Pretty nice looking car, dinghyguy!
I like blue!
Todd.

Happy new year to you all

So Santa brought me a few things, including some LEDS for the interior light. Well I finally got some time to work on the car a bit and so down to the dungeon I went.

first picture is the "shop" after organizing. The soldering equipment and meter are not shown, but the basic mechanical tools, timing light, jack and jackstands, plus assorted fluids are all there (oh and not to forget the pipe "extension") .


next I removed the Fiber optic light and replaced it with the LED
Before


After


What a change, and the LEDS are dimmable, so the rheostat works fine. Yea. started on the dash, but that is to come.

One question, are there actually supposed to be 4 lit spots? Oh and only after I installed the LED did I realize that the def switch is lit!

all for now,
dinghyguy in the dungeon

Great improvement
Shouldn't the top one say "Less Heat"?

hi Spiderdan,

congrats on Angelina being almost as old as you.....and perhaps better looking!
After I installed the LED I noticed that there are red and blue triangles on the heat so for those of you in Ottawa I assume that means cold and colder.....

Interestingly I replaced the courtesy light with a 6 LED array and while slightly cooler color and definitely cooler physically the brightness was not as dramatic as changing the 194 bulbs to LED. My before and after pix of the courtesy light were not dramatic at all.

cheers from the dungeon
dinghyguy

The red and blue triangles are "ideograms" (as I recall). The idea is the small end of the triangle means no heat (red) or no air flow (blue). The triangles are oriented to show how pushing the lever towards or away from the point of the triangle will either increase or decrease heat or air flow.

So: The blue triangle (at the front of the far left control) has the small point at the front of the car. So if you push the lever all the way to the front of the car (down) you get a "small" amount (0) of air flow. If you pull the lever up toward the back of the car and the large part of the triangle, you get a "large" amount of air flow.

The red triangle (at the back of middle control) has the small point at the back of the car. So if you pull this lever all the way up, you get a "small" amount of heat, and if you push it all the way down (toward the front of the car) you get a "large" amount of heat because that's where the large end of the triangle is.

The single lever without a triangle determines if the heat will go to your feet (when down to the front of the car) or to the dash vents where it can defrost the windshield (when pulled up).

What could be more intuitive? You just need to learn to "think Italian".

Peace.
Out.

Latest report from the dungeon,

first picture is the goodies santa fiat brought this year. The book is very informative I must say I recommend for anyone new to these cars.



Her is the dash gauges at full brightness after tunning up all the connections and the rheostat. It was not bright enough to easily read at night on a well lit shopping street, but OK on the highway.



and after the LEDS are installed. Dimmable too. a major upgrade.



and after the beauty rings were added, not sure I like the wide alum look but we shall see....



I also changed out the annoying door seatbelt buzzer for a bell from a later model fiat. Much improved. You can see the bell in the first picture. Next is the shifter kit to get rid of the rattle there, plus the chrom trim for the footwell storage compartments.

all for now from the dungeon
dinghyguy

I like the lights, but I think the beefy rings are well, too beefy. I prefer the stock sized rings. I will be doing the LED upgrade on lights (except the charge light for the alternator which depends on an incandescent).

Lights look fantastic! With the headlight relay and the dash LEDs, night driving is a blast. I'm still not sure how visible I am from behind though... Thanks for posting the pics.

I have to track down the light for the fiber optics. Where is that light located and what replacement LED did you use for it?

Peace.
Out.

Sorry for the delay, I was away
The light is under the dash just near the ignition switch, ina silver tube
Mine used a 194 bulb same as the dash light
I put in a 5 led 194 equivalent from super bright, a
Same as all the dash lights

Hope that helps
Dinghyguy
In the dungeon

Hi all a question about locks
I have one key which fits trunk and glove box and a second that fits a door
The shape not just the teeth of the keys are different. The keys do not fit in the other locks

So my question is, should 1 key fit all locks ?

Ignition is different again which is fine

Thanks in advance

Dinghyguy

mamsterla wrote:I like the lights, but I think the beefy rings are well, too beefy. I prefer the stock sized rings. I will be doing the LED upgrade on lights (except the charge light for the alternator which depends on an incandescent).

Have a question about this: I recently swapped out all my dash lights or LEDs. My red alternator light (the one on the tachometer) is constantly on when the car runs. Shouldn't this only be lit when the key is on and the engine is not running?

How do you mean that this one depends on an incandescent bulb?

Hi Northern Otter,

When I was researching the LED conversion I found the following in one thread:

"2. The Alternator bulb should probably stay conventional. That circuit works on a differential of voltage across both sides of the bulb. An LED will definitely work if there is zero output from the alternator. However, if the alternator output is low or high with the engine running, then chances are you'll never know it with an LED bulb in place. With a conventional bulb you could probably at least see a glow. A conventional bulb is what I've switched back to."

This made sense to me. In another post I found this:

"Incidentally, I also switched my alternator indicator bulb back to a standard bulb for the reasons mentioned by James."

So after reading that, and not wanting to cause more issues than already exist in a fiats wiring I left that one incandescent (and now after the LED work I have lots of spares).

Incidentally, I have not found a LED for the tiny bulb in the hazard switch, did you change that one too? If so what did you use?

cheers
Dinghyguy

I'll switch it back to conventional and see if there is a difference. I suspect I have some wiring issues to sort anyways, as a few of my dials do not light up.

My LED bulb does actually dim a bit, but it's more in relation to the engine speed - if the engine is warming up and slightly sputtering, the LED will weaken in sync. I'm more concerned about why it is on when the engine is on if it's only supposed to activate when the battery is not being recharged...

I did not replace the hazard light as of yet. I need to look at the fuses and wiring as my hazards no longer work, even though my turn signals do. Nothing major, as my main lights, signals, and brake lights all function well.

hi all a spectacular weekend here in Vancouver, drove the car everywhere the last two days, which led to the following questions:

Does an old wood steering wheel of earlier versions fit the 1979 steering columns? If so what is a good price for a steering wheel?

How do people keep the sun visors from falling down (without removing them entirely from the car)?

dinghyguy,
briefly out, but back in the dungeon

Wife bought this for me for xmas for my 82. $200 from Allisons. Very nice quality took 3 minutes to install