Modern LED upgrade for a Classic Camaro

[Redfish Hunter]

My (unfortunately) ex-brother-in-law has a '68 Camaro SS that he drives fairly often. We were recently discussing the pathetically dim incandescent lighting on the car and how it was almost unsafe compared to a modern vehicle. We began to wonder what we could do to upgrade the lights while retaining the original lenses and the integrity of the car.

We started off by installing some LED 1157 replacement lamps in the running/brake/turn signal sockets and that was a nice improvement. Since he is a great friend and this is a great car I felt I could do better. A little internet research led me to Dakota Digital and $200 later a custom LED kit was on its way. A lot of money for basically two 1157 replacement bulbs but definitely money well spent.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words...

Our '68 Camaro Test Subject:



The lens and housing disassembled:



The very slick Dakota Digital LED next to the 1157 incandescent lamp. The aluminum mount clamps the "reflector" housing and is very secure.





The LEDs on the left, old incandescents on the right. The reverse lights were 1156 LED replacements. There was more difference than the pictures show.

 

[stevec677]

Looks nice. I just heard about a direct replacement bulb that doesn't need any additional wiring. They are called "Plasma".

 

[hppants]

That's a tasteful upgrade on a classic car. I've had the pleasure of see (and riding in) that particular vehicle. The color is gorgeous and it runs like a scalded ape, but I digress......

When the owner is not trying to restore the vehicle to a numbers matching museum piece, upgrades like this are a great enhancement, IMO. Well done, my friend.

 

[stevec677]

I agree, it looks like a real nice car. It's your car do what ever you want to, but can you straighten the gas cap, it's messing with my OCD.

 

[Bounce]

When the owner is not trying to restore the vehicle to a numbers matching museum piece, upgrades like this are a great enhancement, IMO. Well done, my friend.

He needs to index the SS cap.

 

[NTXFJR]

Great looking car. Ok, what's if got under the hood?

 

[Redfish Hunter]

I agree, it looks like a real nice car. It's your car do what ever you want to, but can you straighten the gas cap, it's messing with my OCD.

That is more involved than you would think.

When the owner is not trying to restore the vehicle to a numbers matching museum piece, upgrades like this are a great enhancement, IMO. Well done, my friend.

He needs to index the SS cap.

Again, that is a bit of a project. I am looking into it.

Great looking car. Ok, what's if got under the hood?

He has been slowly bringing it back to as close to the original condition as possible but it is not a matching serial number car. It was actually a museum piece before he bought it but it is closer to original now.

Except for the motor. It is a small block stroker motor, actually 388 CID. Crankshaft dynoed at 498 horsepower at 7300 rpm. With the factory original Muncie "Rock Crusher" 4 speed and 4:11 gears, it is a beast.

 

[Panman]

My son has a 69 Mustang Sports Roof, that would be a nice up grade to it. I don't know that you can disassemble the light housings like that tho on the tail light bucket.

Another up grade is to re-power the head lights as the old harness wiring is sized small. We are talking adding some relays and a more direct heavy gauge wire set up.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

Panman, the headlights are on my list but are a lower priority for now. I had not considered the wire size, that is a good tip. Thanks for that.

I went back this evening to clean up my wiring, and continue adding LED lamps. The car gets driven but it also gets entered in a few local shows so I want the wiring to be neat and tidy. We also want the car to look as factory original as possible, up to a point.

The original front run/park/turn signal lenses were semi clear. In order to make them legal we needed amber LED lamps. We had the same issue with the marker lamps on the lower front fenders. By using the Dakota Digital kit on the rear the car's original flasher unit would still work. I was about to install a "no load" flasher but it was not necessary.

The snout with the amber LED running lights:



The amber LEDs in the side markers really showed up through the clear/white lens:



And since I posted all of these other pics to illustrate our project, I might as well post a shot of the engine bay:



The car is dirty right now, it will look very different when cleaned up for a show.

 

[Bounce]

Photos tend to give you the "20 foot view" of a car but that looks very nice.

 

[gapiob]

very nice car!

 

[hppants]

Oh - it's a straight car. The paint job is very nice. I don't recall seeing any orange peel at all. The inevitable " '67-'69 back glass body cancer restoration" was done professionally. The interior is super tight. The gaskets and seals and details were not overlooked. No rattles detected.

It's just a really (REALLY) nice driver. Exactly how a classic American muscle car should be owned, IMO. Take her out on a good weather day every now and then and go play without fear.

 

[Panman]

When I first meet my wife back in 75 she had one, same color even! She was a bit of a wild child back then, scared the crap out of me a couple of times with that car.

We had a horse track out here called Longacres, she had a bumper sticker that read "Support Women's Sports Run Around with a Fast Filly". I should have known better.