[78 & 80 Cobra]

I don't have any dash lights on the right side ( fuel . temp ect ) on my 78 cobra II I think it needs new light bulbs. can anyone tell me the easy or the best way to get at the lights to change the bulbs.

[Jthunder]

You have to take the dash out to get to them.

[mustangiighia]

It is very easy to change the bulbs all you need to do is take the headlight switch out then take the screws out of the cluster panel then remove that and then just take the screws out of the cluster and unhook the wires to it and remove the cluster then just change your bulbs. It is easy won't take no time at all. If you get stuck just go to autozone or something and buy a haynes book it tells you all the steps.

[78CobraII]

Theoretically someone with Very small hands could reach up behind the dash and remove the sockets. They just twist into the backplane of the instrument cluster with a 1/4 turn. The sockets do not have wires attached, so they will come completely out with the 1/4 turn twist.

However, I would not do this...I would follow the above instruction to remove the entire instrument cluster for the following reasons:

-In many cases the plastic of the instrument cluster blackplane is fragile.
-There are lots of sharp rusty edges under your dash.
-The problem may be with the plastic/foil instrument circuit film.
-Did I mention that the plastic of the instrument panel may be fragile?

On my old '76 hatch, I used plastic model glue to build up the back of the instrument panel so that the twist in sockets would make good contact with the circuit. Last year when I disassembled that car for the crusher, the instrument cluster crumbled to dust when I tried to remove it.

So, be careful...