Seems there's been much talk lately about the accessory gauge sets that were available for 1972 and older 140/164 cars. Being that I have one of each, I thought I'd try to clarify the differences... Hope it helps...hope someone learns something new today. Heck, I did just when I was looking at the pictures as I typed....

Hopefully the link below will work...

Enjoy!
-Matt

http://fieldlines.com/matt/gauges.html

This is excellent! Thanks for creating this page.

I still haven't found replacement bulbs for the instruments in my GT cluster. I even went to the dealer, but they could only sell me similar ones that were a bit too long (and too dim when placed in the gauge). I have struck out with about 6 other autoparts stores (including Napa, who said they can't even order them anymore) as well.

I believe my bulbs have K5632 stampted on them and that converts to a T51 (or T52, I can't remember now) bulb, but nobody sells a T51 bulb and anything close is either too long or too wide. If anyone has a source for these bulbs, a part number, or even a phone number to a local autoparts store who sells them, I'd really appreciate it.

Darn...yesterday I went and installed my GT cluster in the 164 just yesterday without looking at the bulbs...and its too cold to crawl in and look again


But anyhow...I take it you are looking for the ones to back light the gauges? (rather than the dummy lights?) Man, those look pretty darn standard to me.... One thing to check first though...are you sure the bulbs are bad? Mine didn't come on during my preliminary tests, but that turned out to be the dash light dimmer swith at the bottom middle of the cluster. There are 3 wires hooked to it...2 red, and 1 green. Just hook all 3 of them wires together and test again. You can do that by simply crossing the red ones with a screwdriver. Make sure teh cluster is grounded and the parking lights are on. Or do the same think with a bulb out of the gauge and its housing grounded. That should get them to come on. In the end, I just bypassed the dimming switch all together, so the dash lights are at full bright all the time. They are admittedly very dim and hard to see if they are on during the day, but are fine at night.

If the bulbs are indeed the culprit, try the accessory lighting department at your hardware store...Overhead cab lights for trucks...stuff like that. It's a pretty standard size bulb...all you need to find is the right wattage.. probably 5 watt or less.

I'll check the rallye cluster as well...I expect those ones would be the same. Maybe I can ID the wattage...

-Matt

Thanks, I tested the lights when I got the cluster and 3 of them are burned out (you can see the filament broken inside the glass). Yes, they are the ones for the backlighting of the instruments, not the idiot lights. They look standard, but the glass dome is very small and the sides are tapered to match the case so they can slide into the metal connector sleeves, which makes them unique. They have 12v stamped on them, I didn't see a wattage rating, but the bulbs I got from the dealer were dimmer (also rated at 12v), which may be due to the glass dome being longer then it's supposed to be. All of the lights work in my cluster now, but only the original bulbs offer the type of brightness they should. The others are about half as bright.

I haven't tried a lighting store, but even an electrionics store couldn't offer me a replacement. I'll keep looking. If you can tell me what type of bulb is in your Rallye dash gauges that may be helpful. Thanks.

I'd wager to guess that mine has replacement bulbs...they are somewhat dim, and I don't see any abnormal taper to the glass shape.

Have you tried any instrument/gauge rebuilding companies? I expect the VDO gauges are fairly standard in their hardware, so.... A gauge specialist might be the way to go...and there are plenty of there out there.

Keep us posted!
-Matt

Nicely done, Matt - thanks.

I notice that a custom 'hot rod' 544 dash that I built and sold at the Volvo Nats is on e-bay now. Check it out.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=601277152

--
142X, 544 still hanging in there

Wow Kermit...that's some nice work. If I had a nice 544....I'd be buying that! That thing would look right fine in a 544. Question is...why did you sell it in the first place? Aren't all us Volvo nuts packrats in keeping the rare and unusual bits...???

-Matt

Well, you know...that was a proto-type!

Actually I have given up my 544 project, and selling that separately was a better business decision.

The dash really is done right, that's all metal filler, and the radio and glove box are in the stock locations.

The difference you mentioned on the tach is quite easy to explain, the one with the redline at 6500 is for the 140, the one with 6000 is for the 164. Hope this clarifies it even more. Michael

Are you certain? I wouldn't know for sure, as the GT set was purchased on ebay, so I have no idea what its out of. If it is for a 164 though, it would be really cool, seeing as how I have a 164 with a non-working speedo that SHRIEKS when the cable is attached.... and considering the whole cluster is about to fall out anyhow....might as well...

Now, could someone help me a bit... I assume the is a "6cyl" marking on there somewhere. Anyone know where I'd look to be sure? Also, not that it matters much to me, but I'd like to see if the speedo ratios are the same. I assume there are marks somewhere on both the ribbon speedo and the GT set...? I guess I'll just have to take a closer look...

-Matt

On the back of a 6cyl Tach just above the wire plugs at the base it reads either 4zyl 4takt or 6zyl 4takt for 4 or 6 cylinder, respectively. All speedo's are the same, the drive gears on the tranny is what needs to be changed with a different ratio rear end.

All speedo's aren't the same. The speedo will have a W 0.94 or W 0.96 or W 0.98
or W 0.99 stamped into the casing for a 164. The 140's have W 1.03 and W 1.04.