Red instrument lights

[Kellerbear]

My '78 Avanti has white instrument panel lights and red lights on the console. Former owner said he bought it in 1984 and it had white lights when he got it. I thought all Avanti instrument panel lights were red? Wonder if original owner switch to white. Red is kind of hard to read.

[Ray K.]

I have owned my '82 Avanti (RQB3420)for about 8 months. For what it's worth, all of the instrument panel and console lights are white. The car has had extensive restoration work, so I wouldn't be surprised if the bulbs had been changed.

[Gunslinger]

If you want to change the dash lights to red, places like Pep Boys sell a gel cover that slides right over the bulbs. They cost something like $3.99 for two covers. While not cheap, they're better than covering the bulbs in any kind of dye as they make all the bulbs give an even red glow. painting the bulbs gives an uneven color intensity.

If you do decide to make the bulbs red (or any other color...the gel covers come in several colors), use all new bulbs. They're inexpensive and you don't want to go rooting around under the dash any more than you have to.

[MikeValent]

I bought an 83 this May. It had white in the instrument panel, red in the console and in the overhead switches. Follow Gunslingers advice. After I wasted time and a little money trying to get a satisfactory result from painting the bulbs, I took his advice and bought the covers from Pep Boys. They do work just fine.

And he's right that - unless you have really tiny hands - you want to spend as little time as possible feel-locating the bulbs, pulling them out and down far enough to change bulbs, then replacing them in their sockets.

I'll give you a tip on that. The bulbs to the right of the steering wheel are easier to reach through the "change tray" (what was originally a speaker enclosure on top of the dash). To get to those on the left, I unscrewed the brushed aluminum dash terminator plate by the drivers door. Under that is unfinished fiberglass. I cut the hole there enough larger that I can get my hand in there to change bulbs on that side. Just be careful not to cut away the areas where the three little screws hold the plate on.

Easy to read the instruments? Back in 1963-64 I owned a 64 Avanti. Found the instruments very easy to read. I don't find them as easy to read in my new-to-me 83. On the other hand, I was 22 then and am 66 now. That may explain the difference.

For you guys with the white dash lights: does your tach light up as brightly as the rest of your instruments? With red lights, mine looks considerably dimmer than the speedometer? I can't remember if that was the case with the white lighting.

[IndyJimW]

My '87 uses 1893 bulbs with red covers, all my gauges are different shades of red because the covers are fading from the heat of the bulbs. I have had problems with the heat from the bulbs melting the plastic faces in the dash also. I just received a order of three different led lights, (1-led, 4-led and 1-led wide angle) in red and blue to try out. I installed the red in three of the gauges on the left side and the blue in three gauges on the right side. These led's come in White, Red, Green, Blue, Amber and UV. I'm looking to replace all my dash bulbs. The 6 bulbs cost from .98 to 2.98 each, It cost me 10.00 for the 6 bulbs to try out. I'll post how they work out and which style works the best.

www.superbrightleds.com

Jim Wood

[Ernie]

Jim,

Let us know your results, as all of my 1989 Avanti's bulbs are a different color of red also. (You might want to post this in the 1987-1991 site also.)

[IndyJimW]

I installed the LED's yesterday and drove around last night for over an hour moving them to different gauges here is what I found.

Red LED's -

BA9s-RWV 1-led Wide Angle - is too dim for gauges but would work well for indicators.

BA9s-R 1-led - was as bright and as red as the regular bulbs, but because of low current needed would not dim much with the rheostat.

BA9s-R4 4-led - much brighter than the regular bulbs and worked great with the rheostat, having a better dim to bright range than the regular bulbs.

I would use the 4-led's in gauges and either of the 1-led's in indicators.

Blue LED's -

BA9sR & RVW 1-led Wide Angle and 1-led - worked great in the gauges, but like the red 1-led's would not dim much with the rheostat.

BA9s-B4 4-led - much brighter than the regular bulbs and worked great with the rheostat, having a better dim to bright range than the regular bulbs.

The Blue LED bulbs made the white lines on the gauges much easier to see at all levels of brightness than the regular bulbs or the Red LED bulbs.

I didn't think I would like the Blue color at first, but after driving a while it made a difference. I am going to replace all the gauge lights with 4-led blues and all the indicator lights with the same color 1-led's. Amber for Check Engine, Red for the 3 warning indicators and Green for the turn signals. They also make bulbs that should replace the interior lights, which would help prevent discolored lens from the heat of the bulb.

Cost for the complete dash should run about $40.00. They shipped by USPS ground and it took two days.

www.superbrightleds.com

Jim Wood

Edited November 17, 2007 by IndyJimW