Captain Obvious

You're welcome. Now every time you're driving at night, all you're gonna see is that dead spot. Fix it... You know you want to!!

I've got a couple other camera options and when I get a chance, I'll snap some shots with other cameras. Right now my car is still in pieces. The good weather snuck up on me and I started too many off-season projects this time! About the brightness... Not only did I remove the top LED (which really helped combat hot-spots right next to the bulbs), but I also installed resistors to cut the brightness down even more. I doubt other people would go through that extra work of putting resistors in though. I do recommend removing the top emitter. I don't recommend going through all the effort of putting resistors inside unless you've got a screw loose. I found that installing LED's is easy. The majority of my effort wasn't putting LED's in... It was in getting LED's to look "right". And be brightness matched to each other. And have even light dispersion without hot-spots. And without a haloing ring around the entire gauge because they are so durn bright. Devil is in the details and that's where most of the difficult effort was.

I've tried and tried to get good pics of my dash lighting, but I've not had good luck. A variety of issues have prevented me from getting a good representative shot. My idiot-proof camera automatically compensates for the light changes, etc.. I think they look absolutely phenomenal in person, but "just OK" in the pics. I'll post the best I have. They look too dim in the pics. They're not. They look greenish in the pics. They're not. Everything is fuzzy in the pics and that's my camera adjusting for the lack of light. Here's the whole dash at the brightness at which I drive. Most people seem to want way brighter than stock retina burning brightness, but I just wanted "whiter at and a little brighter than stock". This is how I drive, which is about two-thirds brightness. Also note that I've still got a little bit of a hotspot at the bulb end of the HVAC controls: Here's a closeup of the three smaller gauges at my typical 2/3 brightness: Here's those same three gauges at full brightness: And here's the speedo and tach at full bright. Note the third LED in the speedo completely eliminates that 80-90 mph dark spot!!: I'd be happy to have someone who knows what they're really doing with a camera take better shots!!

Boy I would sure love to be there the day that thing hit the road for the very first time!!

Haha!! As I remember, I made more than one. Sure would be nice to know how the other one works....??

I used warm white everywhere and I removed all the green lenses. Gauges: I used the 5-emitter tower design with the top emitters removed to improve the light dispersion and reduce hot spots. I also added series resistors to cut the brightness down (240 Ohm for everything except for the clock in which I used a 150 Ohm). I also added a third bulb to the speedo housing to improve the dead spot in the upper right two oclock area. HVAC Panel: I used a paddlewheel design with a 1K series resistor. I also refreshed the interior of the light box with a coat of white paint to clean up the yellowing plastic. I also inserted some aluminum reflective tape inside to improve light dispersion and reduce the hot spot at the bulb end. Dimmer: I installed a PWM dimmer instead of the original rheostat. Works full range of brightness. I'm still running an incandescent in my HAZARD switch, although since I'm running a three wire dimmer module, I could change that out as well without losing dimming function. Here's some summary pics of what I did. Dash bulbs (only seven towers shown because I added the third speedo bulb later) and the HVAC paddlewheel. Additional details on page 5 of this thread: PWM dimmer (additional details here: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/52446-pulse-width-modulated-pwm-dimmer-control-upgrade/ ): Third speedo bulb. Don't think I ever posted these before. New bulb location near 80 mph: Hole drilled without bulb installed. Note the dark dead spot in the upper right: Bulb installed showing removal of the dead spot in the upper right. It's awesome!!:

Yeah, I don't really have an irresistible primal urge to see the Alamo, but figuring I'm going to be so close (compared to where I usually am), it's on the list of things I should do just to be able to say "I saw that." Really looking forward to seeing you again as well bud!

I always wondered if downdraft carbs were more prone to that due to sitting on top of the manifold with all that heat rising.

Haha!! I know Mike! In my own mind, I expanded the topic to "Things not to do while in Texas at ZCON". On a related note... I am hoping to take a side trip to San Antonio to see the Alamo. That's why I researched what not to do there...

Wait.... I did a little digging, and I thought drinking rule #1 was don't do an Ozzy impression and get drunk and wizz on the Alamo. (Or the statue across the street...)

And forgot... It looks like the 280 is different than the 240, but I'm using one of these for my map light, and I love it. Details here: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/37915-sold-on-leds/?page=7#comment-492975

I put in a LED dome light a couple years ago and I love it. Details here: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/41585-interior-bulb-replacements/#comment-454583

Always! So I wasn't there when they designed the thing, but my read on the thread directions is just to make it more "intuitive" to set the alignment. I don't think it's an accidental loosening thing like they sometimes do with lug nuts.

Swing through Philly and pick me up on your way south! I'll be your wing man!

What he said. When the switch is OFF, G connects to G/Y. When the switch is ON, the other three* signal wires all get connected together (G/B, G/R, and G/L all connected together). * The other two wires (G/W and R/L) are for the illumination lamp inside the switch and have no impact on any function other than making the switch glow when you turn on the lights.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about the location of the washer. Doesn't seem quite right regardless of which side of the clip you put it, but not having ever messed with one, I defer to your notes. Good luck with the reassembly and remember that there has to be an easy way because they sure didn't spend a whole lot of time on it at the factory. There is a trick or a tool. You just have to figure out what that is. Wait a minute... Are you calling us all irrational?

Not having the assy in my hands to take measurements, I'm clearly guessing, but... How about a piece of thin walled tubing where the OD is a slip fit down into the body of the valve where the spring and snap ring goes, and ID is as small as you dare to compress the snap ring. Compress the snap ring and place it into the ID of the tubing. Put the spring into place. Push the tube down into the hole compressing the spring. And then use a rod to push the snap ring out of the end of the tubing into the groove. You could even make sure you drop the ring into place a little beyond the groove, and the spring will push it back out until it snaps into place? The concept is kinda like a piston ring compressor keeps the ring compressed until you get it into the bore? A piece of thin walled tube to keep the snap ring compressed until you get it down into the bore. One last thing... You said the pic is the order the parts came out. Are you sure about the location of the washer? Not saying it never happens, but it's unusual to have a spring riding against a snap ring like that. I would have expected the washer to be between the spring and the clip. Again, not having ever seen one before, I'm just guessing here.

So THAT'S what happened to my car!!!

Done. You did great!!

I would be happy to be proven wrong, but I highly doubt the cork would be robust enough without a top covering of something else.

Looks great so far. I hope the leather work goes well. I had one (non-Z) steering wheel reupholstered in my past. I didn't do it myself and I found it hard to find people who still do that kind of work.

SWMBO is in Orlando this week, but no... I wasn't invited this time. We could have had a convoy from Orlando to Boca!

Excellent! Bet you can't wait till it gets to you and you get that first drive!!

It's not as simple as saying "Fits 280's". The 77-78 doors are significantly different than anything prior, and I believe that affects the door cards as well. If there are no holes or other features punched, it might not matter, but there might be other issues.