Instrument panel bulbs

[65401]

Hi all,
I'm just getting my 65 GS convertible back on the road after 9 years of storage. Installed a duel master cylinder, all new wheel cylinders, new fuel tank, new alternator and battery, rebuilt the carter 4 bbl, flushed the cooling system and installed 50/50 Prestone etc. The list is never ending.  I'm now going to replace all of the instrument cluster lighting. I see that the LED's are being used so I'm thinking I'll use LED's rather than the standard 194 LL's . I heard stories of some not working while other makes work well. If anyone has done the same can you please tell me the manufacturer and LED number that you had good luck with.
Thanks for any help......

Len

[TrunkMonkey]

I took my cluster apart on my '64 Skylark, painted the backshell with "UV" paint.

(Wildfire Invisible blue maximum)

Then used Superbrightleds.com UV bulbs for the backlight illumination and it gives a nice bright blue illumination to the white numbers/lines and the orange speedo needle is very bright. It is easy on the eyes at night, and plenty bright even with city light glare.

For the Gen/Oil/Temp/High beam indicators I used red LED bulbs.

For the turn signals, I tried the green but they were way too bright, (53 lumens) so I used regular 194 incandescent and they are fine for me. Since they are only used for short interval, the current draw is negligible. I think the 15 lumen green LEDs might work (below).

(UV backlight   194-UVHP5)
(Red indicators   194-R3HP: Red)
(turn signal indicators     194-G3HP

When you have a colored lens, the colored LEDs provide a even lighting, if you use "white" LEDs, they tend to show "washed out hot spots".

Hope that helps. :)

[dsags]

Len, when my dash lights got upgraded the bulbs were obtained from Shift Works. That’s the same place that sells a bunch of shift conversions. Not sure if they still sell them but do remember that they were pricey.

A suggestion - do not put led bulbs in the turn signal or brights location unless you want to get blinded.

Dan

[65401]

Thanks for the replies.... In re-thinking this over I'm going to stay with the standard long life incandescent 194's.... 

Len