on my 70 chevelle the ac heater control panel i put in a new light bulb but it doesnt light up the face plate. just a tiny bit. any one else have this problem? is it normal? i look in the spot where the bulb goes it looks like a box so i dont understand how the light is suppose to travel. thanks storm.

First off, the correct bulb is a type 1445, it isn't a very bright bulb, but it is like that to prevent melt-down of the bezel plastic. To really get an appreciation of how it works, go to a junk-yard and pull out an Ac/heat panel assembly. But, I'll try to describe it. The clear plastic lens with the writing on it is actually used as a "light pipe", that is it conducts light THRU it, not from behind it, causing the imprinted letters to illuminate. On the side of the lens (you can't see it when it's mounted) is the color filter, (green for '70, and blue for '71 and '72). The little bulb shines on the color filter and the lens is cut at a sharp angle in order to conduct the light.

Chances are there is a lot of soot and dust from years of operation causing obscuration of the len's edge and or the color filter. IF you don't want to disassemble the dash, take a can of canned air and carefully blow out the hole where the bulb goes in.

Joe

hello coppertop the bulb i took out was a 1895 so i put a new one in also i bought a new face plate with the black backing on it. maybe the angle is cut wrong? can i re cut it? thanks

coppertop i had an extra on in the shed i took it apart now i hope i still have the lense in mine since i replace the faceplate i also have to check and make sure the black paper is cut back far enough to uncover the lense. can you still buy the green lense in case i lost mine? i wont know until i go over to the garage tomorroew and look . the extra panel i have is blue 71 or 72. thanks

First off, get rid of the 1895, that bulb runs way to hot for that application. 1445 is the correct number.

I'm not aware if the green filter is available. It's basically just a little sliver of green translucent plastic. IF anyone would have something like that it would be a company called True Connections, since they have many lens repro's.

got to the garage today .the black backing was covering the translucent plastic spot, and the plastic fell off laying on the bottom of the dash. replaced that cut the black and bingo bright lights again. storm.