instrument cluster replacement bulbs? (1 Viewer)

[crewzerdog]

I recall a thread a few (?) months ago on the subject of alternative light bulbs for stock instrument clusters to give more light than the standard bulb -- have done the search but didn't find the thread...

I'd like to replace the stock bulbs with something brighter and would prefer not to do the dremel tool cut on the light shields if I can avoid it.

Does anyone know the name/part number of the replacment bulbs and a source? thanks, Tom

 

[Landpimp]

ummmmm.......that was me........heck if I remember what they were.....thats why I post crap like this.........so I can find it latter :

running out to car to pull bulb...................... can't read bulb.............must find box..............found box........Wagner 175L 5 candlepower(stock is 2.5 or 3). They were a specail order, luckly I found a cool parts guy willing to do some looking and callin, had to buy a box of 10, sold em to me at almost cost $6 I think. They are a good deal brighter, I can read all the guages at night now, have had em in for prolly 6 months and 4000 miles(lights always on) and they have not burned out yet. Not as bright as with the shields cut(did this on the 45) but the drawback to that is.......ya gotta hack it up, with an old cluster its no biggy but a 81+ cluster it not something I wanted to do and with the shields off.....the light that comes off the side is anoying to the passnager......you kinda look right at the bulb.

Nice thing about just replacing the bulb, the cluster doesn't have to come all the way out, just remove screws, pull cluster down and you can reach em(at least on my 82's)

I tried some LED's(2 led each) and they were no better than stock, there are some 4 LEDs that "might" be better but at $20 forget it!

John H

 

[Klunky Chris]

PIAA 168 Part # 19168

It's got H-151 on the box and is a 12v/5w bulb, package of two

$14.52 for 2 @ $OR if you can't find them elsewhere....
($.52?!?.... why $.52...not .50, or .49... wierd...)
http://www.sor.com/sor/cat176.tam?xax=7193&page%2Ectx=cat176%2Etam
half way down the page.

These are significantly brighter, but you should still pull the shields
stock lights and shields

PPIAA lights and NO shields

 

[Herky]

Kris that's absolutely amazing! How many total bulbs? 8? I'm going to have to try and do this. The only problem is it will be several months I'm sure so keep that info hand.

 

[Landpimp]

thats pretty bright all right, pretty much like my 45 with the cut shields. At least to me looking straight ahead the cut sheilds are just fine, its looking them at an angle is anoying.

 

[Landpimp]

here is the 175L in with the sheilds uncut.

from where your where you head is when driving you can clearly see all the guages, hash marks and markers.

should go out and take pics of all of em............too lazy

 

[MR.FJ60]

Very nice! I will be doing this this weekend. thaks for the info guys!

 

[Klunky Chris]

yes, the majority of that is the cut shields. Do that first. See where that gets you.
I have not done the bulbs with out doing the shields so I can't give a good estimate there. ???

Cutting the shields is a huge help, and not too hard.
but.... If you want to try the bulbs first, go ahead... you can always cut the shields later

the 2 pics I took were my 77 that is new to me (no mods) and my 74 which I cut the shields and put the bulbs in
Both pics were taken w/o flash at the same spot on the steering wheel.

HTH!

I love to give people some comparisons.... wish we could all do it more!

 

[Klunky Chris]

sorry Herc...
That's 2 bulbs.... count um'....
2 bulbs.....


I would like to get one for the HI beam indicator though...

 

[bj42turbo]

Another thing that I did when I removed the sheilds was to fit those coloured covers on the bulbs, I used green but you can get blue, red whatever takes your fancy............Dazz

 

[Herky]

Two bulbs for the whole cluster including the oil, fuel, temp etc? Or is just two bulbs for the speedo? Thanks for the info.

 

[Landpimp]

I just changed 2 bulbs, it does everything but the high beam(which in the 82 is plenty bight) and the turn signals(again plenty bright)

 

[Klunky Chris]

yea, I think there are 5 bulbs total but only 2 *light* the cluster. the other three are turn signals and HI beams. My hi beam light is very dim... I even cleaned the back side of the blue lens when I was in there. I'd like to put one of the PIAA's in there sometime.

 

[Herky]

Ya, I looked in the Haynes manual and only two lights for the cluster. Pretty impressive.

 

[cruiserwanted]

Here was the best price I could find. Shipping is 6.35 do not know what SOR would charge but guessing it would be this much or more. Too bad they will not fit pre 9/73 :'( I would love to do this as my lights are dim. They do not want to ground right either. If I put the light bulb holder up to metal it will be bright but as soon as I put it in the hole where it is suppose to go it gets so dim can barly see it. Anyone know why this is? Here is the link for you lucky guys that can do this:

http://www.next-gear.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=572

 

[Herky]

Thanks for the link! Good stuff.

 

[Frederik]

@cruiserwanted
it's obvious that there must be some resistance in between the bulb and ground, why not bypass that resistance with a wire? It should work

 

[drohweder]

Anybody know if these will work with the 55 cluster?

 

[Yoda]

Cruiserwanted,
Can you run a ground wire from your instrument panel to ground on the body/dash somewhere? That should work. I bought a 78 inst cluster to use. Just got the speedo cable for it, need to wire the plug to match the cruiser.

 

[cruiserwanted]

Thanks guys for the suggestions. I think I am going to attempt to find the ground problem. I just hate wiring issues. Just now stumbling on to some of them.

drohweder if you look on sor's website or click on bj42turbo's link you will see that they do in fact fit 55's=Superwhite Dash Bulbs-Fits 8/69-7/80 FJ55.