dash light upgrades?

[chevyfan420]

i have a 79 Chev and one of my dashlights burnt out leaving half my speedo in the dark! my question is what bulb is a direct replacement and what bulb will give me brighter lights?

[Russell]

Uhh, not 100% sure, actually, totally stabbing in the dark here, but I think that the number is 192. If not, someone else will speak up...

Anyways, on to what I originally came in here to respond with -- I'd reccomend picking up a can of "chrome" paint from the automotive store you get your new bulbs with, and spraying the blue backing with the chrome paint (watch you don't get it on connectors, or get overspray anywhere that will be visible). You'll be amazed at how much brighter your dash will suddenly be!

[bigblock73]

chevyfan420, here is an article on the subject Russell brought up, this will help in your quest for brighter dash lights.

http://www.73-87.com/7387garage/interior/dashlights.htm

[cliffsta]

for 73-80 its a 194, same as sidemarker lamps, but im not sure number for 81-87. the contact on the left speedo bulb in my truck is bad, i really gotta get more $$$ and finish my interior My dash bezel is so brittle i dont wanna take it off and 1 corner is already broke

[updatelee]

reach up behind, its tight, damn tight. the sockets that the lights go into just twist into the cluster. twist em out, replace bulb, twist em in. when you got em out clean the contacts and give them a slight bend up so they make a better contact.

[chevyfan420]

is the number 192 or 194? I'd like to replace all bulbs tommorow if i have time

[Russell]

It'd be 194

My guess was a total stab in the dark, lol

[GMC Jim]

The 194 is a wedge type lamp with output of 2 Candle Power. Amperage draw is .27 amps... .. If you desire lamps that are 1/3 brighter, use #168; 3 C.P.; amp. draw is .35 amps....Both these lamps are the same physical size and are directly interchangeable.

[DrMaserati]

Here is information on bulbs that can be used in place of a 194. If you want a lot of light, use a 3652.

161, 14V, 1 cp/13 lumens, 4000 hrs 3 watts
194, 14V, 2 cp/25 lumens, 2500 hrs 4 watts
168, 14V, 3 cp/38 lumens, 1500 hrs 5 watts
3652, 13.5V, 6 cp/75 lumens, 700 hrs 5 watts

The 3652 is three times the brightness of the 194 with only a 25% increase in power consumption. And twice as bright as a 168. The trade-off is it has about one fourth the life expectancy. It's also very expensive at about $4 each. Like they say, "there ain't no free lunch."

[chevyfan420]

sorry, I should have asked in my last post, but how many bulbs are there?

[Russell]

Depending on how many idiot lights, 10 +

[cliffsta]

lol 192 was a close guess russ, i just happen to have like 3 or 4 of them waiting to go in old red, and they are hanging like 15 feet from me.

[loblazer]

Thanks for the tips guys. I think it would be easier just to pop in brighter bulbs than go the painting route? I think I will change mine too.

[Grim Reaper]

Originally Posted by loblazer

Thanks for the tips guys. I think it would be easier just to pop in brighter bulbs than go the painting route? I think I will change mine too.

Yes and no. The painting will even up the light dipersal. You may actually get the same brightness out of the lower watt bulb with painting then you will upping the wattage. Also running higher wattage increases heat and I don't know how often you go junk yarding but I have found a bunch of fubar clusters from high watt bulbs.

[Zilverado]

Originally Posted by Grim Reaper

Yes and no. The painting will even up the light dipersal. You may actually get the same brightness out of the lower watt bulb with painting then you will upping the wattage. Also running higher wattage increases heat and I don't know how often you go junk yarding but I have found a bunch of fubar clusters from high watt bulbs.

I agree - I like the painting trick. But then, being the author of that original tip, I might be a bit biased.

Seriously though, I was amazed at the difference the painting made, and getting my cluster apart was a piece of cake. Now mine is an '86, so not quite as "fragile" as some of the older ones might be, but I think with a little care it should all work.

As far as the bulbs go, I was thinking about doing the same thing to mine, but have not yet tried it. So I have no opinion on that part of the mod.

So have fun with whatever you decide to do, and I'm sure the result will be good. It certainly can't get any worse than the original, right?

[TIMSPEED]

I did Zilverado's upgrade, along with all #168 bulbs, and it made a DRAMATIC difference! I have an Autometer tach mounted on the steering column (White face tach) and NOW my instruments are ALL as bright as the tach. DEFINATELY worth the effort.

[GMC Jim]

there is no heat problem upgrading from 194 lamps to 168. The amperage for a 194 is .27 amps and the 168 is .35 amps. (difference of only 8/100 amp..(.08 )...and as a bonus ( as stated in prior comments ) the light output is 1/3 more from the 168 lamps. The 168's also work fine for the side marker lamps.....I have used 168's in various applications for many years with no problems

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by updatelee

reach up behind, its tight, damn tight. the sockets that the lights go into just twist into the cluster. twist em out, replace bulb, twist em in. when you got em out clean the contacts and give them a slight bend up so they make a better contact.

If you have done this with success, I tip my hat to you. I tried evey way I knew how just to touch the back of one bulb that was loose. I could touch it, but there was no way I was going to get it out and back in again....

BTW- I can highly recommend the Zilverado upgrade. It is amazing how much better my dash looks. I had a guy look in my truck at a cruise night and ask what I had done to the dash. He knew at a glance that it was way brighter than any he had ever seen...

[mckpaul]

I got under the dash of my 84 the other night after reading all the recent posts about dash lights, only had one bulb working. I have factory air, all I removed was that one piece of duct work going across there and was able to lay on my back and work my hand up in behind the dash. (Couldn't help thinking how much easier this was to do 20 years ago...)Down side is unless you've seen the back of the cluster and know where and how many there are, you're left wondering if you got them all, and it makes it kind of cumbersome trying to be careful with that flexible circuit board since there's not much room to work with.

Did the ones on the left, turned the lights on and had the whole left side of the dash lit. Then turned them off and did the one's on the right and when I checked again, the right side didn't light up and some of the left side quit working, Turned them off and swapped a couple of bulb/socket assemblies around to see if I had a bad bulb and ended up with none of them working. The fuse is still good, must have pulled something loose. I'm just gonna pull the cluster so I can check it all out and do the paint thing while I have it out. And I can see what kind of shape the printed circuit is in.

By the way, was missing a couple of the little twist in sockets. For anyone that may need to know, Autozone had replacements in the bulb section.

Also, hello neighbor to N2TRUX, I'm off 249 and Spring Cypress.

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by mckpaul

I got under the dash of my 84 the other night after reading all the recent posts about dash lights, only had one bulb working. I have factory air, all I removed was that one piece of duct work going across there and was able to lay on my back and work my hand up in behind the dash. (Couldn't help thinking how much easier this was to do 20 years ago.......

Also, hello neighbor to N2TRUX, I'm off 249 and Spring Cypress.

Well you guys must fit better than me. I pulled the a/c duct on my 77 but still couldn't get to the bulbs. I just pulled the cluster "again" to get my hi-beam light working. Now one side of my speedo is out....

Another Cypress area trucker. We are going to have to plan a GTG soon as it cools off a bit....

[updatelee]

the high beam was the hardest one for me, its directly above the steering columb, its damn tight there. I also dont have AC so that probably helps.

[cliffsta]

I'm curious, everyone complains that the lights behind the dash are too dark, i have no problems seeing every detail in every gauge with factory lighting. I found that sometimes over time from turning lights on and off the round knob switch can get turned to the right and the lights dim, not sure if its supposed to dim the interior lights or if its just losing the contact, but if you turn that knob all the way to the left just before it turns on the under dash light, the lights are bright.

[mckpaul]

Originally Posted by N2TRUX

Another Cypress area trucker. We are going to have to plan a GTG soon as it cools off a bit....

That'd be cool, although my old truck is far from being anywhere close to 'fixed up'. Just your basic 20 year old stock truck that currently needs a lot of attention, needs a ton of small worn out stuff replaced, but it's coming around. Once I get it through inspection etc, I can concentrate more on the way it looks, right now it's fugly!

[DrMaserati]

Here is an example of what you can expect by painting the interior of the gauge with chrome paint. In the first photo, the two gauges on the left are still stock. The speedometer was disassembled and the interior painted with chrome paint. No other changes were made, and it is still using the original bulbs.

The second photo shows the inside of the housing after being painted.

[cliffsta]

the only light that seems too dim for my liking is the shift indicator, and its only like that because i forgot to clean the lense down there last time the bezel was off, but who cars if the shift indicator is dull; i just count the clicks anyways