Hello Everyone,

I posted about this in my project thread in the gallery section, but I figured I would post my questions in here as it is a little more thread specific.

It's three fold:
This is on a 1973 duster

Cluster Brightness:
After replacing my headlight and dimmer switch and playing with my cluster lights, I finally have my instrument cluster back lights working, but they are just not that bright. I replaced one with an LED 194 and it improved a little, but it seems light the plastic 'wells' that the lights sit in is not doing a great job at diffusing the light. The speedo is relatively well lit now with the LED lights, but the light on the left by the ammeter and temp gauge seems pretty dim. The grounds seem ok, though I will speed some time this week replacing/cleaning the bat- cable contact points to the engine and chassis. So I guess my question is if anyone has encountered this, is it typical for these clusters? Any solutions?

Chrysler Solid State Radio:
On to the radio question, now I have confirmed power to the radio (+12 and instrument lighting) but I get no noise what-so-ever. Is the radio hard to remove? Are there any recommended common starting points to look at first? Could the speaker just be shot? I know I am being kinda vague with this question, when the answer should just be "Get under there and see if it is hooked up right", but I was hoping there may be some common issues with these to look at.

Lights-on Dummy Buzzer:
Messing around under the dash and with my driver side door switch I got a very weak buzz noise from my... buzzer, but it was very jittery. Do these commonly fail/need to be replaced? Could it just be that it hasn't worked in 20 years and needs the dust blown out? I would have just let it buzz for a few minutes, but the door switch is not working yet (soon to be replaced, looking for the right part) and I could only get it working when I pressed the switch just right.


So in summary:
What's up with dash lights?
What's the deal with radios, amiright?
What's the buzzer and door switch part number? Where that buzzer at?

Any advice on these is appreciated.

Thanks!
Paul

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'73 Gold Duster - /6

I think there is a brighter dash light bulb available, I don't recall its number, but Dan will enlighten us. Keep in mind that these dashes never were nearly as bright as found in today's dash boards.

Radio probably needs new capacitors (they leak after 30 years or so becoming useless), and other internal gismos to work. Send it out to an automotive radio restoration shop. They will ask if you want it to stay stock, have FM added, and or a jack to receive XM or i Pod etc. inputs.

Hemmings listed three such shops, there are more shops out there that do this work to be found on the web.

To remove radio, pull off knobs, unscrew nut under knobs, under dash there is a support strap on back side of radio that has to be disconnected from it chassis along with antenna cable and speaker wires, and Bobs your uncle, out it comes.

Speaker is unfastened from beneath dash, it may or may not need to be reconed, or replaced. You could make a quick test by connecting a known operational 8 ohm speaker to radio before all the above disassembly.

Buzz'ah, we don't need no stinking buzz'ah... Clean contacts where buzzer connects to harness, if that fails, get a new one.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

The buzzer function is done by a set of backside contacts on the horn relay under the far left side of the dash/above the left kickboard. It doesn't make a steady buzz tone; it's going to be jittery like that.

Cleaning the battery cables isn't a bad idea, but won't improve your instrument cluster ground, which is via the cluster housing to the metal dashboard.

The 194 bulb produces 25 lumens from 4 watts. Get W5W bulbs (50 lumens from 5 watts, such as Sylvania 2825) or 3652 bulbs (75 lumens from 5 watts, but the magic costs money). Most LED bulbs are junk of one kind or another; many of them produce narrowly directional light rather than the spherical all-around light distribution you need for good cluster lighting. If you want to try for best possible results with LEDs in your dashboard, use only this orthis.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

In your experience, what give the best overall lighting experience? 3652? I think I can bite the bullet and at least upgrade the 3 back lights.

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'73 Gold Duster - /6

The 3652 bulb costs a lot more than a 194, but lasts a very long time and puts out a lot of light while remaining wattage-compatible with the switch, wiring, and diffusers. Make sure to buy a good brand; I'd get this one (product is right, picture is wrong).

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

After pulling the radio I visually inspected the speaker. It looks ok, no obvious tears or anything, so I will be inspecting the radio today, hopefully it's an easy fix.

I'll post updates when I have one

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'73 Gold Duster - /6

If only I would listen to good advice. Being someone that enjoys research and buying things, I went ahead and purchased the schematic for my Chrysler 3501622 radio. I cleaned the radio, and after a thorough visual inspection I hooked it up to a power supply and turned it on. It seemed to draw a reasonable amount of current (600-700mA) and had the right voltage output based the SAMS guide. I didn't have a 8ohm speaker handy, so I went ahead and set up my over complicated test bench. Hooked up a function generator, created a speaker shunt, and connected a scope to it. Everything. seems. fine. No obvious issue. Good gain, tuner is correct, didn't see any distortion. So I guess I am just going to pickup a speaker real quick, and assuming that works, the radio will be back in the car this week.

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'73 Gold Duster - /6

I agree with Dan, most of the LED bulbs on the market are crappola. I tried a couple of brands for my dash and they were either too dull, or the light was "fuzzy" made the dash instruments seem out of focus.

BUT, I got a set of these and they work great: https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... t-car/206/

I used green, and my dash has a nice warm green look to it. They dim fine and the light is very clear, no more fuzzy look or weirdness. They've been installed for almost two years, no issues so far.

The one's that Dan recommended are very likely higher quality; he doesn't recommend anything unless it's tried and true.

FYI,

Brian

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2

One correction, they dim a little, but not to the level you'd expect, but since my eyes are going, I don't dim them anyhow.

Here is a pic of the color, it appears pretty accurate to what I see, but it's not quite as bright as the picture shows, my iphone camera is pretty light sensitive.

http://s785.photobucket.com/user/67dart ... i.jpg.html

Brian

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2

If you go shopping at SuperBrightLeds (or any of numerous other vendors with similar-sounding names), play around all you want with the interior lights, but resist the urge to try out their replacements for exterior bulbs. They're flatly not safe.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Dan,

Yes, I've read your article on the flasher, backup, turn signal bulbs and I'm staying away from anything but the Phillips ones you mentioned. I did trial and error to find the dash one's work well. If you read the SuperBrightLED web site's description of their bulbs for those purposes, it's pretty clear they aren't worth the effort.

"Your vehicle may require an LED compatible Flasher or Load Resistor. LED brake/tail lamps will not flash with most stock flasher units due to their extremely low current draw."

Has there been any news on whether Phillips will make an orange one for the front turn signal bulbs?

Brian

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2

There will eventually be more good amber and white LED retrofit bulbs from legitimate makers (Philips, Osram).

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

...good things come to those who wait.

b

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2