Cougar Lights Modification - Mk2 Mondeo Only

The Ford Mondeo hit our roads in 1993, and has consistently been a sales success. Now on its 4th incarnation, it remains a drivers favourite.
For more information, visit the Ford Mondeo forum on TalkFord.com, the definitive resource site covering all Fords from the present day to the 1970's.

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Overview Guide
Ford Model:	Mondeo
Petrol/Diesel:	???
Estimated Cost:	???
Difficulty?	???
How long does this take?	???

Cougar Lights Modification - Mk2 Mondeo Only

Background

The background to how I came about this mod goes back to the 2003 cleethorpes car show. There I saw a Vauxhall Cavalier (of all things) and to my suprise it had Fiat Punto headlights. Seemed they just bolted straight in. I studied them and gazed in amazement, and all sorts of cogs were turning about how I could do somthing similar to the Mondeo. I have since seen a Mk1 with Vectra headlights at Kettering, but it wasnt really what I was after!

Looking at the Mondeo and having had the lights in pieces several times for the blackeyes mod and angel eye fitments it seemed reasonable to assume other light units might well fit inside the casing, huge as it is on the Mk2.

Morettes were out, firstly I dont like them on the Mk2 (the indicator looks lost) and they are very expensive! Plus they are getting common now: I wanted somthing different.

I began searching scrapyards but was unable to find anything suitable. Fiat Puntos where my first choice but I was unsuccesful in locating a non front damaged one anywhere of the model I was after.

So I was back to square one. Hours were spent on the road looking at other cars' headlights wondering if any could be adapted to fit inside the Mondeo casings during the course of my work, and I'd asked on this site if anyone had (or knew of) a Fiat Punto or similar with projector style headlights for sale. As luck would have it, NeilD had a Ford Cougar that he was either scrapping or stripping, I cant recall, and I ended up purchasing the light units from him.

The Cougar has several advantages for this mod, the car is basically a Ford Mondeo underneath, the wiring for the lights plugs straight in, but the actual units themselves are totally unique to the Cougar and theres no amount of cutting or anything to get them to slot in the gap for the Mondeo lights...

Parts

Basic set of tools including screwdrivers A set of Cougar headlights, condition not important as its the insides we are after, not the lens or the casing. A spare set of Mondeo light units to use for the transplant, casing and lens must be in good order, plus its a must that you have the cover that clips on the back that you remove to change the bulbs. The later style black plastic ones I would say are the best (mine were kindly donated by chris_nuneaton) A drill and some form of dremel Assorted screws and bolts that everyone has in there toolbox Some matt black paint (high temp I went for but its up to you, colour is up to you)

Removing the old lights

First Things First!

Our first job is to strip out the set of Mondeo lights so that we are left with just the casing. The procedure for removing the lens is basically do it somewhere warm, remove all the clips and rubber bits then carefully prise the lens of the casing using a couple of screwdrivers.

Work your way round eventually it WILL come off!

Remove the two screws holding the chrome bit that gets painted in the 'blackeyes' mod, then remove the indicator bulb and the thing it plugs into as well as the small lens from the chrome plastic cover.

In any way shape or form, break, bash or bust the inards of the light out (the chrome bit with the bulbs in), its held in by several ball shaped connectors so it can be adjusted but with a bit of force and the removal of a few screws (damn hard to get at!) it will eventually pop out. If it gets damaged, no matter, you dont need it.

Do the same with the other light so your left with the main components we need, 2 casings, two lenses, two indicator fitments and bulbs, two chrome 'blackeyes' bits and there own little indicator lenses.

Youll find in the gap on the back of the casing a plastic bit that holds the motor for electrical adjustment, remove this section with the dremel on both sets as it gets in the way later leaving just a big gap in the back, which is normally covered by the plastic cover used for access to the bulbs.

Now, the same procedure applies to the Cougar units, they come apart in much the same way BUT taking the actual projector bits out of the casing is a bit harder than the Mondeo due to the seemingly complex way they adjust but it does come out. All we need from each Cougar unit are the twin projector units, the indicator chrome circular shaped housing and the wiring, plus the 'eyelids' that are fitted to the black plastic shroud, they come of by moving some metal clips quite easily.

Do not worry if you damage the casing, the lens or the black shroud, we dont need any of them.

On the twin projector units there is a plastic section on the underside that clips into the adjusters in the casing - remove this with the dremel leaving just the plastic 'ring' around the light units themselves, it too gets in the way later.

So thats the hard bit complete! Coffee time, sit back and admire your destructive powers, then think just how are we going to get the projector units inside the casing?

Fitting and securing

Ok, now comes the bit that stumped me for quite some time, how do we mount the Cougar units inside the casing, allowing for some adjustment, on there own they are too small to wedge in so I tried various ways of getting them in to fit tightly.........

Remember the plastic covers that you can take off the back of the light unit to change the bulbs?? Right, thats how we mount them!

Place the cover upside down, then place the Cougar twin projector unit on top, fits quite snug. Place the whole thing inside the Mondeo light casing and push it in as far as it will go, some bits of both the cover and the casing will need to be trimmed with the dremel to get a snug fit, what we are after is a posistion that allows the 'blackeyes' chrome bit to fit back in place around the Cougar units, if that goes on ok, the lens will.

After a few goes the correct posistion is found and if you get it right it wont move, now we can adjust the posistion to get the lights aligned in the straight ahead posistion as close as possible. What I did now was to take a drill and bit, and drill through the underside of the casing, into the cover and straight into the underside of the Cougar light unit sat on top, not all the way, just so the drill bit put a hole in it.

I then found a suitable bolt, connected the casing, cover and light unit all together and hey presto! It wont move, you can adjust it left and right, the unit itself can be tilted back and forth using the casing to 'wedge' in place.

Sounds a bit 'bodge' but works very well in practice. You can lengthen the hole in the casing to create more adjustment if u so wish....

Repeat on the second set, trying to match the sets close as possible, its tricky but use the blackeye chrome trim to line them up so the lens will fit, all will be ok

So, sidelights?

The Mondeo has a 5w bulb placed inside the headlight for sidelight purposes, the Cougar however has a seperate bulb and holder for its sidelight, so what do we do with it?

I chose to use the Cougars indicator chrome housing, dremeled some of it off to make it fit, essentially the bulb holder part of it which I mounted inside the casing using the drill and a small bolt to secure. I then placed the indicator housing next to the light unit on the side nearest the grill on each light, secured by drilling through the top of the casing, into the indicator housing and securing with a screw or bolt. The bulb holder slots into the back of it quite nicely. I painted the outer flat edge of the indicator housing black as it has been dremeled, looks ok through the Mondeo lense

Here you can see both units, with the lights and the indicator housing mounted inside. Using bolts and screws it can all be dismantled and easily put back together. I had only one black Mondeo light so painted the other black to match.

Completion

So, what do we do with the wiring? Two options, either use the Cougars wiring, plug it in and it will all work - but you wont have any sidelights in the proper sense, but you will get a dimly lit outer projector which seems to double as a sidelight (not figured this out yet) dim and dip, main beam will all function as per the Mondeo.

I chose to alter the Cougar wiring to match the Mondeo wiring using the wiring from the Mondeo lights. I still havent got the proper sidelight working but further investigation will solve this! All the wiring and the plug should all fit inside the casing as it came out, meaning it will connect as per the Mondeo - one reason I altered the wiring was allow longer wires so everything fitted ok

I fitted the 'eyebrows' from the Cougar under the twin projector lights as per the Cougar, what purpose they serve im not sure, I wedged them under the lights in between the cover they are bolted to, and folded the metal tabs to secure round the metal bits on the lenses.

Heres a unit complete bar the indicator housing I added later, you can just make out the 'eyebrows' added under each lens of the Cougar lights

Replace the indicator units in the casing as per the Mondeo, they will work as usual however you wire it.

Make sure everything is lined up as best as possible and theres no upward tilt on the light units, re fit the 'blackeyes' chrome section (you can paint this or leave it, its up to you)

Refit the lense, the clips and rubber bits.

Fitting on the car is a simple procedure of taking off the Mondeo lights and fitting these, as the casing is the same everything should be straight forward.

Beam pattern and adjustment - if you were lucky like me you may get this almost spot on first time, I drove around a bit at night to see how they fared, a little left right or tilt adjustment when you get back should be all that is needed.

Are they legal?

I dont really know TBH! The lenses still have the E mark on, and technically the Cougar lights themselves are legal in the Cougar so I cant see why they wouldnt be in the Mondeo. However, I have kept my spare set of Mondeo lights to re-fit should any problems arise, I take no responsibility if any police or law enforcement agency should stop you and bang you up for a few years. We will say 'for show use only' just in case!

Written, produced and developed by Manix