Looking for LED instrument lamps

[Mstone68RR440]

I want to replace all of the the instrument lights on my 68 RR with new led type lamps. Is there any type of listing that will tell me the correct led replacements for all of the interior lamps, dome, trunk, etc?

Also looking for a reputable led light dealer that won't break the bank. I have heard of Super Bright leds, but would appreciate any input from others who have already done the upgrade in their cars.

Thank you,

Mark

 

[zupanj]

I bought a bunch of replacements from SuperBrite for my Cobra and they make a big difference. With Lucas electrics and Smiths gauges, I need all the help I can get. The dash lights were more of a suggestion of light rather than actual light. The LEDs look more like a modern car in terms of brightness.

 

[1967 'cuda]

We've gone to LEDs in all of our cars. We tried colored ones but they weren't as easy to read as the white. We purchased all of ours off of eBay for very little money. Once that fluorescing paint starts to fade on the original instruments they need all the help they can get. And at my age I tend to like the white faced overlays too. My eyes just aren't what they used to be. Remember that when you install the LEDs in your dash that the polarity has to be correct in order for them to work. We thought that half of ours were bad at first until we realized that all we had to do was flip them around in the sockets. We installed them in a '74 'Cuda, a '68 Charger, a '70 Roadrunner, a '79 Lil Red Express, and a '67 Barracuda. The best thing to do is get yourself a diagram of the circuit board so that you will know where to contort your arm while laying on your back under the dash. I'm not 100% certain but I believe you will need 10 of the #194 bulbs. A few other things to keep in mind are that most LEDs cannot be dimmed with your light switch and that a lot of the 'super bright ones being sold have a bigger bulb than what will fit into your circuit board.

Ours were like these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2pc-T10-LED...Parts_Accessories&hash=item58a3a0447a&vxp=mtr



I'd also recommend that you buy some more of the sockets for the bulbs. It's likely that some of the originals may break on you.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12x-Plymout...|Model:Roadrunner&hash=item3f2ddadc0d&vxp=mtr

 

[Mstone68RR440]

Thanks for the help 1967 cuda

 

[rockdog2112]

I got mine at Summit Racing as well as the Pico bulb holders. They work great. I didn't like them in the turn signals. They about gave me retina burn so I'm just using the regular 158's.

 

[Mstone68RR440]

Update, I finally got off my butt and ordered the Led lamps as recommended by another member http://www.ebay.com/itm/2pc-T10-LED...sories&hash=item58a3a0447a&vxp=mtr&rmvSB=true. They took just a few days to receive and I installed them after work yesterday.

Just a couple of quick tips to anyone who is taking on the task.

Don't bother trying to crawl below the dash to see what you are doing visually, it is next to impossible. Rather,get as comfortable as you can while reaching up with your arm to feel for the sockets.
Do look at the diagram in this thread that shows the location of each lamp socket, it is helpful in locating them
Do turn on the parking lights so you can see that the lamp is actually on when you replace it as you install each lamp. it is very easy to reverse the polarity when installing the lamps, just flip the socket.
Do as suggested and order a couple of extra sockets, I managed to break the tab on one and drop another somewhere inaccessible inside the dash.


End result is that the dash is much much brighter than the factory incandescent lamps and is definitely worth he trouble to replace them.

 

[rockdog2112]

Did you also put then in the turn signals? Like I said earlier, I thought they were way to bright and changed them back(just in the turn signals). What was your experience?

 

[Mstone68RR440]

Did you also put then in the turn signals? Like I said earlier, I thought they were way to bright and changed them back(just in the turn signals). What was your experience?

I left the regular bulbs in the blinkers after reading your advice as they are plenty bright already.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Are they as bright as what you'd like them to be? - Or would you like the gauges lit even brighter?

 

[1967 'cuda]

Since the time that I'd posted, my son had me work on the dash in his '70 Roadrunner. The gauges fried when the voltage regulator went bad so we swapped the black faced cluster with a white faced one we had for his '68 Charger.



He wanted to go with red tinted bulbs. My past experience told me that the various colored lights don't seem to illuminate nearly as well as the white. When I searched online I saw that there were very few sellers that listed the lumen ratings of the bulbs they sold. I ended up buying bulbs from superbrightleds.com even though they were the most expensive ones out there. Although I used to think that all of the L.E.D. bulbs were going to produce the same amount of light I saw that there actually was a big difference between some. They ranged between 5 lumen and 350 lumen. We chose bulbs that were around 100 lumen. Even they could have been brighter. They were still too dim until I removed the blue domes that they sit in. The camera makes them appear as though there's glare, but there isn't.