The speedometer needle jiggles around untill it reaches 35 mph and then smooths out on my 1973 914,any ideas ?

Thanks Paul F.

When mine had this kind of problem it was due to grease inside the speedo that was coming from the cable. I had a leak at the angle drive on the tranny that was allowing tranny fluid to go into the cable. It wicked up the cable and into the speedo. To fix it I had to have a speedo shop clean out the speedo, replace the cable and fix the leak.

In the end I gave up on stock speedos and bought a VDO electronic speedo so that I can calibrate it to give me accurate readings regardless of what size tire I switch to.

Your cable has a kink in it. Not so much just the outside sheath, but the cable inside too.

You can go ahead and chase a number of other options, but they'll eventually lead to replacing the cable.

It's 30+ years old; replace it.

QUOTE (ThinAir914 @ Jun 7 2005, 09:01 AM)

In the end I gave up on stock speedos and bought a VDO electronic speedo so that I can calibrate it to give me accurate readings regardless of what size tire I switch to.

Is that a classic thread somewhere?




M

QUOTE (redshift @ Jun 7 2005, 04:31 PM)

QUOTE (ThinAir914 @ Jun 7 2005, 09:01 AM) In the end I gave up on stock speedos and bought a VDO electronic speedo so that I can calibrate it to give me accurate readings regardless of what size tire I switch to. Is that a classic thread somewhere? M

Nope. It was pre-914World.com. MidAmerica Motorworks has one in their catalog for VWs just to give you an example. Here is a copy of the installation instructions just to give you an idea of how it works.

My recollection is that I bought the VDO 4" speedo, the bought a GM sender like this and had a speedo shop make up a short cable to attach the sender to the angle drive gear.

North Hollywood Speedo carries the speedo and they have a page for the senders also, but no pricing listed. The VW kit is $200, but I've not seen the 4" speedo for a 914 in kit form.

Do a web search for "VDO Programmable Speedometer" and you'll probably find even more stuff.

It's an upgrade that I can definitely recommend!