LED Changeover - 1970 to 1972 Skylark & GS

Discussion in 'Sparky's corner' started by knucklebusted, Jan 16, 2018.

  1. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    LOL, mine too in my GS, they kinda "jump down" when yah dim them.
    I put the rest of the LED's in my GN, the dimmer in that car is much smoother, they're actually VERY brite on that dash, so I dim them down, dash looks light blue:cool:
     
    knucklebusted likes this.
  2. 12lives

    12lives Control the controllable, let the rest go

    The other outside lights I converted on the 67 (besides the headlights) are the tail lights. The tail light on those models are tiny. I feel the added brightness for the brake light is a good safety advantage, plus the other drivers don't expect a 54 year old car to light up like a new Cadillac!
     
    Mark Demko, knucklebusted and FLGS400 like this.
  3. FLGS400

    FLGS400 Gold Level Contributor

    When I had the dash apart in my GS, I put a new headlight switch in it, just for the sake of not having to pull the instrument panel out again any time soon. It still works the same as yours, Larry.
     
    knucklebusted likes this.
  4. LARRY70GS

    LARRY70GS a.k.a. "THE WIZARD" Staff Member

    Yeah, maybe it is the type of rheostat that is used. It flickers a bit. It dimmed down nicely in my Riv.
     
    Mark Demko and knucklebusted like this.
  5. LARRY70GS

    LARRY70GS a.k.a. "THE WIZARD" Staff Member

  6. Utah455

    Utah455 Platinum Level Contributor

    Installed the Dapper LED headlights a few weeks ago. Got the Classic Glass (with lines except for the center) 17W LED bulbs in all four spots and the switch back halos.

    So far I have just wired up the white halos to run as day time running lights. The switch back yellow with the turn signal didn't look too good, but I did try powering the inside yellow to see what it looked like.

    For now, I did install WHITE LED bulbs in the bumper for turn signals. The yellow turn signals in the bumper looked out of place with the white halos. Still ironing out the wiring so that I can connect to the ACC spot in the fuse box with my radio capacitor.

    IMG_2326.JPG IMG_2345.JPG IMG_2346.JPG
     
    knucklebusted likes this.
  7. knucklebusted

    knucklebusted Well-Known Member

    I got the same email. Pricey.
    Looks interesting. I'll be curious how they perform once you get them ironed out and road tested.
     
    Mart likes this.
  8. LARRY70GS

    LARRY70GS a.k.a. "THE WIZARD" Staff Member

    Yes, very pricey, for one headlight.
     
  9. knucklebusted

    knucklebusted Well-Known Member

    Also, it all looks like a proprietary bulb/globe assembly. Locked into Holley for all future parts.

    Those Hellas don't look so bad now.

    I did see they have a wiring harness that will let you run all 4 dim lights at one time.
     
  10. BuickGSrules

    BuickGSrules Gold Level Contributor

    Do they plug into the excisting harness or do they need new wires? What is the cost?
     
  11. BuickGSrules

    BuickGSrules Gold Level Contributor

    Anyone made a list with the part numbers for LED bulbs throughout the car and where to get? Anyone makes a completet kit?
     
  12. Mark Demko

    Mark Demko Well-Known Member

    Too pricey for limited use for me.
    If I did year round driving night and day, and towed a trailer, MAYBE.
    My sealed beam halogens I bought at S. S. Kresge back in '86 for 1.99 do just dandy, or maybe they were .99 a piece, they were on close out, every car had rectangle lights then.
     
    Mart likes this.
  13. Mart

    Mart Gold level member

    I think I bought my Sylvanias at Perry drugstore's Auto Parts Section.:D:D
     
    Mark Demko likes this.
  14. Utah455

    Utah455 Platinum Level Contributor

    The LED headlights, yes, they send a 6" conversion harness that plugs into their bulbs to the factory harness. Slight shaving was needed on the headlight mounting tabs form them to fit into the buckets (nothing major and they note this in the directions).

    The Halo's on the other hand have a little boxes attached with 3 wires (white, yellow and ground). Right now boxes are double sided taped under the headlights and just screwed ground wires in with the forward light harness and ran a single power wire (covered in heatshrink) around with the factory harness and slipped it thru the AC grommet up to the fuse box. Need to make a Y cable so that I can plug into the ACC on the fuse with my power windows. This will give me white halo's all the time as driving lights. Thought about tapping into the turn signal in the bumper for the yellow wire to switch back the inside yellow halos for turn signals, but not sure.

    Cost is based on options. Base price 359 and then tack on 314 in options (LED bulbs and halos). They are running 10% now, which I found a coupon a few months ago as well. Roughly $700 out the door. $175 a headlight. I went for ease of plug and play and wanted halo's that didn't look goofy. The classic style line glass is key.

    Headlight4.jpg Headlight1.jpg Headlight2.jpg Headlight3.jpg Headlight5.jpg
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2021
    BuickGSrules likes this.
  15. FLGS400

    FLGS400 Gold Level Contributor

    Check out post #39. There may be more within this tread, too.
     
  16. 72gs4spd

    72gs4spd Well-Known Member

    Can someone who has recently upgraded to LEDs list what bulbs worked best for them. Most of the links in the threads don’t load anymore. I have the DIGI-TAILS for the rear but want to replace the rest with the exception of the headlights for now.
     
    corkgs likes this.
  17. SCamaroSS2000

    SCamaroSS2000 Well-Known Member

    I am in the process of replacing my instrument cluster bulbs with the 194 LEDs, 4 of 5 on the speedometer work, the left turn signal doesn't. I cannot get any of the fuel/dummy gauges to work. There is a ton of gunk back there especially on the backside of the instruments, I will try cleaning them to see if that helps. I will also clean out my sockets and use dielecteic grease too. Any opinions on what to clean woth besides light water and some dawn and being very careful?
     
  18. LARRY70GS

    LARRY70GS a.k.a. "THE WIZARD" Staff Member

    You should only be replacing the dash lighting, NOT the dummy light bulbs. The LED 194's are way too bright for the indicators lights. I would leave them incandescent, the contrast will be perfect that way. The LED lights take very little voltage to operate, and the signal lights can have problems operating with them. At minimum, you will need different flasher units.
     
  19. Utah455

    Utah455 Platinum Level Contributor

    I thought I’d post the LED’s I’ve purchased for my dash bulbs. Being an Electrical Engineer I looked into the intensity to see if I could find the appropriate brightness level.

    In the manual for 1970 under Electrical, there is a chart that shows “Candle Power” for the all the lights used in the car. Essentially all the indicators in the dash are 2 candle power. All LED’s are pretty much are specified in Lumens, so some quick researched showed:

    1 candle power = 12.57 lumens.
    So 2 candle power = 25.1 lumens.

    I noticed the 194 bulbs people were buying above were 50 to 100 lumens, so everyone thought they were too bright. All my LED bulbs were brought thru Superbright LED’s and I bought the lower power version specified at 31 lumens.

    This is just what I did and is in no way the correct way. It’s just how I went about figuring out what to get and I thought I’d share. Please double check as I did this a few years ago.

    All from https://www.superbrightleds.com/
    White Dash 194 bulb = 194-CW3HP = 31 lumens and I used all white LED’s. Purchased 14
    Clock = BA9S-W4-90-12VAC and I believe for the AC unit and glove box. As I originally purchased 4 and then another single one.
    Courtesy Sail Panels = 4410-CW8
    Foot Well under dash = 67-CW12-G

    Outside marker lights = 95 lumen version
    Front Side Yellow = 194-AHP5
    Rear Side Red = 194-RHP5

    Front Turn Signals
    = 1157 Style Amber = 1157-A27-T
    Brake Lights = 1157 Style Red = 1157-R27-T
    Reverse Lights = 1156 Style White = 1156-CW18-T


    One of the three speedo bulbs is out (left one by the 10, 20, 30 mph), since been fixed after the fact (PIA).
    I don't have any outside night time pics, just what I have at time of install in my garage a few years ago.
    upload_2023-1-15_9-29-31.png

    upload_2023-1-15_9-29-36.png
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2023
  20. rkammer

    rkammer Gold Level Contributor

    Excellent post. I'm also a EE and appreciate the research you did. The directional and idiot light brightness seems too bright for my taste so I'll just replace the cluster lights. Do the cluster lights dim properly with the dimmer on the headlight switch. Some have said that the 194 LEDs won't dim and have to be run full brightness. Thanks again for your info.
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2023
    Utah455 likes this.

Share This Page