Sorry for the late post but here is my two cents. I did a lot of research into LED lighting when I got my first Volvo and witnessed first hand it's poor instrument panel lighting. I bought several small LED's as well a LED bulbs to replace some of the bulbs that lighted the cluster / clock. In the end I figured out that the old style bulbs still provided better lighting than the LED counterpart. LED are great for other uses but the shear fact that LED project their light in a small beam pattern rather then emitting the light in all directions it reflects around the gauge / clock. In the end I'm sure you won't be happy till you try LED's for yourself but I'd thought I would take the time to let you know to not get your hopes up on the fact that LED's provide BETTER LIGHTING because IMHO they are just to much money for to little light. Good Luck!

Sincerely,
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Julio Meza

1979 264GL B27F 124K --> BW55->M46, CLS, IPD Sway, 81+ Dash, Gauges

1979 262C B27F 159K --> Restore Project w/Possible V8

1984 245DL 211K -->Wifemobile

The clock seemed to be the hardest to read of all the gauges at night. You might improve it considerably following Volvodad's route of renewing the lamp and ensuring full voltage runs it.

Mine was already off the dimmer circuit. I thought I'd play with some of the sexy high output LEDs I had earlier bought from DigiKey. After using them in some other household lighting gizmos (those stupid caller id displays for instance) I figured they'd do well in the gauges. My results were poor, so I compromised by moving the standard incandescent lamp closer to the lucite light pipe around the instrument's face.

I've been opening them with a dremel cutoff wheel, although it was suggested by a respected fellow that was going about it the hard way; uncrimping the bezel was easier, and the aesthetic damage is hidden well by the plastic trim.

Click here to see some pics of the trouble I went to.

Easier to read now, but I know if my eyes were 20 years younger this would not be needed.

I've swapped seats until our basement looks like its furnished with Volvo. The passenger seats are always in good shape, everything about the bottoms identical to the drivers'. In fact it is really not that much trouble to swap the whole seat in if you don't mind patching the lumbar knob hole when reversing the mechanism. Best advice I've taken: get a new style grid and go one better, put a piece of carpet between it and the foam.

Have fun.

Yup, they are identical... maybe go to a junk yard, find a good Passenger seat and have two nice seats.
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwrd, two motorcycles, '85 Pickup: The Volvo is the newest vehicle I own. it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me

I've considered using a high intensity LED in the little gauges, but you pretty much have to cut the clock case or bezel to get it open. I've been thinking of installing a single LED in the stock bulb holder, just to see if it's any brighter. Of course, it would require a resistor somewhere in the wire to the light, but that's easy enough.

Actually, the bulb in my current clock is fairly bright, but this will probably get tried when I install the other 4 gauges.

And yes, you can swap the seat foam from one seat to the other.
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1991 245, 61k miles, looking for a 5 speed 92-93 245 cheap.

You could try wiring the clock lightbulb without going through the rheostat that controls the instrument light dimming. Just tap into the 12v source before the rheostat, and wire it to the clock.

Greg
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http://home.earthlink.net/~greg.wong/

I asked this question in a thread back in (I think) February with many useful replies. Search on "small clock". In the end, I took the easy way out and installed a fresh 1.2W bulb, and jumpered its terminal to the input (Red/White wires) of the instrument light rheostat so it gets full system voltage at all times that the light switch is on. My poking around with a voltmeter revealed a significant voltage drop across the rheostat even in its "max brightness" position so I bypassed it. My clock is much brighter now - not great, but OK.
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Bob (81-244GL B21F, 83-244DL B23F, 94-944 B230FD; plus grocery-getter Dodge minivan, MGB, and numerous old motorcycles)

I tried to cut thru the casing using a saw. The filings collected on the geras and that was pretty much the end of it. Well, the clock never kept time to begin with, so not a big loss! It's a PITA, IMO. Maybe others may hopefully have better advise.

As for the seat, answer is yes. My buddy this this in his car, except, I think his seats were cloth.

Cheers
Raj
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90 BMW 325is, 98 BMW 528i, 90 Volvo 240DL