Speedometer light

[MarkR]

Anyone got a photo of the back side of a '55-'56 Astra-Dial control head / instruent cluster assembly to show where the sockets are for the speedometer light? I know it's backlit on my '55 Fairlane Victoria. I suspect there's an illustration of the back side of the cluster assembly in the '55 Ford Shop Manual.

Alan, Here’s a photo I took when I removed an untouched 55 dash for restoration 22 years ago. The two bulbs that illuminate the speedo, odometer and fuel and temp gauge are located either side of the large Phillips screw. The speedo cable has been unscrewed. I have more photos on floppy disks I’ll try to open.

[swatson999]

Wires labelled 19D and 19E in this



And another view showing the bulbs and where they go

[55blacktie]

Mark, if you have more photos of your 55 dash, could you post/PM? I'm working on the dash wiring of my 55.

Thanks

[RegM 56 T-Bird]

Man, that is much brighter than mine. I had her out the other evening after dark and the speedometer is lit up but not very bright. There appears to be a light on the odometer but not the speedometer. I wonder if the bulbs are not the right ones thus not producing enough light?

[55Greg&Amy]

Here’s my dash after installing LED’s. And what it looked like with the regular incandescent bulbs. The only drawback to LED’s is they are not dimmable but that doesn’t matter to me.

[RegM 56 T-Bird]

Even the regular lights in yours are much brighter than mine. I'll try a LED light when I get home in April.

[55blacktie]

Why didn't you use LEDs for the clock and tach?

I intend to use LEDs in my AutoMeter aftermarket gauges, only because I saw an AutoMeter gauge on ebay, the back of which had been scorched/melted by the incandescent bulb (at least that's what the seller claimed). Having converted my 55 to 12v, I did replace all of the 6v bulbs with 12v. The aftermarket gauges will supplement, not replace, the original gauges.

[RegM 56 T-Bird]

Does anyone have a photo or diagram of the back side of the 56 dash panel showing the speedometer lights?