I thought I'd chime in on this thread with my LED lighting experience. After researching the LED light options, I decided to splurge on Sylvania bulbs for the dash after seeing some other people's experience with the cheaper kind burning out a lot. You can buy the high-end Sylvania bulbs for the dash and rear license area here:
http://www.amazon.com/SYLVANIA-2825-Premium-White-Miniature/dp/B00AIJY2ZMHere is a photo of my dash lit up at night, no assistance from street lights or otherwise. My signature has a photo of the license area under the same conditions.
(And incase someone is judging my mileage - it's a Canadian car so that's km's on the odometer and it's been around once; I replaced the face from an El Camino in a US junkyard when I relocated)
That one dead area in the gear indicator area is somewhat unavoidable due to the bulky indicator mechanism blocking even the brightest light almost completely. Still, never imagined my dash could be so brilliant.
Close to $100 in premium LED lightbulbs to do the dash and license area. The cheap bulbs with the multiple "light pads" on them might work for a time, though from what I hear, they're going to burn out on you in short order.
I hope this is useful info for someone!