interior bulb replacements

[jrnyman3]

does anyone have a recommendation for the replacement of the interior dash, rear window defogger indicator bulb, manual choke indicator bulb etc as to the bulb type? i've checked my local autoparts store and they had nothing. Does the bulb sockets have to be replaced? can i order bulbs from somewhere? replace with led's somehow? my interior is going dark and i would appreciate any advice. My cars and early 1974 260z. thanks!

[beermanpete]

There are lots of mail order companies on the web that have bulbs of all (most?) types.

Try here: http://www.1000bulbs.com/category/miniature-indicator-bulbs/

[SteveJ]

LEDs. You can remove the bulbs inside the instruments and use whatever color LED light you like.

[TomoHawk]

Higuys,

I'm updating my list of replacements, and the only bulbs I can't find are the ones in the defroster/hazard/seatbelt indicators. Is there a bulb number for those? From the look of the old bulb, it seems like an LED would fit just right.

Edited August 10, 2014 by TomoHawk

[mjr45]

I agree with Steve, replace them all with LED's. I did all my dash lights, the overhead and map light, looks much better than stock.

www.superbriteleds.com

[TomoHawk]

WAR, LEDs are out of order on a car from 1978 and they are just too much trouble.

[SteveJ]

WAR, LEDs are out of order on a car from 1978 and they are just too much trouble.

Only if you're worried about staying 100% stock. Frankly I prefer being able to see my instruments clearly at night and not melting down the fusebox/wiring.

[Captain Obvious]

Ok, then war it is! I put an LED in my dome light a couple months ago and I love it!!

Story goes like this... About a year ago I bought a cheap "cool white" festoon bulb off Amazon and I hated it. I found it very harsh compared to the original incandescent. Even though it was supposed to be brighter than the incandescent it replaced, I found it harder to see with that typical harsh "cool white LED light".

What I really wanted was a warm white bulb, but the problem is that the warm whites are always dimmer than their cool white counterparts and I was worried that it wouldn't be bright enough.

So... I went one size larger and got one of these from superbright in warm white:

I had to grind a little off the brass clip fingers in order to stuff it into the dome lamp housing, but now that it's in there, I absolutely love it!

The whiter white from the LED style perfectly offsets the yellowing old lens plastic giving me a perfect incandescent "looking" light style. And going one size too large gives me an increase in light output that it's a good upgrade from the original incandescent without melting the lens with a larger wattage bulb.

I'm not going for the dash bulbs, but for the done lamp? War it is!!

I bet you would open my door and when the lamp would come on, you would think "Hmm... Seems brighter than mine", but you would NOT think "Oh... He's got one of those stupid LED lamps in there".

[mjr45]

Captain, you're spot on. I did my dash lights minus the speedo and tach(haven't been able to get them out with the dash cap on) which I will do soon, painted the inside of the cans bright white and used the leds which fit into the little clear green housing and voila' dash lihjts that are brighter with a slight green tinge, I love'em.

[TomoHawk]

Cap'n O-

Can you give a specific part number or vendor for the lamp you used? Is that bulb something you can get from the local AP store?

I agree that the LEDs can appear "too bright" as those SMD things have a narrow "beam." I was going to wire up a rearview mirror with dual reading lamps to turn on with the dome lamp, but I don't want to tear up the headliner, so maybe this is a reasonable compromise.

[Captain Obvious]

I settled on Part Number: 3710-WWHP6.

It's a 37 mm long festoon with 6 LEDs in warm white. https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/festoon/3710-led-bulb-6-smd-led-festoon/661/. It was a little longer than what fit comfortably between the mounting clips and I had to grind a little off the connector clip fingers in the lamp housing to get it to fit between the fingers, but it's a once and done job, I've very happy with the outcome. Brighter and not harsh.

Hot the "specifications" tab and you can choose what color you want. Lots of people like the "cool white" color, but I'm not one of them. I find the bluish "cool white" light harsh. I bought "warm white" and I love it.

Here's some pics showing what I had to do to the mounting clips to get the bulb to fit. I used a carbide burr on a dremel. Don't get tiny brass slivers stuck in your fingers (or eyes):

And even though you can't tell much because there's nothing else to compare it to, here's the obligatory "ON" pic:

If you don't want to deal with modifying the clips to get the wider festoon to fit, you can sacrifice some brightness for ease of installation and get a 4 LED shorter version instead:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/festoon/de3175-led-bulb-4-smd-led-festoon/238/1129/

Part number 3022-WWHP4 is the shorter 4 LED version in warm white.

Lastly, I don't think you're going to find a "warm white" shade at a generic AP store. Seems most people like the bluish LED color of the "cool white" bulbs and that's all I've ever seen on the shelf. So if you want cool white, you might be able to find it local, but if you want to control the shade, you'll probably have to mail order it.

[TomoHawk]

Thanks.

I don't think MSA will be happy with your discovery! They have that fancy LED board for the dome lamp. I like the warm colour better too- I grew up with all incandescent bulbs, so I'm used to the "warm" color in the car, even if it is a bit dull. I think if I had the rearview mirror with reading lamps installed, then I would use the cool white lights for illuminating "maps" (though I have a tablet with GPS navigation & maps.) but I do a road rally occasionally. I still have my clip-on map lamp with red LEDs tho.

I've only seen the 4-LED festoon bulbs locally.

LED headlamps are still scary to me. I'm used to the yellow of my halogens, so the blue light of new cars bothers me. Plus I don't like the idea of driving on a dark road or in the rain at night and have the LED headlamps suddenly go dark. I will keep using the halogens for a while.

Edited October 19, 2014 by TomoHawk