BlueCalais79

For those of you thinking about converting your dash lights on over to LED's, I'm thinking this is a worthwhile effort.

I was very skeptical about making this change, but over the weekend I decided to try it out and in my 79 Hurst Olds I changed all my gauge cluster bulbs to LED's. A big problem with the 1978-1988 Cutlass gauge pods is the 194, 161, or 168 bulbs used get hot and melt the pale green pod, sometimes so badly that some of the bulb sockets can't be twisted out or back in, especially the one on the extreme upper left where the tach is. Also, they can foul up the printed circuit board. I just bought a re-pop circuit board from The Parts Place so I'm starting fresh there too.

I used the Sylvania Cool White 168 and 194 bulbs (161 is not made by them). These LED bulbs have a frosted white dome on the top them which softens the IMHO harshness some of these LED's can project. The result? I was totally bowled over on how great the lights look and work, so much so that I also put one in for the wiper switch and the digital clock. And, they ARE dimmable. These bulbs are not cheap, $6.88 each at Walmart.

Next week I plan on placing one in the HVAC unit to complete the transition. The best part is they throw no heat so they will not melt the pod and/or damage the printed circuit board. I did notice it matters which way they are put in the socket. If you put one in and it doesn't work, all you need to do is pull it back out and turn it 180 degrees & re-reinstall.

69HO43

Polarity matters to the LEDs in most cases I'm aware of. Cool white is a tad "bluish-white" light and looks brighter. If I were to do it, I'd do a bit less on the K scale and do more what they consider a "warm" white. Softer and IMO, more closely mimics the incandescent lamps they used OEM. Obviously the brighter light is welcomed in the U21 gages because OEM severely lacked in the dash lighting department.

BlueCalais79

Especially the digital clock, with the incandescent lights it seemed the clock light barely worked, with these LED's it's a major improvement there. I do note a very, very slight blue when they are turned all the way up. but it seems to lessen if dimmed. I'm probably going to settle in at them turned about 1/2 way up.
I initially used the LED bulb for the console plate as a replacement for the standard bulb. The incandescent bulb almost immediately burned the plastic in my (then) NOS H/O Dual Gate console plate, so badly that I now have to use black tape to hold the socket in. It was infuriating to have an NOS piece damaged like that so quickly