Well I think I have found the solution for the dim dash lights.. Anyone ever seen these before much less used them? http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Finstrument.html Pics taken from superbrightleds.com
There's only three bulbs back there that provide illumination, all the others are "info" lights so the LED doesn't come into play too often. This thread has some pics and a little more info. http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=59816 I'm the one that went with the 5W5's (or W5w's) but then painted the interior of the cluster white. Huge difference and still has the old school warm incandescent color but only lots brighter. I've seen some photos of dashes with LED's that went with white face or really tricked out gauges and they looked great as well.
I may be odd, but I don't like bright dash lights. I can't see outside when the dash lights are bright, they blind me. Lots of new cars have too many bright dash lights and hurt my eyes at night. I'll take my old dim Maverick lights any day or night. May also be an old guy thing, eyes are not as good as they once were....
The trick to using LEDS is to use green LEDS not white. I redid my cluster with about 10 green LEDS and looks awesome. It keeps the orignal look and makes everything brighter and crisper without giving you that reflection light that blinds you sometimes at night. The best thing I like about using the green leds is that I was able to get a perfectly even lighting all the way around the speedometer, rather than stock which looks like patchy lighting. Maybe I will post some photos
I went with white face gauges and painted my cluster interior white and like Indyman13 say's; made a huge difference. I love the difference the painted cluster made. I originally just put the white face overlays in and thought that wud be enough - but it was'nt. So, I removed the cluster a second time just to paint the cluster - It was well worth the effort. I used stock replacement bulbs and have the cluster dimmer @ 50-60% most of the time. If I go to rural areas where it's very dark I usually lower them below 50%. I am a believer in the painted cluster. Before I made these upgrades I had to use a flashlight to see how much fuel I had and guess what how fast I was going.