Just so you all know ...LED lights/bulbs Don't dim.

They stay bright.

 

I didnt know that! so when you look up from the cluster your eyes are dialated and youve lost your night vision

 

I had heard the non-dimming thing before but forgot it. Makes sense though seeing LED's are what they are - diodes.

I wonder if the "dialated eyes" (doubt they are that bad) are worse than not being able to see your gauges though...

I was considering LEDs since I think they put less draw on the system then a standard bulb.
I'm interested to see the difference in stock bulbs vs. LEDs, but I'm not gonna pay that much just to try something out.
Anyone here done it already? And on that note - anyone tried an LED in an autometer or aftermarket gauge?

 

These are the ones Hipoparts is presently doing up for trucks.

http://www.hipoparts.com/product_inf...roducts_id=412


http://www.hipoparts.com/product_inf...roducts_id=439

 

That is awsome news to ME the LED's .I'm contacting the guy tomorrow

 

This might be a stupid question but...... Do you mean they wont dim when theres more of system electrical draw or that the dimmer switch on the headlight **** is rendered unoperatable with LED's or both thanks

 

Here is the original E-mail from Bill to me

From: "Sales" <Sales@HiPoParts.com>
To: "Dennis"
Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 12:13 PM
Subject: Re: Inquiry from HiPo Parts Garage - High Performance Auto Racing
Parts

Hi Dennis,
Maybe you could assist me ?
If you have seen our items on ebay, we have a new line of products to brighten the dash gauge lights in the 71-73 Mustangs.
We have other kits coming out in the next 30 days for the 65-66, 67-68, and 69-70
Mustangs as well.

We are considering kits for the 73-79 ford Truck as they have the same lighting issues as the early carsm and they have a large following.
Do you think you could help me obtain the info I need to help create a kit for the 73-79 Ford trucks?
We actually need info like how many different dash gauge clusters were used in
each year.
We may find out that we can do one kit for several years, but I need some assistance from some Ford turck guys in order to do the product development.
For those who want to assist, we would cover all shipping charges to borrow their gauge clusters and would install one of our LED bulb kits free of charge for letting us use their parts for testing.
We could also use photos of the front and back of different clusters to determine the different circuits and the bulbs colors for each. The catalogs do not show such info.

The development time on this takes about 60 days for a kit. It took us about 3 months to get the 71-73 Mustang kits ready for sale. The 69-70 Mustang took about 2 months. There is a lot of testing and documention to prepare to be able to provide a kit that comes with clear instructions and detailed install diagrams.

Do you think this is something that your friends on the Truck forum would want to help with?
If this works, we will be able to provice lighting kits in the stock blue and red, yellow, or green lighting as well. We may also be able to do other lighting kits such as exterior lights including tail lights,marker lamps and license plate lamp, as well as an interior kit that would cover all of the other bulbs in the interior.

We have those kits planned for the Mustang in the next 2 months as well. I have talked to a few Ford Truck owners about this in the past, but we are getting to a time when we can start on the Truck kits soon. We just need a little help to make sure we have correct information to make the kits properly.


Thanks, Bill
HiPoParts.com

 

Using the dimmer on the H/L switch will Not dim LED lights.

 

Well, mine Will..........some, who the heck wants DIM cluster lights anyway!

 

I just went to one of the little import tuner shops here in town and bought a bunch of LED bulbs. $8 for 2 (regular bulbs are about $1.50 each). You can get them in a few colors (blue, green, red, white). Mine are going to be blue. The bulbs are #194 just like the incandescent ones.

I'll make sure to try and post pictures when I get it done. I'm thinking it's going to look pretty sweet, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to use the dimmer anymore or not.

 

Yea Shameles if u could post some picks I think a few of us in here would like to see

 

From my post in the Brighter dash lights thread.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/lc/lc.ph....com%2F194.htm

 

I forgot to mention that I'm going to try and replace my aftermarket tach's (can't remember what brand) light with a blue LED too. At least that's the plan right now. Looks like I'll be doing it Sat. and posting pics Sat. night. Stay tuned....

 

hi,
i've read all the posts above and i still have a question: i have a 1976 f250 whose gauge cluster turned to dust. i threw out the old pieces including the colored circuit board so i don't know what color it was. i got a cluster off ebay before i knew there were two pin sizes, oof! my question is, if i got the wiring diagram for both trucks, can i splice the newer cluster in? i realize the high beam bezel is in a different place, but do you all think the gauges will work?
thanks in advance!

 

LOL

The 100 MPH speedo only does something for your ego (mine has it but will never-ever hit 100 unless dropped from a C-130). Think of it in a manner similar to the marketing people making the newer cars...my new company (chevy) truck has a speedo that goes to 140 MPH. It is LIMITED at 96 and strains to get there! LOL But it does get noticed when people get in and see a 140 MPH speedo.