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I like easy.
If you've been inside half as many C3 dashboards as I have, then you know what a pain in the *** the original single wire dash bulb sockets can become with age. The ground rings separate from the plastic housings and then to make matters 10 times worse, the bulb falls out, into the gauge cluster. Argh! If you've been there, you know what a pain this can be. Once the bulb falls into the cluster you'll never get it out without removing the entire cluster and turning it upside down to shake the bulb out. Of course you could just leave the bulb in there and try to ignore the rattling, but I really don't recommend this. When I was installing the new interior in my '73 I decided to address this issue for my speedo/tach cluster as a few of the sockets had already fallen apart. I ordered all new GM style sockets made by Dorman. A good company, been around for a hundred years. I replaced all the sockets on that cluster with new bulbs and installed the complete dash. When it was finished I closed the garage, turned out the lights and checked the new install. Well, you can imagine my disappointment when only half the lights lit up. I banged on the top dash pad and the non-working lights flickered on and off. I was F#*^#ing furious to say the least! I knew the problem was the offshore produced sockets. I tore the whole thing back down again, which you know is no small job. I found that the tin barrels inside about half of plastic sockets were ever so slightly cone shaped, so when you pushed the bulb into them, plunger became wedged in the very bottom of the socket causing the bulb electrode to lose contact. I made such an uproar about this through my supplier that I got a phone call from a rep at Dorman in Colmar, PA. to try and determine the issue. After all I couldn't be the only guy in America who had found this problem. Anyway, that didn't solve my immediate problem and nobody could offer any US made sockets and I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice. So I decided to upgrade the entire socket system with the two wire 194 bulb rubber sockets. I did this, it works perfect and I haven't had a hint of trouble, nor will anybody else in future when they remove the dash for any service work.
This week I had to remove my center cluster in order to remove my radio for some needed service work. All went well but when I was set to re-install the radio I noticed not just one, but two of the original single wire dash bulb sockets were now loose and flopping around....and yes the two bulbs had fallen inside the center cluster! See the above images. I knew what to do, so this time I took some pics to share so anybody else that wants/needs can do this upgrade easily. First thing was to chop out the offenders. You can leave the Door Ajar, Seat Belt warning and Headlamp bulbs as they are. They use different sockets with different grounds and the bulbs are captured so they wan't fall apart like the dash bulb sockets do.
Ran over to the local parts store and grabbed another set of sockets and bulbs. These are all pretty inexpensive parts. These are the simple "push and turn" rubber sockets that fit practically everything a few years back and are readily available at any parts store. Here's the trick for a perfect fit. Take a razor or Exacto knife and trim two of the tabs off opposite sides of the socket. They are soft rubber and this material removes very easy. The two remaining tabs will give you a perfect, snug fit. Easy to pull out, push in to replace bulbs. A perfect fit. So I used simple butt connectors with shrink wrap. I gang connected the grounds in groups of three so they would fit the regular blue sized butt connector. Then added a lead to each of those two gang connectors and connected them together with one eye connector to use as the ground. The hot side I added the smaller red butt connectors to later be joined to the gray dash bulb wires. If you do this, when it's finished you should have something that looks like this. Don't forget to put the heat shrink in place BEFORE you install the butt connectors. OK, just for the record, it was only by pure chance that the smaller red heat shrink matched the red butt connectors and the larger blue heat shrink matched the blue connectors. I'm pretty weird about getting repairs correct but I'm not that ****. I attached the newly made ground lead to the under windshield header bar so there was enough length to remove the center cluster for service without having to undo any wiring. Crimped all six butt connectors (don't forget to replace the wiper switch socket as well) and finished up with the heat shrink tube.
Then hooked the battery back up and gave them a quick check. BINGO!
Pushed all the new sockets into place and hooked the gauge wiring back up. All ready for reinstall which went well. Completed and back in the race all in under two hours. Garage lights off for a check on the finished job.
All working and nice and bright. I know a lot of people are changing their lights to LED. I chose to stay with incandescent but this upgrade would be exactly the same if you decided to use LED bulbs in place of the 194's.
Cheers.
Greg, that is nice work. Thanks for sharing the info and parts needed, definitely on my short list of things to do to my car. Would you please post the Dorman lamp socket part number?
Thanks
Eddy
Last edited by 74_stingray; Sep 18, 2018 at 05:50 AM.
Eddy,
Yes, I should have mentioned the part number in my post. While these sockets are available from many different sources, by many manufacturers, I used the Dorman Part Number 85814.
If your local supplier does not carry this brand, any of the others would work just as well.
Greg
To each his own, but that was a lot of work, time and expense instead of just putting a drop of epoxy on each of the (2) tangs on that metal ring, then popping it back in the original socket to cure....
Actually it was not that much work, virtually no additional time and, like I said at the beginning, very little expense involved in this one. Of course, like you said, this job is not for everyone. The GM sockets are a known problem so I wanted to offer an alternative. I don't think I would trust the original single wire sockets again just by adding a dab of glue. But if that works for you, more power to you brother.
WELL, YOU DON'T HAVE TO YELL AT ME. Be defensive if you wish. I've fixed all of mine and they don't come apart anymore. Not saying your method won't work...it will. Just a lot more work and expense than necessary. Thought others might want to consider options.
Very well done and written,
I hate fooling with 40 plus year old brittle plastic that will just keep breaking,
I considered your fix but never got that far, coolness to see it trumps the old stuff by far...
Brother, what's with the troll show?
If you've spent any time at all on the internet, you'd know that ALL CAPS is yelling. I didn't do that.
"Thought others might want to consider options" Yes, that is the whole point of my post. I don't think I was being "defensive" when I replied to your less than positive reply. I offered up something for my my Corvette brothers, take it or leave it.
I see a lot of your posts are critical rather than constructive. I think this entire thread was a good show until you posted on it. If you don't agree with my info you're welcome to ignore my posts.
Thank you for the help and valuable input.
Very well done and written,
I hate fooling with 40 plus year old brittle plastic that will just keep breaking,
I considered your fix but never got that far, coolness to see it trumps the old stuff by far...
Easy Dash Bulb Socket Upgrade.
If you've been there, you know what a pain this can be.
