Ok. So, for those of you who have swaped your dash lights, would you recomend getting amber LEDs or remove the factory blue filters and just get green LEDs?

 

neither.

i used leds and liked the color but leds are harsh on the eyes and leds can't be dimmed so your dimmer function won't work on them. i have found red 194 regular bulbs are very easy on the eyes.

 

But you did away with the blue filters, right?

 

oh yes i got rid of those. the red is very easy on the eyes. i also removed the green filters from the radio,heater controls and wiper switch.

 

I am running red bulbs also. ford390gashog, how did you get rid of the filter on the heater controls? I couldnt get that one out, so it's still green. All my other lights are red though. I agree they are much easier on the eyes.

 

pull the heater control .there is 4 screws, the bulb twists into the back of the unit, pull the bulb and fish the filter out with needle nose pliers.

 

Oh, i'll have to try that sometime, thanks.

 

yep super easy, takes 10 mins

 

The LED bulbs that have the inverted cone lens work fairly well to spread the light pattern. To get the dimmer to work with LED bulbs you need to add a resistor in series to cut the current. Otherwise there is not enuf current flowing in the stock dimmer to change the voltage much. You will have to experiment to get the resistor value right. Check to make sure the resistor will handle the power dissipation.

 

http://superlumination.com/194.htm
This site has the LEDs that your talking about Torque 1st.

I almost got these, but went the other route and got the regular colored replacement bulbs.

 

Deffinatley remove the filters. It will give you more light.

General Electric makes several Bulbs for instrument cluster applications.

Ge #194-Red
Ge #194-Blue (Factory color for the newer Ford Cars)
GE #194-Green (Factory Color replacement) matches exactly.
GE #194-Amber

When you clean the instrument cluster connections, on the circut boards (make them look clean and bright) and the light sockets, (clean and bright) these GE bulbs will disperce a lot of light on a clean I.C.

The copper on the printed circut gets oxidized and is like putting a resistor in the circut for the lights and guages. You can clean up the Copper Connections with a rubbing compound or a "fine" sandpaper, (just be careful, cause you don't want to remove too much and ruin the printed circut. You do however want the copper to be clean and bright like a new penny.) After you clean up the sockets and printed circut, you can cover the connections with a white lithium grease to protect them from oxidizing again. (a little can go a long way) Make sure to clean the back of the IVR (Instrument Voltage Regulator) as well. That could solve guage problems too. Don't forget to clean the plug part on the wiring harness too.

If the tangs on the sockets, or wiring harness plug, are bent out of shape of loose in the cluster when installed you can bend them to make better contact and fit tighter. (unless the plastic of the cluster is at fault for the loosness, if so a new cluster plastic is in order. You should be able to use a cluster out of 1975 to 1992 vans, if you use your old printed circut. Match guages for guages, idiot lights for idiot lights when you get the plastic and you should be fine.)

Hope this helps,

 

Yep they call them inverted lenses.

 

A pencil eraser is good for cleaning contacts.