ground for my hidden cigarette power port and then ground the transformer and wire it to the switch. the only thing is the leads that come with the switch are worthless the wires are way to small to do anything with, just replace them and save the headache.

i thought about that but i like to be able to turn them on and off when i want. they light up under there pretty good for working at night

 

Yeah, well I will have to do all this stuff. I am doing it all little by little. Getting there!