The Final Answer to your Dim Gauge Cluster

Absolutely, but in my case it was, i think i gave 5.99 + tax for the switch over the counter so not much more then a pair of bulbs from the parts store always check the wiring and grounds if having a problem.

 

I replaced the switch on mine with another old maverick switch and it worked for awhile then died again. I have a small reading light attched to the old coloumn shifter hole and point it at the speedo.

Think I might buy a new dimmer switch and see what happens.

 

Has anyone simply tried LED lights? You can pick up individual LED's and fabricate a housing to fit in the back with the led's attached to provide safe, bright, and long lasting life of the bulb?!

 

I have. First I tried just the LED 194 bulbs, and they weren't significantly brighter than stock. Also the light they cast looked uneven and scattered, like even if they were bright enough it would still be hard to read. The next thing I tried and which showed some potential were some adhesive LED strips. They were bright enough, easy to fit with a variety of install options, but no matter where I mounted them I couldn't get them to look good. Even at best there was a glare, and at worst the light was uneven and diffused. The biggest problem I have with LEDs though is there's a certain warm glow to incandescent bulbs that can't be done with LED, and I just don't care for where they fall on the spectrum. It's a cold light and to me, it makes things appear dirty.

If the 922 bulbs don't turn out to be the right decision though, I will reluctantly do whatever it takes to make the LEDs look good to me.

 

Didn't someone (Mojo?) paint the inside white and get the dash lights a lot brighter?

 

Yep. That is a possibility too.

 

I wonder if reflective type paint(traffic paint) would work. I might experiment when time permits.




The biggest issue I have with LED's is dimming... and Drew has a point with the cold appearance of them as well. The light just doesn't disperse well. New cars have a lot of LED's in them but they have specialized diffusers to spread the light and PWM circuitry to dim them.

 

I painted the inside of my housing white and it's an absolutely remarkable difference! I'll take a night shot of the after. It's so much brighter. The only thing is that you don't have the green glow anymore, but I actually like it better pale yellow. Now I have to figure out how to do the same thing to my heater control and shift indicator. The shift indicator looks like you can just scrape off the blue paint!

 

Here's the end result!



Notice the difference between the instruments and the shift indicator! I'm overjoyed with this! Now to do the heater control and shift to match!

 

This is just by painting the inside white ? or did you use brighter bulbs too ?

 

I painted them white also! I don't recall exactly how I did it but, made a big difference in visibility. It was worth the effort. If I recall - I will post it.

 

Just did it to my car yesterday taking out the w5w bulb and you can really see a big difference!!! also painted mine white too on the inside and helped out a bit more to make it look brighter

 

They are new bulbs, but are the stock replacements.

 

I keep seeing these bulbs and other replacement bulbs with the same bottom connection. Do the old bulbs slide out of the black jackets there in that screw into the cluster? Please let me know.

 

Yes sir, just pull out the bulb from the Black connector