instrument panel lights?

[78Marquis]

Ok guys...here's a tough one (I think...). Is there any way to increase the brightness of my speedometer on these old 78 Marquis'? Any of you who have one of these cars knows exactly what I'm talking about...2 candles would be brighter! I'm not sure what the 79s and up have but our 04 Town Car is absolutely brilliant while the old Marquis is absolutely horrendous. And believe it or not there are like 8 or 10 bulbs in there! I've checked with sites like Sylvania & they say that LEDS are not brighter in such uses! Any "bright" ideas... (sorry...I couldn't resist... )

[87_crown_vic]

best results would probably come from removing your panel and taking out the blue filters... the blue filters combined with the incadescent lights in there give it the green color... try removing the filters and see if that helps

[87gtVIC]

I have no idea how your cluster looks like but I am sure there would be plenty of room to drill some holes and add in some leds all around the cluster. They would remain hidden because they are tiny enough and would definitely help illuminate things.

You can also take out the cluster and clean everything real good...and LEDs in the stock locations definitely make things brighter...plenty of us here know this first hand.

[78Marquis]

Thanks guys! I'll check into both solutions and post whatever works.

[gadget73]

you might even benifit from brand new lamps. Bulbs tend to yellow and dim over time. LEDs would also be a big improvement, though you'd lose the original coloring. In stock form, the yellow lamp plus a blue filter makes for that green effect. There aren't any LEDs that I know of that exactly duplicate the color temperature of a regular bulb.

[87_crown_vic]

here are bulbs from ebay that will allow the original look... get the multiple LED setup and not the cheap single LED bulbs... you can also look for other colors... blue isnt as bright as say red or green or yellow LEDs
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trk...All-Categories

[78Marquis]

you might even benifit from brand new lamps. Bulbs tend to yellow and dim over time. LEDs would also be a big improvement, though you'd lose the original coloring. In stock form, the yellow lamp plus a blue filter makes for that green effect. There aren't any LEDs that I know of that exactly duplicate the color temperature of a regular bulb.

Hey Gadget! 04Ultimate from LoL here I'm going to try the led thing. I've got an extra dash assembly around here from a 77 Marquis we stripped a few years back & I'll post a pic of all the bulbs. We ordered a 78 Grand Marquis back in 77 & even then I was looking forward to a nice bright speedo having driven a 72 Monterey for years. To this day I remember how disappointed I was because the brand new 78's speedo was just as damned dim as the 72s! Where there's a will tho...somethin's gonna work!

[visionmercury]

i have white leds in my 87 mgm and its retarded bright comparded to the candle powered ones proir , i got mine threw superbrightled.com

[sly]

Which LEDs did you get... suprebrightleds has tons (even for the same base)

[visionmercury]

these ones in white




WLED Miniature Wedge Base bulbs

T3-1/4 (#194/168) filament bulbs found in many automobile and water craft applications. Built in current limiting resistor and diode to protect the LED from reversed polarity installation. 12 Volt DC operation.
Replaces: 194, 158, 168, 12256, 12961

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WLED-x-x
WLED-x4
WLED-x5
WLED-x6

WLED-x, WLED-x4, WLED-x5, WLED-x6
Available Colors:

Information:


WLED-x

1 Wide Angle LED, 90 or 120 degree beam - These bulbs are Non-Polarized.
Available colors:

Information:
90 120

WLED-x4

4 x 3mm LEDs, 32 or 90 degree beam
Available colors:

Information:
32 90

WLED-x5

1 High Flux LED & 4 x 3mm Radially Mounted LEDs, 220 degree beam - These bulbs are Non-Polarized
Available colors:

Information:
220

WLED-x6

6 x 3mm LEDs, 35 degree beam - These bulbs are Non-Polarized
Available colors:

Information:
35






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[visionmercury]

its the first ones on the page when u pull up 194/168

[85crownHPP]

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...pt%2Fwled.html

WLED-x5 is what I have, they work great, those even look like the good ones.