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72FordGTS
Admin Group GTS.org Admin Joined: 06-September-2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 5802 |
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Posted: 24-April-2013 at 9:17AM |
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I have my instrument cluster out of the dash now, and was thinking of replacing the dash bulbs while it's out. Has anyone ever swaped the stock 194 bulbs for brighter 168's? I know they are brighter but have a slightly shorter life. I'd like something a bit brighter than stock. I am also not sure if the stock wiring or printed circuit can handle the extra wattage?
I found this online for comparison: Trade No. Volts Watts Amps Avg. CP Life 161 14.0 2.66 0.19 1 4000 158 14.0 3.36 0.24 2 3000 194 14.0 3.78 0.27 2 2500 192 14.0 4.62 0.33 3 2000 168 14.0 4.90 0.35 3 1500 Thanks Edited by 72FordGTS - 24-April-2013 at 10:38AM |
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Vince
1972 Ford GTS Sportsroof - Survivor, One Family car GTS.org Admin |
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Psquare75
Admin Group Member of the Stroker Club Joined: 26-November-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4591 |
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I'd just go LED.. 5x warm white 194x would do a great deal for illumination
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Paul
77 XR7 460/C6/3.00:1 *SOLD* 78 XR7 523/C6/3.5:1 79 F100 460/TKO500/3.25:1 'I also have some left over potatoes-I understand you can generate electricity from them'- Foote500 |
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72FordGTS
Admin Group GTS.org Admin Joined: 06-September-2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 5802 |
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Won't there be issues with dimming the lights with LED's? And aren't they too directional causing "spotty" lighting?
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Vince
1972 Ford GTS Sportsroof - Survivor, One Family car GTS.org Admin |
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Psquare75
Admin Group Member of the Stroker Club Joined: 26-November-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4591 |
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...... Short answer.
No. As long as one or two lights are still incadescent, you'll be fine (light over radio/wiper switch, leave that one alone. 5x = 5 way = 5 LEDs per bulb. I did my Cougar and F100 with them. My truck is actually too bright. Edited by Psquare75 - 24-April-2013 at 10:45AM |
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Paul
77 XR7 460/C6/3.00:1 *SOLD* 78 XR7 523/C6/3.5:1 79 F100 460/TKO500/3.25:1 'I also have some left over potatoes-I understand you can generate electricity from them'- Foote500 |
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occupant
Senior Member Joined: 23-October-2006 Location: Lawton, OK Status: Offline Points: 1973 |
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The 5-LED ones are great for the smaller gauges. For the speedo/tach (or for my base gauges) the 9-LED ones would be perfect. Here's a shot of a 70s Camaro gauge cluster lit by 5s on the small gauges and 9s on the large ones.
Another thing to remember is that off-white plastic housing that reflects the light from the bulbs is seriously not good enough. Here's a before and after of 73-87 C/K truck gauges. Before is stock 194 with all bulbs working. After is the same 194 bulbs, but the cluster housing painted bumper chrome silver from an aerosol can. So what happens when you do BOTH things and upgrade the aerosol paint to reflective tape? Here's the how-to thread, it's for a late 80s Dodge pickup but it's all the same... http://www.dieseltruckresource.com/dev/showthread.php?t=209884 He also went one step further and re-soldered all the connections on the circuit board, I don't think we can do that with the circuit tracings we have, but we certainly can clean up the tracings! |
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08 Uplander LS, 262K, broken again
08 Explorer EB, 195K, for the wife still looking for another something |
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Psquare75
Admin Group Member of the Stroker Club Joined: 26-November-2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4591 |
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They make 9 ways? wow.
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Paul
77 XR7 460/C6/3.00:1 *SOLD* 78 XR7 523/C6/3.5:1 79 F100 460/TKO500/3.25:1 'I also have some left over potatoes-I understand you can generate electricity from them'- Foote500 |
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occupant
Senior Member Joined: 23-October-2006 Location: Lawton, OK Status: Offline Points: 1973 |
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They are tall, may not fit in all places. Just like the 5-way SMD's but two stacks of them.
http://search.ebay.com/261206315422 |
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08 Uplander LS, 262K, broken again
08 Explorer EB, 195K, for the wife still looking for another something |
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Regul8r
Admin Group Moderator Joined: 26-December-2007 Location: Sarasota FL Status: Offline Points: 6624 |
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excellent info!
Going to Chrome paint the inside of the tail lights and looking at LEDs for them to brighten up as well! Edited by Regul8r - 25-April-2013 at 6:32AM |
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Carl Corey (Moderator/Event Coordinator) Contact ANYTIME!
1976 Ford Elite "Lola Mae" 97 Suzuki Intruder 1400 US Army Retired |
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GTW
Senior Member Joined: 21-January-2012 Location: SC Status: Offline Points: 5784 |
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You guys are making me want to switch to LED's, but I am keeping my standard cluster so I can keep my factory odometer.
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Griffin
1973 Gran Torino station wagon 1972 Gran Torino 4 Door 1971 Maverick 2 Door |
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72FordGTS
Admin Group GTS.org Admin Joined: 06-September-2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Status: Offline Points: 5802 |
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Thanks for the information regarding the LED's guys. Where do you buy these? Anyone have a pic of a Torino dash with them? It sounds like an interesting option as long as I don't lose the ability to dim the lights.
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Vince
1972 Ford GTS Sportsroof - Survivor, One Family car GTS.org Admin |
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carguy47
Senior Member Joined: 08-October-2011 Location: Phoenix, AZ Status: Offline Points: 373 |
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I used the LEDS off eBay. Worked great and the light increase is amazing as the pics show. Very inexpensive.
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You have to build em to drive em!
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carguy47
Senior Member Joined: 08-October-2011 Location: Phoenix, AZ Status: Offline Points: 373 |
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You can keep the original cluster, all you need to do is change the bulb. Plug and play!
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You have to build em to drive em!
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gpd294
Senior Member Joined: 18-September-2008 Location: Dallas, Texas Status: Offline Points: 2178 |
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Now that it's getting darker earlier I noticed the wagon's dash lights are pretty dim. I just ordered these LED's, which should fix that problem!
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Carlos....1975 Gran Torino Squire Station Wagon restored to look like a 1973 Torino Station
Wagon my Dad bought new from McAnary Ford on June 6, 1973 in Gary,Indiana |
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GranTorinoSport
Admin Group Admin of "The Org" Joined: 20-May-2003 Location: Seattle Status: Offline Points: 2287 |
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I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback when you get them installed.
The other advantage to the LED's is less heat... Those back parts of the cluster get brittle really easily and finding a good one is tough. |
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Scott Eklund
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californiajohnny
Moderator Group Joined: 05-October-2013 Location: winlock, wa Status: Offline Points: 14606 |
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i used red led bulbs in my torino dash (i removed the blue globe diffusers inside) looks great, i tried to get a pic but my camera phone didn't come out too good , sorry, i have also used green leds in my kenworth gauges and it looks awesome. that brand makes them in white, amber, red, green, blue, purple, for 194 bulbs.
i can dim them without a problem, they don't give off heat like incandesent bulbs do, and they only draw a fraction of amps compared to regular incandesent bulbs. i too am thinking about using leds for my tail lights later. |
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JOHN
74 GRAN TORINO S&H CLONE 74 VETTE CUSTOM 90 S10 BLAZER 4X4 LIFTED 77 CELICA CUSTOM 75 V8 MONZA SUPERCHARGED 79 COURIER VERT. SLAMMED 75 VEGA V6 5 SPD 70 CHEV C10 P/U 68 MUSTANG FB CONVERSION |
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gpd294
Senior Member Joined: 18-September-2008 Location: Dallas, Texas Status: Offline Points: 2178 |
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I'll definitely try and get some before and after shots for comparison. I'm starting out with just the white dash background lights and side marker lights. Depending on how dim the turn signal indicators look I may upgrade to the green LEDS as well. We'll see, but I'll keep yall posted.
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Carlos....1975 Gran Torino Squire Station Wagon restored to look like a 1973 Torino Station
Wagon my Dad bought new from McAnary Ford on June 6, 1973 in Gary,Indiana |
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RAPTOR
Senior Member Joined: 25-July-2013 Location: Florida Status: Offline Points: 267 |
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I Just went threw this with LEDS off ebay on my 72 torino . They were nice and bright but the blinkers would not blink . So i just purchased new 194 all around and works great again .
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1972 Torino Sport 4Spd Q 351c
1996 Bronco XLT 2010 SVT Raptor 2003 H2 Hummer 1977 CB 750 Cafe Racer |
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gpd294
Senior Member Joined: 18-September-2008 Location: Dallas, Texas Status: Offline Points: 2178 |
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Well I installed the 4 BACKGROUND ONLY LEDS and they do look brighter. The only thing is like others have mentioned I can't dim them. They go from BRIGHT to OFF only. I wasn't able to get good photos due to my camera phone would not pick up the BEFORE photos and the AFTER photos don't look that bright, but they really are.
I'd recommend them!
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Carlos....1975 Gran Torino Squire Station Wagon restored to look like a 1973 Torino Station
Wagon my Dad bought new from McAnary Ford on June 6, 1973 in Gary,Indiana |
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kychevyguy
Senior Member Joined: 16-December-2013 Location: Lexington KY Status: Offline Points: 1996 |
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You guys are making me want to do this to my F100 dashlights now.
Are the still dimable if I leave at least one incandescent?
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dave302
Senior Member Joined: 08-October-2009 Location: usa Status: Offline Points: 3171 |
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So according to this, you should leave at least one or two of the original type 194 wedge type light bulbs (not the LED's), installed and connected to the light sockets above the radio and wiper switch. The rest of the light bulbs can all be LED's, and you should be Okay. Edited by dave302 - 13-April-2014 at 4:17PM |
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Rick727c
Member Joined: 20-December-2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 85 |
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I need some information on how to disconnect the speedometer cable without damaging anything from the back of the gauge cluster to change my gauge bulbs also ? Does it unscrew ? which way ?...or ?
Thank you Rickey |
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