Speedometer differences

Kickstart · Post by **Kickstart** » Sat May 10, 2014 9:23 pm

Working on a basket case rebuild without at headlight/speedometer.

I purchased two speedometers off of ebay in hopes I can put together a nice one between the two.

Picture attached.

The one of the left looks correct and is in nice shape, except I assume something is very wrong with the the mechanism for the needle to be stuck where it is.

The one of the right was also advertised as a CL77 speedometer and it is the correct dimensions, but the needle doesn't look correct and it's in rough shape.

Questions are:

1. Is the one on the right in stock condition for a certain year or was it obviously rebuilt at some point?

2. Anyone know what the typical cause is for the problem with the mechanism for the speedo on the left?... and how difficult it is to fix?

Thanks!
Chris

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Sun May 11, 2014 1:20 am

Chris

There may be nothing wrong with the needle on the left other than the needle has slipped. Search on here for speedo restoration and you will find a number of discussions. The one on the right has a non-standard needle.

Have you tried spinning the input shaft of each with a small screwdriver or with a battery drill?

G

Kickstart · Post by **Kickstart** » Sun May 11, 2014 10:08 pm

G-Man wrote:Chris

There may be nothing wrong with the needle on the left other than the needle has slipped. Search on here for speedo restoration and you will find a number of discussions. The one on the right has a non-standard needle.

Have you tried spinning the input shaft of each with a small screwdriver or with a battery drill?

G

Ok... so I hooked up a cordless drill in reverse: The one with the correct needle would move, but not return. If I left the drill running it would completely loop over and over. I assume this means the spring is broken.

The one with the wrong needle seemed hard to turn. It would move but returned well bellow 0 MPH.

Is the fix for the one with a correct needle an easy fix (salvage parts from the one with the wrong needle?)... or should I just send it to Foreign Speedo Inc.?

Thanks,
Chris

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Mon May 12, 2014 12:51 pm

Chris

Pretty easy to fix that speedo by dismantling and carefully lubricating the mechanism or swapping the innards from a cosmetically damaged but working one.

You need to carefully prise up the bezel and then the innards are available for inspection. The "crazy needle" syndrome is caused in the beginning by the mechanism sticking through friction which is then overcome as the cable winds up. There are a couple of pics in this album and some good posts under "speedo restoration" on this forum.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/63154743@ ... 068179860/

G