Annunciator bulb replacement

[2rsq24]

Somewhere in a retirement home far, far away, there's a former Mooney electrical engineer snickering in maniacal celebration at the prospect of some unsuspecting M20F owner encountering this.  A seemingly innocuous task, changing a simple indicator bulb,  front and center on the panel. This is pure evil at its finest.

After pulling off the lens, which was only 2 screws leading me or anyone to believe this was gonna be a piece of cake, the bulb was revealed in all its glory. All the while laughing at me, daring me to take it out. Not so fast. 

Endless research online via YouTube, forums, etc was useless. Lots of claims of  "just pull it straight out" and "might just need some lubrication"  and "it slides out easily from the back", and....

It was only after some reverse engineering with the aid of high powered reading glasses and a super-sized flashlight that led to the solution. The pics below tell the story, posted here to save someone else's blood pressure.  If you have a 1970 M20F, you're in for a treat. 

And to that sinister Mooney engineer, mission accomplished sir.

[PT20J]

Looks like a Sloan 855S-O-U lamp receptacle. Kind of chewed up. Might be worth replacing it with a new one. 
https://lasar.com/lights/receptacle-map-light-yoke-a55s-o-u-855s-0-u

 

[MikeOH]

44 minutes ago, PT20J said:

Looks like a Sloan 855S-O-U lamp receptacle. Kind of chewed up. Might be worth replacing it with a new one. 
https://lasar.com/lights/receptacle-map-light-yoke-a55s-o-u-855s-0-u

 

Says "No Longer Available"...which complicates replacing 'with new' somewhat

[BrianWilkins]

Mine are literally falling apart and I’ve looked everywhere for something that’s STC’d but no luck. My current thinking is that since it would not be a major alteration, lights like these should suffice. I am sure opinions will vary on the legality. 
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/lsdimled.php

[N201MKTurbo]

20 minutes ago, BrianWilkins said:

Mine are literally falling apart and I’ve looked everywhere for something that’s STC’d but no luck. My current thinking is that since it would not be a major alteration, lights like these should suffice. I am sure opinions will vary on the legality. 
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/lsdimled.php

You should look for guidance in 43.13-2B

[N201MKTurbo]

https://us.rs-online.com/product/sloanled/855-si/70015140/

It seems the company is still around. The trouble is finding one. The link above says they are orderable. 

[BrianWilkins]

13 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

You should look for guidance in 43.13-2B

I don’t see anything in there that’s relevant, but AC20-62E seems somewhat applicable. I think the bottom line (at least for me) is 1) could I make a case in court for my actions by proving that what I did was in the best interest of safety, didn’t affect flight characteristics, I didn’t have any other certified options, etc. and 2) do I have an A&P willing to sign it off in the logbook. In this case, I think I’m covered, so will likely use the new LEDs. 

[PT20J]

https://sloanled.com/downloads/SloanLEDPanelMountIndicatorLightingCatalog.pdf

Replacing a standard commercial electrical component with an equivalent standard commercial electrical component would seem to be a minor modification under current FAA legal interpretations.