Anyone know what kind of dash lighting is in the speedo? I heard it was special and I can only find bulbs for turn signals and hi beams. Also some weird thing by the odometer with a white wire. I prefer not to let the smoke out of the box.
You better get a electro luminesance power box I will not try to elaborate as the knowit alls will jump my ass!
People refer to it as electro-luminescent. It's not really bulbs I don't think, not like a regular gauge cluster anyway. I've heard it runs off of a ballast, like a florescent fixture, so hopefully you got that piece if you're putting this into a custom. They are damn cool looking though.
This uses a transformer with ballast that takes your 12VDC input to 220VDC to run the dash lighting, to include the radio light. I PM'd you the number and name of a guy in OK that is the pro on this system, which was also used in the '66 - '67 Dodge Charger.
I would be intrested in his # if possible ? Got the whole dash hope the ballast is under dash? Thanks Bill
Was used in 57-60 Imperial also, I have a '60 Chrysler dash I pulled out complete to sell and a '58 Imperial I plan to do the same on and I still don't know what that unit looks like. Anyone have a pic of the transformer and ballast out of a car they can post?
A really cool dash, an ex sold a '62 newport for next to nothing. I told him he should take the headlights and a dash and save it for a custom... he didn't listen. I have heard that they are really hard to fix if the light goes out, something about a very small wire...
Jeff Carter of JC Auto restorations has been fixing the power supplies for these dashes for years. http://www.jcauto.com/services.html He also has an illustration of the power supply unit on the page for the Electroluminescent gauges. Instructions on how to remove and even a price list for services.
How do you get the cluster out? I cut the whole dash out of the '60 I parted out to get at the cluster from the back side, but I suppose in a junkyard that might not be as easy.
http://www.jcauto.com/services.html Right above your post I noted that there are directions on how to remove on this site
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