Gang
I was back into my 98 convertible this evening trouble shooting no "COLD" light on startup and wasn't sure I ever posted some things that have worked well for me in lighting up my '66 Big Cars.

Here's what the Chassis Service Manual calls for for the 1966 big cars:

1966 Olds Big Car (88/98) factory bulb designations. These days there are more options - some better, some not.

First up, I like bright lights where they'll help. So I'm using brighter-than-stock 3157's on rear brake lights which are reported to last less long than the standard 1157's Olds calls for in the CSM. Apparently 3157's are motorcycle bulbs, if I remember right.

Second, I tried LED's for the interior lights, but really hated the hot white light they throw as compared to the warm incandescent glow I've seen since I was a kid. I'm picky about light color, even though I'm a bit color blind. Mostly I hate hot white that LED's often throw.

There is an opportunity to light the dash consistently if you pay a bit of attention and have some brightness or wattage values for the lights you're using. In my dash clusters I use 194 bulbs (4.6 watts) for the cluster lighting & brighter 168's (4.9 watts) for the idiot & turn signal lights.

Third, I found it helpful to make up a box of light bulbs using an art box from Plano plastics. If you make a box one time, you only have one place to look: https://planostoragecases.com

Here's my "Automotive Bulb" box:

Bulbs labeled and organized so they're easy to find when you need 'em. Notes to me on the lid so I don't have to look it up every time.

If in doubt on anything you see below, use your CSM or the factory recommendation above. I rewrote my notes to me from years ago so you guys could have something like a shopping list.

Exterior
Brake / Turn Signal - 1157 26.88 / 8.26 watts; bright replacement 3157 28.16 / 8.16 watts or LED. 3157's shine brighter, but reported to last less long than 1157.

Starfire/98 Backup 1156 26.9 watts; use single element LED for bright replacement.

98 driving lights 1155 26.9 watts; bright replacement is 631 or use single element LED for bright replacement.

License Plate Lamp: 97 9.3 watts

Front Turn signal amber lights: 1157A; bright replacement 3157A

Interior
Underhood & Trunk lights: 631 8.8 watts; bright (non-stock) replacement 1156 26.9 watts. Your reverse bulbs will fit underhood & trunk sockets, but they look a little funny. Your call on form vs. function. I'm using 1156's in my cars.

Door courtesy lights: 212 10 watts; some 211 bulbs are reported to be 12.4 watts

Under dash, 98 convertible rear quarter, Starfire rear sail panel courtesy, map lamp, Starfire console lamp are a bulb #90 with 2 pins

Radio, Clock bulb: 1893 4.62 watts

Tachometer, Heater/AC control bulb 1895 3.78 watts

98 PRNDSL bulb 1816 4.3 watts

Tell Tale & Speedometer cluster lights 168 4.9 watts

GEN, OIL, BRAKE, HOT, COLD, Left Turn, Speedminder, High Beam, Right Turn: 194 3.8 watts or fall back to 168 4.9 watts, or 158 3 watts

Ashtray, ignition, cruise control, console shift indicator peanut bulbs 1445 1.87 watts

Usually when I install bulbs I clean the brass bases if I'm reusing old ones, or bend the brass tabs of the wedge bases a bit to restore the tension they need to fit snugly in the dash. On the exterior I've found it helpful to reuse old GM stock over the offshore recent replacements. Hit the Old GM metal parts with a Dremel to restore conductivity and stick 'em in the replacement plastics. Latter day metal inserts just aren't as good as the old stuff.

I can also recommend Deoxit 5 to clean up connections. If you're fiddling around with wires, try lacquer thinner to clean the insulation and figure out what color you're dealing with.

You all can probably improve my knowledge here. Suggestions, corrections & deletions most welcome.

Cheers
Chris

 

Nice setup Chris. I bet that took some time to figue our ant impliment. I like using those plastic organizers for thing too.

 

That's a great summary, Chris. Thank you.

I've tried to improve my automotive lighting for many years. I made a lot of mistakes to learn from. Here's a summary of what worked for me.

LEDs are the holy grail--intense illumination AND 1/10th the heat. And I, too, dislike blue-white LEDS. So, when buying, pay attention to color temperature. Try to keep the light temperature under or near 3000 K (degrees Kelvin). Some sites describe these incandescent-look bulbs as warm white.

When buying LEDs for turn signals, get bulbs where the high/low intensity is greater than 10 (that's the filament bulb ratio). VLED.com is the only provider that I found to feature these. Unfortunately, their Samsung 50s require that you grind a 45 degree chamfer on the aluminum above the base to allow them to fit in many GM sockets. Try them as you grind. My rear sockets were OK for fitment; others required variable stages of grinding.

VLED.com bulbs are expensive, but they are the only supplier I found that has the qualities I want. For example, their Samsung 50s have high/low intensity of 14, which means that when you step on the brakes, the person behind you who is texting now wakes up.

I put red Samsung 50s on one side of my tail lights, with filament lights on the other. I had my sweetie look at the lights with me. We agreed that:

• The color was much redder with LEDs. The filament side looked orange in comparison
• The intensity as a running light was equal
• The intensity as a stop light was MUCH brighter with those LEDs

You may need flashers made for LEDs. Just get one with the correct number of prongs.

Buy LEDs with the native color the same as the lens color, e.g., red LED behind a red lens.

Avoid high-intensity LEDs that include a cooing fan--the fans get noisy quickly and fail in a few years.

If you put LEDs in your instruments, the dimming rheostat no longer works properly. You have to fiddle with extra resistors to get it in the dimming range. I don't think it's worth the trouble.

Headlights are a special case. Directional focus and stray light handling are most important. I've never found an LED headlight that has those properties to my satisfaction. I have 55 W Cibié CSR halogens; these have superb light output and control. Unfortunately, they are no longer made. Look at danielsternlighting.com for some good alternatives. Daniel's site has a treasure of great lighting information.

Gary

 

I suggest to use caution when choosing a bulb with a higher wattage than OEM. Over the years I have seen many sockets and lenses damaged by the increased heat from a higher wattage bulb. In modern vehicle that uses a CAN BUS and/or lamp monitors I've seen some real wacky light operation caused by improper bulb replacement that had stumped many a mechanic.