The Dumbest Piece Of Rhe Design So Far!

[Guest boggie]

Please somebody help! I have just come in from the second night trying to replace the speedo cable on my Exmo. After 3 years of trying to find the spare time to get the car back on the road I am finally there, MOT booked for Saturday AM. That is as long as I can change this damn speedo cable!!! Sounds simple doesn't it? Read on....

 

The old cable although only 9K miles old has broken due, I suspect, to the fact that the cable is forced into a 2.5” radius as soon as it leaves the box (I have been told 6" is the minimum). So I have a new one here and would dearly like to fit it but I find that rather cleverly Richard has hidden the gearbox end deep inside an enclosed transmission tunnel. So after trawling the forum I find the only way around this engineering oversight is to cut an access hole in the tunnel. This I have done, carefully (and painfully) drilling and cutting a 3” square hole, as low as I can, centred around the speedo cable end. Now all I have to do is to remove the circlip that holds the cable in place and fit the new one! That was about 3 hours ago and the cable is still in place!!

 

The problem I have is that the speedo drive is angled down by about 30 degrees and the circlip holes are at the bottom. So I have the problem of not only needing a pair of circlip pliers with a very long nose and a 30 degree bend but due to the fact that the cable is angled down and the holes directly at the bottom, I need to straddle the cable (IE I have to remove the circlip by gripping it from either side of the cable). To top it off I need to perform this operation whilst viewing through a small, angled, telescopic mirror held through the gearlever opening so it does not get in the way, just to see the circlip!!!!

 

Unbelievable - You couldn’t make it up!

 

So, unless one of you can come to my rescue it appears I have 2 choices:

 

1. Engine / gearbox out, just so I can remove the circlip and fit a new speedo cable!!

2. Spend a considerable amount of money fitting a whole new set of instruments (speedo driven from a wheel hub) and redesigning the dashboard I only finished a couple of months ago!!

 

Please can someone help me either by telling me where I can get such an unlikely pair of circlip pliers or tell me where I am going wrong?

 

I will be forever in you debt!

[Guest Tim Norman]

Have you undone the gearbox mount and then jacked the gearbox up as high in the tunnel as it will go? Thats what I had to do to change it on my first Hood.

[stevedohc2b]

Tim's answer seams about right unless it will drop down so you can get at it from underneath you could loosen the engine mounts as well and slide whole lot forward as well as down if you have an engine crain.

 

I found mine easer to do when taking the engine out as it was the last bit to come off but that was a 2b and an MT 75

Which ever way it is a bugger as the c clip has tiny holes one pair of pilers would not fit i brought. The ones with the interchangeable nose did fit.

 

Stephen

[Guest salty_monk]

If they don't fit (pliers)... grind them.

 

The Cable is junk anyway... can you cut it to give yourself better access to the head?

 

Cut a bigger hole. I made a good foot long plate by as high as necessary on my hood to get into all that gubbins. You can also cut an access hole in the floor too & go at it from underneath if that's going to be easier......

 

Dan

[Guest jhfozzy]

I can't help witht the speedo side, but....

 

Apparently, according to my mate who is an MOT tester.

 

Speedometer is not down as a testable item in the MOT Testers Hand Book

 

But......

 

In general under Con and Use Regs it states

 

If a speedo is fitted then it has to be clearly visible and maintained in good and efficient working order.

 

So it WILL pass an MOT without the speedo working, but it theoretically will be an offence to drive it without it working.

 

Get your MOT and then use your GPS,

Edited June 25, 2008 by Fozzy

[Mat-Moo]

I never had an issue on my old exmo with that (odd) although for the one I'm building, I'm thinking about adding a right angle adapter to make it easier. It's important that you have the right circlip pliers as well, as I remember it was a fiddly job! Probably easier to get teh car on ramps, jack the gear box up and work from under the car for best access.

[Swan Jnr]

i'm sure swan snr had to grind a pair of circlip pliers as salty suggests. a nightmare of a job. getting it back in was even harder and in the end we put together a slightly over engineered heath robinson fix rather than re fit the circlip.

[Guest a8dyc]

I cut a hole in the tub as you have mentioned in another thread,however i fitted my circlip from underneath with the gear box mount undone.The hole did make it easier with a lead light etc glowing through.It did take a while to get it right though.

 

 

Andy

[Guest timswait]

Can't you slide the circlip round in its groove so the holes are at the top? Use a nail or piece of wire or something.

[Andy Spencer]

I did this job on my old S7 just before I sold it. Luckily there was an access hole in the tub so I was able to get at it from underneath which was far better than getting in from the side of the tunnel.

 

Doing / undoing the circlip was a real fiddle and I did move it to a more accessible position as timswait suggests. I did get there in the end.

 

Was a 4 speed box though, don't know whether the angle is any better on that. Also routed the cable via the floor to stop it happening so often.

[Guest yellow peril]

hi

 

I had the same problem with my exmo - the cable came off and after trying to get the cable on - and to stay on - i thought sod it and bought a bike speedo (yes push bike speedo) which can be easily calibrated to the wheel diameter and works off a magnet on the front wheel - it'll do until i get some fancy digidash thing if i can be bothered - and there seems to be a view using them

 

I forgot to put it on for my last mot though, and it passed so not sure it's checked or not - or like said earlier whether if it's there it has to work - my car would have looked like it had no speedo, as the original is behind the dash

[Guest boggie]

Have you undone the gearbox mount and then jacked the gearbox up as high in the tunnel as it will go? Thats what I had to do to change it on my first Hood.

 

 

Thanks All!

 

Tim: as ever you are the font of all knowledge! Disconnected the prop from the LSD, undid the gearbox bolts and jacked up the box. Now I can get under the cable to the circlip and I have removed it (using a small mirror to see what I was doing). Not looking forward to the refit but at least I can get at it now.

 

I owe you a pint!

[Guest timswait]

Circlip pliers? You don't even know yo're born. I levered mine off with two watchmakers screwdrivers.

[ragey]

Im not sure if yours is the same as a 2b but I cut a hole 6x6 and used a pair of pointy nose pliers with the ends ground down, the cable on mine goes streight out into the car under the carpet in front of the seat and then up the inside and up to the speedo.

Paul.

[geoff shep]

Haven't I seen something somewhere about an angled drive for that very thing? Can't find it now though.

 

PS: Found it: Europa Angle Drives

Edited July 20, 2008 by geoff shep