The first paragraph of this pinned topic will be visible as a welcome message to all new visitors on your homepage. It’s important!
Edit this into a brief description of your community:
You may want to close this topic via the admin 
(at the upper right and bottom), so that replies don’t pile up on an announcement.
My dashboard is very dim. I can make it dimmer with the light dial, but not brighter. The shop manual for a 1973 XR7 calls for a Constant Voltage Regulator on the back of the dash panel. For the standard Cougar it is called an Instrument Voltage Regulator (with a Radio Choke). I have 1972 XR7, and I assume the shop manual would work for the 72’s. Any experience with this or thoughts? Am I looking at the wrong solution? Thanks.
That doesn’t effect the lights. It produces pulses of 12 volts that average to 5 volts over time. It only supplies power to the fuel temp and oil pressure gauges.
You can upgrade to LED type bulbs for a much brighter dash. Keep in mind that incandescent bulbs lose brightness over time. Just putting in new bulbs will help a lot. I have also found that the little bulb compartments get a layer of dust inside and cleaning them out can do wonders.