Here's how to make your exterior lights and signals (other than headlamps, that's another post) work better:

Lenses and reflectors
Clean the lenses Remove the lamp assembly from the car. Cars up to '76 or so, give or take depending on model, mostly have brake/tail and park/turn lamps on which the lenses can be removed from the reflectors. With a medium-soft nylon-bristle brush, scrub the inside and outside of each lens with hot water that's sudsy with liquid dish soap. Inspect the lenses for cracking, chalking, crazing and fading. If red lenses appear pinkish or orangish when you hold them up to a strong light, instead of decidedly red, they need to be replaced, though if they're just faded and otherwise in good condition, you can re-redden them by spraying this transparent red paint on the inside(!) surface. Thin coats; don't under- or overdo it. Or, go to a theatrical supply house and pick up a sheet of Roscolux #26. This is the material used in front of stage and movie-set lights. It's a transparent, flexible, thin plastic that's easily cut with scissors or a box knife; use one of those tools to cut pieces of Roscolux to fit behind each faded lens.

Some lenses are more prone to deterioration than others; the '66 Valiant and Barracuda lenses tend to turn to white dust and the '64 Valiant lenses tend to develop melt-divots just above the bulb. New lenses can be had for virtually all the old Mopars without too much difficulty or expense.

Also clean the reflectors thoroughly, the same way (scrub with hot soapy water). Later-production cars have one-piece lens-and-reflector assemblies that can't be disassembled for cleaning and refurbishment. You can vigorously slosh hot soapy water in them and then rinse, and try to inspect the reflector. If it's dulled, your best move is to replace the assembly, though sometimes that's not possible or affordable. If you're clever you may figure out a way to disassemble it and then reassemble it satisfactorily.

Clean the front park/turn and rear brake/tail/turn lamp lenses in hot soapy water, if they're dirty inside. If the reflector bowls behind the bulbs (as applicable) are at all dull or peeling, stuff wads of masking tape in the bulb holes (or remove the sockets if they're the removable type), clean the reflectors with alcohol, then paint them with _Ceiling White_ paint (specifically! Not just any old white paint; go to a paint store and get Ceiling White), which is practically ideal for the task—yes, even if the original material on the reflector bowls was more of a silvery stuff. An example is 'Ceiling Bright White' from Sherwin-Williams; they'll mix it up for you as a polyurethane-based paint on request. It's water-based, so it won't stink up the place and it's easy to apply and clean up. Don't worry about the surface gloss (or not-gloss) of the ceiling white paint; surface gloss isn't the thing here (and a mirror-shiny reflector is not what's wanted here). "Chrome" spray paint is a fairly decent second preference, but the white works better; it has 90-some-odd-percent reflectivity of incident light with broad diffusion. You might take a look at this for a demonstration; he takes awhile to get to the point, but he eventually (3:24) he starts to get around to it, and the difference is pretty obvious even with a low-quality camera. And he just used regular white, not ceiling white; regular white looks dishwater-grey next to ceiling white.

Inspect the lens-to-reflector and housing-to-body gaskets. If they've deteriorated, new ones can be had from e.g. Quirey or DMT or other vendors.

Wiring and sockets
Inspect the sockets carefully. If the contacts have burned or corroded and/or the contact holder disc is rotten and/or the spring tension is no longer enough to hold the bulb securely, repair the socket. Socket repair pigtails (wire + spring + contacts + disc, easy to install) are available as follows (first number is NAPA Echlin, second number is Standard Motor Products):

LS 6451 or S60: Single contact w/rubber weatherseal
LS 6452 or S58: Double contact w/rubber weatherseal, holder disc index tab in line with contacts

LS 6226 or S23 : Single contact w/spring and backplate
LS 6228 or S24: Double contact w/spring and backplate, holder disc index tab in line with contacts
LS 6251 or S591: Double contact w/spring and backplate, holder disc index tab at 90° to contacts

Check the wiring, especially the grounds. It's very helpful to run a new main ground line from the engine compartment (battery negative, alternator housing, or attachment point of engine compartment ground strap) clear to the back of the car, where it can serve as the ground attachment point for all rear lights and other electrical stuff back there. You can pick up a lot of intensity and make the lamps come on much faster (shorter rise time for brake lights = more advance warning for following drivers) this way.

Bulbs
Original equipment bulbs on most pre-'66 cars was as follows:

1034: dual-filament park/turn and brake tail. Clear bulb for use with red rear or amber front lens.

1034A or 1034NA: dual-filament park/turn. Amber bulb for use with clear front lens.

1141 or 1073: single-filament bulb. Reversing/backup lights (and single-function—brake-only, turn-only—lights not frequently found on old Mopars).

About 1965, the 1034 was replaced by the 1157 and the 1073/1141 by the 1156. These 1150-series bulbs put out the same amount of light, but draw slightly more current and last quite a bit longer. When changing from 1034s to 1157s, often it was (and is) necessary to replace the turn signal flasher, because the original would flash too fast if used with 1157s. Nowtimes, it's difficult to find a flasher calibrated for 1034s.

So, what to use for upgrade bulbs? Well first, here's what NOT to use: 2057s! People sometimes assume that because it's a higher number, it's a brighter bulb. No. The difference between 1157 and 2057 is in the "minor" (dim parking or tail) filament. On the 2057, the dim filament produces 2 candlepower. On the 1157, the dim filament produces 3 candlepower. The difference doesn't sound like much, but it's very large as a percentage. Both 1157 and 2057 produce 32 candlepower from the bright (brake or turn) filament.

If you're sticking with incandescent filament bulbs—which is the smart thing to do—the best (by far) bulb you can use in place of 1034 or 1157 is a special Honda-spec bulb which 43 candlepower on the bright (brake or turn) filament, and 3.5 candlepower on the dim (tail or parking) filament. It also has a nickel-plated base that is much more corrosion resistant than the plain brass base of an 1157, so it's a lot less likely to corrode and freeze/stick in the socket. The single-filament version (best replacement for 1156, 1141 and 1073 in most applications) is also available and produces 45 candlepower; I keep these bulbs in stock. These bulbs are very expensive relative to the ordinary type, but they have a lot of premium technology and materials/build in them. Lifespan is double to triple, the workmanship is extremely good, and it's cheap insurance against a traffic crash.

For many backup/reverse lights, the best incandescent bulb is a special 35w halogen item producing 62 candlepower; I have these, too. Double the light of an 1156 and about triple the light of an 1141. The wattage increase is small (35W vs. 28W); the wires and lenses will not notice or care) and the filament is in the right place. Neither of these compliments can be said of those 50W halogen backup bulbs you see in the parts stores! 50W is wayy too much current draw (100% overload!) for the stock wiring and switch, they produce way too much heat for safety near plastic lenses, and the filament's in the wrong place so the reflector doesn't work correctly with them.

Amber bulbs are a special case. There's no amber equivalent of the special Honda bulb for use in park/turn lights that have clear lenses. The next best thing is a carefully-chosen 2357NA (there's a lot of junk on the market; I keep good ones in stock) which draws only slightly more current than an 1157 and produces 25% more light. They tend to blacken sooner than other bulbs if used in "bright" mode for prolonged periods (e.g. using a 2357 in brake lamp service). The 2357NA works fine in front park/turn service because turn signal service is short and intermittent, which limits bulb blackening and makes overall bulb life acceptable.

Put in a new-type turn signal flasher (2-prong like original; connect its ground wire conveniently). This will operate the brighter bulbs at the correct flash rate, and it has much lower internal resistance than the original type, for brighter turn signals.

The '68-'71 sidemarker lamps can be made about 3× brighter with Osram № 3886X bulbs (I stock these, too) which also fit directly in place of the 1895, 57, and 53 used in instrument cluster lights that take the metal bayonet-base bulbs. The '72-up sidemarker lights and '66-up instrument cluster lights take the all-glass wedge-base bulb. The Osram № 2886X is the one, about 3× brighter than a 194, 2× brighter than a 168. I've got these, too.

Flashing front sidemarkers
Another cool and useful (and legal) upgrade is to make the front amber sidemarker lights on '70-up cars do double-duty as turn signal blinkers so pedestrians, cyclists and drivers in the next lane or cross street can see you signalling. It's simple on '70-up cars to make the change, see here. It's not impossible on '68 cars, but it's harder because those sidemarkers use only one wire and get their ground via body sheetmetal. This can be worked around with a logic module.

3rd central brake light
This is actually a really good safety device, though there was no shortage of grumbling when it was first introduced in 1986 in North America. It lets drivers behind you see you apply the brake earlier, and lets the drivers behind *them* see you do it, too. This is especially valuable for cars that have small/dim brake lights...'71-'73 Darts, among others. See the Allpar article. From the '80s through the mid '90s, the market was flooded with cruddy retrofit kits that were of very poor quality, looked ugly and had failure-prone logic modules that allowed easy (but failure prone) hookup to cars like ours, which have the brake lamp and turn signal function combined in one lamp. Most of us probably remember seeing an older American car with one of these junk retrofits...they never worked right. They'd blink with the left or right signals, or they'd be on when the brakes were off and off when the brakes were on, etc. Yuck. A good center brake light works well and doesn't really detract from the appearance of the car, but proper installation requires running one new wire from the brake lamp switch to the back of the car. This isn't very hard, all it involves is the wire itself, a piggyback terminal and removal of the left sill plates (which exposes the channel through which all the front-to-rear wiring runs).

If you install a central 3rd brake light, don't fall for the idea of putting a gadget on it that makes it blink/flash/strobe/"pulse". These are out there on the aftermarket, hyped as a "safety" upgrade (with zero basis in actual fact) and it seems like a common-sense kind of thing, but these gadgets do the opposite of what is claimed. The reason why car signal lights are standardized in their color, position, operation, etc. is so they transmit a clear, immediate message to other drivers. If you monkey with the operation of a car signal light, you force the driver behind you to figure out what your car's lights are trying to say. It might "only" take a fraction of a second, but at speed a fraction of a second's hesitation in applying the brakes can easily make the difference between a horn-honk and a crash. Just don't!

LED retrofits

Most of what's on the market is unsafe junk. Unlike with filament bulbs, physical fit does not imply or guarantee optical compatibility and safe output. Whether or not they work OK is not a matter of peering at a light and going "Yep, looks nice and bright to me!". It's all objective and very detailed. There are specifications for minimum and maximum intensity, for each different function, through a large range of horizontal and vertical angles. That's to make sure that not only can the guy directly behind you see and recognise your brake lamps as brake lamps when he's sitting at about the same height as you, but so can the guy in the next lane over to the left, sitting down low in his Corvette...and so can the guy in the next lane over to the right, sitting way up high in his semi truck...and so can the guy on the on-ramp in his SUV. There are also specifications for the minimum intensity ratio, again through a large range of H and V angles, between functions that share a lit compartment (brake/tail, for instance, or park/turn). That's so that your taillamps can't be mistaken for brake lamps, or your brake lamps for taillamps. There are specifications for minimum projected active illuminated surface area, to make sure that the lamps, when lit, are "big" enough to do a reliable job of grabbing attention and quickly and accurately conveying the intended message. "Lights up red when I step on the brake" really is not good enough.

You'll need to carefully assess the performance of whatever LED bulbs you might decide to try in your particular lamps; LED bulbs, no matter what they look like, put out a different distribution of light than filament bulbs. That means unlike a filament bulb, physical fit of an LED bulb in a lamp does not necessarily mean it will work safely. Safety here means a lot more than just lighting up in the right colour, so it's important to evaluate the performance in the specific lamps on your car.

To do a reasonable visual evaluation, install one of the LED bulbs you want to test on one side of the vehicle, and a new specified-type filament bulb in the same lamp on the other side. Turn on the lamps with the vehicle out in bright daylight. Walk about 25 feet away from the vehicle and move in an arc (180°) from one side of the vehicle to the other, keeping both lamps in view to evaluate their relative visibility. Watch for how bright the lamps appear, the apparent size of the lit area, any "dropout" angles where the lamp appears to go dark, any "flash" angles where the lamp appears extra bright, shadows, etc. Then double your distance to the vehicle and walk back and forth again to compare the two sides.

Once it's dark out, move the vehicle about 5 feet away from a wall or garage door, at 90° (not crooked), turn on the lamps, and look at the apparent brightness and size of the patch of light shining on the wall from the two lamps, still with one new standard bulb and one of the LED bulbs you're testing. A handheld light meter goes a long way here, and free light meter/luxmeter apps are widely available for Android and iPhone.

If the light patch on the LED bulb's side is dimmer, if it's smaller, if there are dark streaks or shadows, if there are bright spots or streaks, if there's no coherent, more-or-less round or rectangular light patch but rather just a diffuse field of light, or if there are viewing angles where the LED bulb is less visible than the filament bulb, that LED bulb fails in that application. Of course, if you do see any shadows or bright spots or other artifacts, check to make sure the standard bulb doesn't have a comparable artifact on the other side. Also be sure to measure and visually compare (day and night) the apparent bright/dim ratio. Often an LED retrofit will have insufficient difference between the bright (brake or turn) and dim (tail or park) mode, which is very dangerous; it basically renders the lights useless for conveying the messages they're supposed to convey.

But wait, there's more! In many lamps, LED bulbs that fit don't work at all, because all the legitimate LED retrofit bulbs have only rear/side-facing emitters. That works in some lamps with a reflector bowl behind the bulb to gather and magnify the light, but there's a whole other kind of lamp that doesn't use (or doesn't only use) a reflector bowl. Instead, these lamps have Fresnel-type optics, the kind where the lens has a central magnifying area directly in line with the filament of the installed bulb, and spreader optics surrounding that magnifier. Often the magnifier is a round bullseye and the spreaders are a series of round prismatic rings surrounding the bullseye, but sometimes the magnifier is square or rectangular and the surrounding prisms are rectilinear. If there's no light directly out the front of the LED bulb, there will be minimal to zero output from the lamp.

(Philips used to make some excellent LED bulbs that did have significant frontward light, but they discontinued them and now they market two different product families, both of which are severely inferior to that first family. Which is unfortunate, but that's the world we live in.)

All that said, if you don't have the Fresnel-type lenses, the (only) legitimate ones to try are these:

• Red 1157
• Amber 1157
• White 1156
• Red 168 (side markers, etc)
• Amber 168 (side markers, plus I use these in instrument clusters because the yellow-amber colour means you can turn the dash lights up brighter without glare)
• White 168 (if ya gotta-just gotta)

Don't mess with "load resistors" (good way to louse up the reliability of the system), instead put in that new-type turn signal flasher linked above.

I guess that's enough rambling for now...if I've left anything out, I'm sure someone will ask about it.

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

THANKS Dan! Great Post! Very excited about the Honda Bulbs!


THIS SHOULD BE A STICKY!

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1964 Dart GT

And a big thanks from me too. The information you provide not only has helped me in correcting lighting issues but in upgrades/improvements that I didn't even know were available.

Thanks for all the great info Dan!

One further question I have is this. For those of us that use our trucks to tow trailers, are there any upgrades or tips we should use for the added lighting loads? Wiring upgrades needed or bulbs that may lessen the current draw?

Rick

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Glad to help out. Truth be told, in most cases I'd go for the linked Philips LEDs instead of the Honda bulbs. They cost more, but they're more cost-effective (never burn out, etc).

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

I would like to convert the single terminal B/U lights on my 65 Dart to function as amber turn signals. Can you recommend a LED or upgraded bulb?

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65 Dart station wagon slant 6 - now under construction
47 Dodge Custom 4 Door sedan
87 D100 Short Bed slant 6

Retired USAF 1966-1986
Retired US Postal Service 2004-2014

I experimented with exactly that on my own '65 years ago. The optics for a backup light aren't really the same as those for a turn signal; you'd want to pick up a sheet of diffuser material for in-ceiling fluorescent lights—this stuff with the 3/16" pointy prisms, cut a piece to fit exactly your reverse light lenses, and affix it to the inside of the lens.

Bulb: go with a 1295NA. Pretty much not possible to get a legitimate LED bulb that'll work even minimally well enough.

Wire 'em up Australian style to keep your backup light function while gaining the amber indicators.

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

The Philips LED 's are listed as coming from CANADA! Dan, can we trust Canadians? Thanks Again! Always appreciate your info.

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1964 Dart GT

Canada is an excellent 3 rd world country with multicoloured money and daytime running lights. All comedians are Canadian ....all Canadians are comedians. We say zed not zee. We have a 3 party Federal system. No Pistols, no lawsuits, no alligators. Kilometers , Kilograms , Kilobytes. Our leader is a hippie who boxes but our real boss is the Queen.....We have 3 coasts, 5 time zones and not one Interstate. You dont need a passport to come here...but you need one to leave. Loonies and Toonies. Our national symbol is a Beaver. Yes!....that kind of Beaver!

.......but untrustworthy. We tricked America into losing the last 2 wars with us.....and America hasnt tried again since. We sent you Justin Beiber and Celine Dion.....and now you have to keep them!

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Yeah, what ⬆︎he⬆︎ said.

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

Any thought on this question Dan?

Thanks

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Any LED recommended for the inner 65 dart taillights that have a single filament?

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1965 Dart 110k, 225, Carter BBD Super Six, 2 1/4 single exh., sbp manual scarebird front disc, 7 1/4 rear 2.94 sure grip, 14 x 4.5 OEM wheels, 833 OD with hyd. throwout bearing, HEI, electric fan, ram air/heated air, Accusump. http://plymouthcarclub.com/

Rick, If you use LED builds on the trailer, you will have very little additional load on the truck. I converted my trailer several years ago.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Thanks Charlie. Not to worry, the truck and trailer burned to the ground 18 months ago when I asked the question!! Just kidding of course.

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

There is no completely suitable (effective, safe, correct-intensity) LED bulb for the '65-'66 Dart inner tail lamp. For that matter, the correct incandescent bulb has grown very difficult to get hold of, too. There are many that will fit and light up, but most of them are either too bright (makes the inner taillight look like a brake light) or too dim (inner tail looks faulty versus outer tail). One thing you might try: see if the outer-type socket will fit the inner reflector, with this bulb or this bulb (specifically one of those, not another type) installed. If so, get another outer-type socket and tap its extra wire into the outer socket's bright-mode (brake/turn) wire. Do not use the common fold-over-and-crunch Scotchlok type taps. Use Posi-Taps (product here, review here). If you get the linked assortment, you'll surely find uses for them—they're one of those products that you buy for a particular project, but then other uses for them keep popping up in front of you once you have them.

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