Hello rawill,
First off - special bulb - ask Repco to look in their supplier's catalogue from Philips Lighting, I think it might just be in there.
If not, I suggest a visit to Jaycar Electronics (know them? I don't know if there's a branch close to you, try
www.jaycar.co.nz) for a white LED, the brightest they have (18000mcd?), and about a 420 ohm resistor to wire up in series (i.e. between the blue wire and the long leg of the LED. The short leg goes to ground (black wire). Being diodes, LEDs will only work when wired one way around. As for the resistor value to use, 370 should work, but best to be on the safe side, I have burnt out so many white LEDs - maybe buy a spare or two and a 560 ohm resistor as well... the higher the resistance, the (slightly) dimmer the LED, but the longer it will last.
The light from an LED is very directional, so there is absolutely no need for a 'magnifying glass' beam concentrator, and today's LEDs give a light approaching white (rather than bluish-white of 'white' LEDs a few years ago). LEDs are quite useless for replacing standard bulbs in most instrument panels, because they put all the light out the end and none out the sides. But fibre optics is one time when that characteristic works to your advantage - also, the whiteness of the switch legends makes them look pleasingly 'bright'.
Now, stopping dashboard squeaks. A technique used in more expensive cars is self-adhesive felt - similar idea to the blue tack but obviously black and furry so might stand out less. Actually, there is a bit of felt in the Uno as standard - on the ends of the dash roll. I discovered self-adhesive felt at Spotlight (a homeware and arts-and-crafts shop, again, hope there's a branch near you) - and Made in Italy, no less! Cheap-as, few dollars a sheet, looks exactly like the original (though, the original fades to brown in the sun).
Basically, you cut a little strip and put it along the edge of plastic items where they touch, or a square where a screw goes through, like where the instrument cluster base screws to the dashboard top. Another example - the hooks for the dashboard corners - replace the worn-out foam with a little square of felt. Works wonders.
Quicker than putting in bits of felt, and sometimes the only solution that will fit (switch pods, airvents), is to coat all touching surfaces with silicone grease - OR, I discovered recently, rubber grease is a cheaper substitute that works just as well and doesn't seem to harm plastic (it shouldn't, because it's designed not to harm plastic 'rubber' seals). Get a tube of rubber grease from an engineering shop (e.g. Blackwood Paykels - for some reason, the auto parts stores don't seem to sell it, though Supercheap has tiny overpriced sachets). A large tube should set you back about $15.
Really nice to avoid that 'creak' every time you throw a switch.
Steering column covers are another hotspot for creaks. There are so many things that deserve attention on the Uno.
I went for a long drive in my Alfa 164 today and for all my replacement felt and rubber grease, I was rewarded with a totally rattle-and-squeak-free drive. It was surreal, as quiet as a new car, maybe quieter (almost every car has some slight buzz or tick-tock noise). So I'm claiming victory on this one
Just not in my Uno... It was a lot better, but never perfect. Something that made a big difference in the Uno was putting a load of fibre-reinforced filler (bog) around the metal mounting sleeve for the stereo (mine's never coming out again...) That eliminates any movement (loud rattles) and reduces the flex in the plastic console - and solves the problem of cracks in the support frame, too. I find the heater-console jumps up and down vigorously in the Uno, so making it more solid and mounting it on felt helps a lot.
I found the doors of the Uno were a constant source of rattles and were not well soundproofed. There's lots of room for improvement, anyway...
-Alex
