On 8/5/2026 at 6:49 AM, Warty said:

wasn’t planning on doing LEDs but I think I will if it will reduce load in fusebox and under dash wiring. That fuse box point is not the only heat problem I’ve seen in the wiring. I replaced the ammeter/alternator blade connectors already but…

I've done LED on all external lights. One thing I found is that LED bulb color should match the color of the lens it's going behind. This will give you maximum brightness. The other thing about going all LED is the reduced stress on your harness as this substantially reduces power draw.

Edited August 6Aug 6 by w3wilkes

On 8/5/2026 at 6:59 AM, SteveJ said:

The fuse for the radio is on the top right. It's on the same circuit as the blower motor. Put a 10A battery tender on the car and run the test again.

My maintainer was only 1a. New one is 10a and has a supply mode. With that on, neither hazards nor blower makes the radio turn off. Even when grounded to where it was, no dedicated ground wire. What does that mean?

52 minutes ago, Warty said:

My maintainer was only 1a. New one is 10a and has a supply mode. With that on, neither hazards nor blower makes the radio turn off. Even when grounded to where it was, no dedicated ground wire. What does that mean?

It means your battery isn't up to the task of powering those things at the same time. Before you're ready to fire up your engine, get your battery tested (and possibly replaced).

I have become a big fan of batteries from Rural king. Might be because our store is new but I can get good batteries cheaper there than I can at the auto parts store on my business account

On 8/6/2026 at 6:06 PM, SteveJ said:

It means your battery isn't up to the task of powering those things at the same time. Before you're ready to fire up your engine, get your battery tested (and possibly replaced).

Well that's a bummer. It's newly bought this summer. pfft.

I can't quite close this conversation, because I'm still waiting on the headlight upgrade harness from MSA, but I did replace all the (other) external lights with LEDs, and the dash gauge lights, heater control panel lights, etc. I'm not a huge fan of LEDs, but have to say these do look better (more readable!). Also, of course, reducing heat in this old car is #1.

It was a lot of light bulbs...

You may need electronic flashers for the turn signals and hazard lights after switching over to LEDs.

54 minutes ago, SteveJ said:

You may need electronic flashers for the turn signals and hazard lights after switching over to LEDs.

Yep once the last filament bulb came out the flashers stopped working. I forget what I ordered with the LEDs from Amazon but they worked fine. I pretty much ordered from your post about LEDs. A few links didn’t work anymore I had to do a little digging but everything looks great.