I am having trouble finding a place to buy red 168 or 194 bulbs (at a decent price) and twist lock sockets. Can anybody recommend a good place to buy these items from? The issues I’m running into is quality and sizing. I bought some red bulbs from Amazon and then later read the reviews. I found a lot of people who bought the same bulbs were complaining about fading and early burnout. Also having trouble finding the right size twist lock sockets. I have a 1968 Cutlass and I believe there are two different size twist lock sockets required for the gauges (5/8 and 1/2). Just want to find some at a decent price that are not junk. Thank you.

 

Have fun with colors as you like. I’ve found stock incandescent bulbs the best choice for my cars. LED’s are often too hot white and may create electrical problems since they didn’t exist when these wiring harnesses were designed & built.

You might check out AuVeCo. I can’t recall if they stock bulbs but they have tons of little stuff like that. They may even have the twist lock sockets. Or maybe taillightking.com

Have a look at the wattage of the 168 & 194 bulbs so you can put brighter bulbs & dimmer bulbs in according to a pattern you prefer. It ain’t exactly lighting design but if you give 15 minutes thought to differential wattage/brightness you’ll probably get to a dash you like just a little better.

If you have a classic car junkyard near you, you might find some 1968 or so cars (say between 1965 & 1970) and strip them for the sockets & bulbs. Not to say the new stuff is junk, but I’ve found original GM pretty reliable, even after many decades. Bulbs do burn out, but depending on previous use, if you pull a bunch of junkyard parts (like more than you need) you’re reasonably likely to find enough good working used ones for not too much $. Clean & bench test the boneyard bulbs & you can build up a cheap collection.

One other little tip - the brass tabs that conduct the electricity flatten out (lose tension) over time & become a bit less reliable. The 2 second fix (per bulb) is bend them away front the socket plastic just a bit so they make a tight contact to the circuit board when you twist ‘em into place.

 

Thanks for the information. I’ll check out the sites you mentioned. Are you saying by stock incandescent bulbs you can use the clear “white bulbs” in the idiot lights and blinker ports? At some point someone must’ve put red bulbs in my idiot light ports. Guess, I just assumed this was a stock setup. Obviously, there are red and green lenses to change the colors. Just wasn’t sure if I needed green and red bulbs for these ports.

 

I can’t accurately comment on what aftermarket bulbs (baubles?) might have been installed along the way of your car’s life, but can confirm that from the factory your bulbs were all simple incandescent bulbs which threw off a yellowish kind of light.

Any color warning light color changes like for generator, brake, hot and cold were generally handled with colored plastic filters in front of those bulbs. At least this is true from my ‘66’s. Olds might have changed something for light color by ‘68, but I’m unaware if they did.

If you get this far into lighting and find yourself disassembling the gauge clusters, clean ‘em and consider making new gaskets that keep light from one peanut bulb from bleeding over into another light. Otherwise you might wind up thinking you’ve got a generator problem, when really it’s just the oil pressure light signal bleeding over.

The only colored bulbs I’m aware of are the 1156A (amber) turn signal bulbs Olds used in those years. I claim no authority on the subject, but those are the only colored bulbs I can think of. Other colered lighting effects were generally handled with colored translucent plastic to handle the color effects.

On a related but different bulb topic, I can recommend the 3157 motorcycle bulbs for your brake lights. They’re much brighter than the factory 1157 but the downside is they don’t last as long.

Hope that helps,
Chris

 

Thanks again for the information. Yes, very helpful! I will try using all 168 non-tinted bulbs during bench testing.

Have you had any experience with the 168 vs. 194 bulbs being too hot for the brake, blinker n oil light ports? I noticed some brown spots in my warning light ports when I was replacing the gaskets. I took a lot of pics, but failed to note the bulb type when pulling sockets / bulbs. I had a lot of different colored twist lock sockets, so I ***-umed they were socket color (gray, black and light blue sockets) specific.

I will check into the 3157 bulbs. I appreciate the tip. That would definitely be a nice safety feature and improvement. Although, it might show off the crack I have in one of my original taillight lenses. That’s on the wish list…

Have you had any experience with aftermarket gauge lenses? I ordered some from MCMC (candid abbreviation) and it seems like they will scratch if you sneeze at them. I’m OK with this, just have to remember to use compressed air to clean the dash when I detail the car and allergy meds while driving. Any idea of some better lenses out there? Fusick? They prob all get them from the same manufacturer.

Thanks again!
Brandon

 

On 168 vs. 194, I’m not sure but I’d guess the higher wattage ones throw off more heat. So start at factory spec on the bulbs recommended in the Olds Chassis Service Manual for your car.

Then decide _if_ you want any higher wattage bulbs, understanding that, yes, they can sometimes burn brown spots into the ports. Or your spots may be there from someone who put LEDs, or some crazy extra long bulb in a given port that was too close to a plastic filter and/or melted the port a bit. In my ‘66’s I have tachometers that have melted bulb covers from someone (possibly me!) who put in the wrong bulb whose base happened to fit the socket. Lots of owners, maybe most replace dead bulbs with whatever the have on hand that fits without much consideration that brighter bulbs run hotter…

The key question is whether a given higher wattage bulb throws off enough extra heat to do damage. To run this experiment, start at factory, then _if_ you don’t like it, install brighter bulbs where you want ‘em and check ‘em out 3 months later. If they haven’t burned anything with normal, reasonable use, then you’re probably o.k.. If they’ve burned something - well, back to factory. The quick test is put in the high watt bulbs where you want, turn ‘em all on (i.e. as if you’re driving at night) and 15 minutes later sniff around to see if you smell any melting plastic.

Along with the 3157’s, there are a couple of others like maybe 3156’s which can give you extra brightness at the cost of shorter lifespan.

I have no experience with after marketgauge lenses. Nobody makes those for 1966 Olds big cars… GM stock stuff lasts well. Aftermarket may work too. I can recommend TAP Plastics plastic cleaner and plastic polish for cleaning & maintenance if you the gauge lenses out. But if you do, be sure to clean and polish both sides of the lense, but be careful not to polish off the white painted numbers on the back side… If you’re worried about aftermarket quality, get a spare set or 2, so that if you get scratches, you can swap ‘em out eventually.

Cheers
Chris

 

I think I will air on the side of caution and use the lower wattage / cooler 194s for the ports that seem to have been burned in the past. LED’s are supposed to burn cooler, but I don’t want to run into a light show with brightness n false warning light readings.

Thanks again!
Brandon

 

The 194 bulb holder / twist sockets are available from most auto parts stores.


Part #: ECH LS6500
https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/ECHLS6500




https://www.autozone.com/collision-b...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

The 3157 bulbs have a blade style connector and would require you to convert your light sockets.

 

Thank you Fun71. A bit pricy, but should be the correct part.

gs72 good to know about the conversion. Thank you.

 

I didn't even look at the price, just the part.

You can find them cheaper but I don't have any idea about the quality: