RE: [Chrysler300] Let there be light (revisited)

Hi Larry,

just a quick input, got into this in a few ways..on 78 Dodge W150, could not read the “blue” gauges at night, full on, ---so, as part of dash rebuild, removed the blue stuff, permanently, all cracked and fragile anyway, usually the case, used yellow jacketed 158 wedge base bulbs from Wagner; 158 are made in a higher price , long life version, FYI; They have 158LL or something like that on the box. On the truck dash, a huge step up, and yellow is the preferable color for instrument lighting ( psychobabble reasons) . I really like it. White paint inside dash pocket has to be bright and clean. Sometimes it peels off, kills the light level . Could also do clear 158, I suppose, no hoods, but on the truck yellow looks great .

On those twist in sockets, the factory ones are often victimized 50 years later by obvious oxidation of the copper traces on the PC card and loose fit. Clean the copper trace and lamp contact with razor knife or sandpaper, till shiny, and add dab of silicone electric grease with toothpick, only where socket contacts will touch..avoids all the intermittent dash lighting issues, where the one near your gas gauge goes out....and on. . and out. Also bend the contact tabs slightly forward to increase contact pressure ; replacement sockets readily available, but not very good quality , same issues . The grease will stop oxidation in future. I sometimes put a dab of weatherstrip cement where there is no silicone to prevent them from turning and loosening on their own , with the LL lamps, it is forever . The PC card does shrink...

I realize 300’s would want the same color blue , or close to it. A member of Studebaker club ( I have one, 50 Starlight bulletnose with a 354 hemi in it!) posted a cure..they use the same blue hoods in early 50’s Studes, at least, as MOPAR, plus add the misery of 6 volts to it. Brighter bulbs, first try, = melted hoods ; so this guy drills an .030 hole in blue hood , lets some white light out to mix with blue , hole size critical, easy to go too much. He puts drill in hand holder not motor drill . Note though, you can always turn either method mentioned, down, with dash dimmer.

I like this last idea!

Last, on the trucks, the only dash PC card grounds are sheet metal mounting screws into die cast dash assembly, although sometimes tapped screws too, through PC card into speedo housing ; the card shrinks over time , so all these screws get electrically loose where heads touch copper, leads to light flickering and dash gauges going crazy, especially going way high as regulator device in rectangular metal can loses its ground too, stops regulating . I put grease on those, with lockwashers too , and tighten well, lately I add a wire under one of them holding the speedometer / odometer gears (a machine screw) in ring terminal to a solid metal ground screw on upper kick panel area on drivers side, eliminates that issue. They should have run a “real” ground wire in the harness.... Plus how good are bolts holding pot metal parts to real steel dash, as electrical path after paint etc. ?? Losing the regulator can burn out your gauges and gas tank sender. ..or just destroy the calibration. They run on an effective 5V, the pulsing average you see of 12 and zero. If it stops , it puts 12v steady on them, lets all the smoke out. Takes about 8 seconds...needle swings way off scale.

John Grady

From: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Larry Jett
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 9:28 PM
To: chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Chrysler300] Let there be light (revisited)

Wondering how to get a brighter dash illumination weeks ago, Bob Merritt bounced me to Daniel Stern Lighting. Here is what I have learned so far and am about to field test a few of these possibilities. Keep in mind that part of the problem must be the crud that has built up on the rheostat that is our dash light power, plus the fact that we no longer are in the night-time dark that was prevalent when our cars were new, I still long for brighter dash lighting using more powerful bulbs. It is the easiest solution. I found two types of plastic bases in Barber's 300K that were representing the factory's use (for no apparent purpose other than cost), for the type of bulbs used in the fiberglass back of the instrument cluster with the plastic bulb holders that twisted into the copper circuits that lit up the bulbs. They are interchangeable. The wedgebase, all glass, 158 and the bayonet (twist lock) partly metal 57 bulbs, have two different plastic bases that can be used willy-nilly with the correct bulb, on all those copper trailed lighting circuits. New plastic bases of either type are readily available still to this day. Stern's suggestion is to use a W5W bulb he can provide which puts out 50 lumens which is twice the 25 of our oem. This bulb is the wedge, all-glass, type 158. Alternatively, the WY5W is amber and makes a nice green using the oem blue plastic condum the factory provided. Both these bulbs make 5w compared to the 3.9 w for 158 bulbs.

He sells an X6W in both bases with 6w that makes 85 lumens. That may be overkill and cause heat problems to the internal plastic. Further field testing and an full and complete report to follow.

From Lefty, wanting to be the brightest light in all of Newark, CA