Well last week, I removed the instrument cluster from my 126 because I couldn't see it very well at night. (I'm getting OLD and can't see as well as I used to). Checking the white plastic ligt guides, I found they were brown instead of white. I painted them bright gloss silver. I washed the clear light guides. I repaired and cleaned the reostat (sp?) and installed new 194 bulbs (I know, they put out too much heat and will melt plastic pieces. I don't drive much at night any more so hopefully it will be a while before I have any trouble. Also I have an extra set of white light guides and other parts from an old cluster.) I would estimate that the lights are atleast twice as bright as before. I believe if I had used the correct bulbs that it still would have been worth the trouble and it would have supplied much more light.

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84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)

Try using Sylvania 2821 bulbs. They are the correct wattage and since you cleaned the lighting channels, I'm sure the instrument illumination will still be a huge improvement compared to what it was before.