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Ok well I've been contemplating posting this for a while now. Since I do most of my driving at night, I couldn't help but notice the absence of an interior light in the na's. To be honest it wasn't a real worry until I found myself looking up addresses. My initial solution was to keep an led flash light in my glove box which worked quite well when I needed it.
I realised after my flash light had broken that something more permanent needed to be done. I've been tossing and turning over whether it's worth while wiring a home made interior light at the top of the a-pillar around the rear view mirror. It seems like a lot of work and I'm curious to see if any other frustrated night drivers had attempted this.
Granted, I could just buy another flashlight, but to be honest... I think I'd prefer to the car to come equipped with appropriate lighting. The nb has one located near the rear view mirror does it not? It's vague in my mind but I think I remember my friends old nb8a having one.

It'd be interesting to hear how people have dealt with this!

there is a red na6 in brisbane that lights up the night here
have seen it many time works great has two lights in top corner of wind screen

rwf wrote:there is a red na6 in brisbane that lights up the night here
have seen it many time works great has two lights in top corner of wind screen

Corners eh? I can't believe I didn't think of that... the only problem is the wiring though. Same with getting something to house the light in. I suppose on my way home from school tomorrow I can stop by jaycar and see if they have anything I can use. I'm not to so great with electronics so this will be an interesting project.
I'm not interesting in buying some fancy aftermarket thing because I'm sure I can diy this on the cheap.
Thanks heaps for the headsup. lol hopefully they are on this forum

Wouldn't be meanmx would it? Link
I think that ended up Queensland way, didn't it?

Either way, he was a user here used to have down lights in his NA.

There are map reading lights available which have a flexible arm and adjustable head. You can get one that fits into a power plug or one that you can hard wire. These can be taken out of the car when you sell it without leaving any trace. These lights are purpose built for reading. You get the light where you want it. Interior lights such as the one that fits in the vicinity of the rear vision mirror on the NB are only a courtesy light and not suitable for reading.

See my post on the big forum re my interior light installation. That was the best interior mod I did to my previous NA. Although I don't carry a Melway these days as I use my Blackberry with Google maps for navigation, those lights will come in handy when I have them installed in my SE. All you need is less than $30 worth of parts from Jaycar, a weeked afternoon and some 12v wiring skill. It's not really that hard. With care, the A-pillar panel can be removed easily for tucking in the wires. You need a torx tool to remove the softtop latch in order to remove the panel.

I've just installed a keyhole light in my SE just this weekend and I will install similar LED lights on the A-pillar soon.

Wuey wrote:See my post on the big forum re my interior light installation. That was the best interior mod I did to my previous NA. Although I don't carry a Melway these days as I use my Blackberry with Google maps for navigation, those lights will come in handy when I have them installed in my SE. All you need is less than $30 worth of parts from Jaycar, a weeked afternoon and some 12v wiring skill. It's not really that hard. With care, the A-pillar panel can be removed easily for tucking in the wires. You need a torx tool to remove the softtop latch in order to remove the panel.

I've just installed a keyhole light in my SE just this weekend and I will install similar LED lights on the A-pillar soon.

Hmm this sounds good so far! I see you live in Melbourne btw. Do you go to any meets like the garage cafe one for instance?

I haven't been to the garage cafe just yet. Wait till I have the lights installed on the A-pillars and I will give you a hoi re the garage cafe meet. While the NB has an overhead courtesy light and in my opinion is slightly better than the NA light, it still lacks enough illumination for map reading.

Wuey wrote:I haven't been to the garage cafe just yet. Wait till I have the lights installed on the A-pillars and I will give you a hoi re the garage cafe meet. While the NB has an overhead courtesy light and in my opinion is slightly better than the NA light, it still lacks enough illumination for map reading.

Sounds good!

The interior lights on NB's has a grey tinted cover, and if you remove it, you'll get a much stronger light inside the car.

Can't rmember if NA's also have a grey tinted cover over the interior light.

There are also interior lighting kits available for NA's and NB's, which place additional lights in the footwells.
Mania used to sell them.

There are also map lights which come on a bendy stalk that plug into the cig lighter socket.
These are quite good too.

Benny wrote:The interior lights on NB's has a grey tinted cover, and if you remove it, you'll get a much stronger light inside the car.

Can't rmember if NA's also have a grey tinted cover over the interior light.

There are also interior lighting kits available for NA's and NB's, which place additional lights in the footwells.
Mania used to sell them.

There are also map lights which come on a bendy stalk that plug into the cig lighter socket.
These are quite good too.

Yeah mine only has the footwell lights. I might try cleaning the covers and putting in stronger bulbs but ultimately it's not where I need the light. I'll look into a stalk light if possible. Would SuperCheap have that or just head to Kmart? I've sort of gone of Supercheap's sub par quality after a lot of stuff I've bought from there breaking but it's like a block away from my house so worth a try.

the standard interior light in the early cars ( and probably NC as well) is not for reading- only courtesy. You will find that the interior lights probably use a festoon and you will also not be able to buy one with higher wattage. This comes about thru standardisation. If you were able to put in a higher wattage it would generate more heat and it is very easy to melt a lense in such a small lamp. The lenses ( int lamps) are designed for aesthetics ie to diffuse light. Sure you can remove the lense- just like at home but it is not a good look.

If the ability to read is the intent then best buy a lamp made for this purpose. Hella have a few - cat nbrs 2630, 2632,2633,2636 & 2637. Incidentally the halogen reading lamps only use a 12V 5W mini halogen so this emphasises that it is not about high wattage. Narva will have some as well. You can check web sites or Bursons may have a catalogue which will have full details.

the interior light on the NB8A isn't too bad.

it's enough to read by (not perfect, but enough)


when it's still got the tinted cover on it's about the same as reading by candle light.
you can do it, but it's not perfect.