Howdy folks, I wanted to see if anyone has swapped there dash bulbs with success. I have the manual and have popped off the dash cap but there isnt enough room to remove the back panel the bulbs are pulled into. I have had the car for 30 plus years but finally some bulbs have went the way of the do do bird. Does the front panel need to be pulled?
Thanks a bundle! That is terrific I have had the car for 3 decades and ran into a fellow down my way here who has a literal warehouse full of Canadian Pontiacs( Mount Bridges) another Dave and he mentioned this forum when I came out here 2 years ago. I am a little late to the party but what a great site! Much appreciated for the shout out and will do some detective work on here:) Its funny I have had a Charger as long as the Pontiac and always dreaded dash work on it but my Pontiac has got me beat for sure. Beautiful ride by the way!!!
Thanks a bundle! That is terrific I have had the car for 3 decades and ran into a fellow down my way here who has a literal warehouse full of Canadian Pontiacs( Mount Bridges) another Dave and he mentioned this forum when I came out here 2 years ago. I am a little late to the party but what a great site! Much appreciated for the shout out and will do some detective work on here:) Its funny I have had a Charger as long as the Pontiac and always dreaded dash work on it but my Pontiac has got me beat for sure. Beautiful ride by the way!!!
Welcome here, and the Dave who steered you here is certainly a bona fide Pontiac nut!
Can you not access the sockets from underneath? On 66's I can just put my head on the floor mat and look/reach up to remove the sockets.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Thanks a bundle glad to be on board with you guys! You know Dave wow I walked into his shop and my wife says it best stopped dead in my tracks lol.He has some really rare Canadian Pontiacs I have never seen other then buried in the woods somewhere! I literally had sensory overload in there LOL. I had a peek up in there under the steering column, there is a plastic bracket that looks like its bolted in and holds all the bulbs in that housing. I have popped off the dash cap and tried to follow the manual i.e four bolts two on each end. It is amazing that I simply cant find any info to cross reference on this old girl. I wanted too if I could get the cluster out pop in the ammeter/voltmeter conversion I had done as well as a new clock I got back working but am having second thoughts lol
Your car is a Bonneville according to your profile, not sure if they have a different dash setup to the Cdn dash?
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
Howdy Don, yessir:) I think the cluster is the same as a Cat or a Parisienne. I plan on taking a stab at it again today will keep you posted! That is one beautiful car you have there 63 GP? If my wife would let me I have always wanted a super duty they are the stuff of legends.
Dave I have the feeling the US models are different vs the Canadian models. For sure they are in 1966 and a few years ago I pulled a factory gauge cluster from a 68 Bonneville. The back of it looked very different vs the back of the Canadian clusters.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I think your bang on the nose there! The good news is I have the bulbs out, dash cap, four bolts on the end's, speedo cable and two acorn bolts under the dash. I dropped the column slighty and I got the bulb panel off using a mirror and lots of pateince lol. Now I had a ammeter converted to a voltmeter and am just working out if I can just leave the ammeter leeds unhooked( they have a little keyway that plugs the gauge into the backplate. I imagine being a shunt ammeter I can just leave it unhooked with no adverse charging issues or am I barking up the wrong tree here? The voltmeter says to hook it up to the fuel gauge for the 12v feed now I just have to work out which lead on the fuel gauge is the correct one. I am going to pop led 194's across the board except for the high beam bulb which I will keep the old style as folks say they are too bright and will blind you. I am going to shoot some pics on reassembly and post on here just in case any other folks are driving around with a dash thats dim for sure. This car has never been a fight over the decades I have owned it but today made up for it lol
This is just a guess but most of the fuel gauges on Pontiacs (in Canada) from the 60's have a brown and a pink to the fuel gauge. The brown runs to the tank, the pink is the 12v power with the key on.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Hi Dave. Mine's a 67 Parisienne. I'm not as knowledgeable as most of the guys in this forum but here is what I can tell you from my personal experience. Not what you asked for but the light bulb for the radio is accessible through a hole over it which can be reached by the passenger side or if you need to play with the radio, there is a bolt accessible through the glove compartment.
The ignition bulb is accessible from underneath.
4 weeks ago I cleaned the clock and bulb. It is accessible from underneath and a good idea to pull it out and clean it if it stops working. This happened to me and I cleaned it in 2012. That lasted until last Fall so in January I pulled it out again, cleaned it and placed it back. works like a charm. 5 minutes to clean, 20 minutes to remove, 15 to put back (I had my son put it back because his hands are smaller than mine!!!)
I can see some of the bulbs of the instrument panel (but not all) from underneath the dash but remember mine is a Canadian car and differs from yours. I hope this can help.
That is amazing thanks so much I owe you a beer or two! That completes the mission inside the car. I finally bit the bullet and ordered a disc brake conversion for the fronts from a company out of the US called Rustic Quality Conversions to keep my 14 inch wheels and spindles. Next weekend will be the ticket and installing and will do a photo shoot for anyone looking to pop them on and keep the 14's. Super nice folks I was dealing with Brittany Weatherford and she had them out to me in 2 weeks, I think they are fairly new but I am sold for sure.https://rusticqualityconversions.com/
I did the fronts on my Charger last year but it was a Leeds kit for the 15's and even though the Bonne has never given me any trouble it was time. These days everyone drives to darn fast and the Bonne is the size of the Queen Mary and its always in the back of my mind if I will need to throw out the sea anchor:)
Heck any shout out with info is good for sure I appreciate your help!Thats good to know if I need to get back in there once its all battened back up, I swapped out my clock with one I had cleaned the points on but I amagine folks around here know alot more about them then I do but I love the old analog clocks and will be nice to see working again. The two bottom bolts were a bugger so I stuffed a bathroom mirror in behind and lit it up like Vegas but was a pickle as I am not the same shape I was 30 years ago!
I think our cars are nearly similar in many ways so you may be able to apply what I just did when its time to change your bulbs. Mine were gradually going down since the 90's and I feared the swap as the manual is very vague and fullsize Pontiac info is rare online. Great to meet another fullsize chap though I meant to join here many moons ago and am glad I finally got to do it!
Howdy Don, yessir:) I think the cluster is the same as a Cat or a Parisienne. I plan on taking a stab at it again today will keep you posted! That is one beautiful car you have there 63 GP? If my wife would let me I have always wanted a super duty they are the stuff of legends.
Nice to meet you!
its a a Parisienne Dave, I always liked that hood scoop and the look of it on the 63s, had one on my 62 Chev bubbletop too. These scoops are off ford heavy trucks. The best part ford ever made.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
It looks like after going over the dash in the Bonneville at least in this one the power wire was dark brown and the sending unit is tan. Prolly a little oddball being a US car at least my 67 Charger was built in Canada:)
