question: hub-mounted speed sensor?

[Farrar]

I don't really know anything about how it works, but I have noticed that some modern cars' ABS use a wheel speed sensor mounted inside the wheel hub. From the pictures I have seen, there's a hole on the top of the hub assembly that the sensor plugs into. I hope I have described this correctly.

I know some folks have been looking for a way to replace their angle drives for a while; would it be possible to come up with a solution which uses a wheel speed sensor mounted in the hub, like a modern ABS wheel speed sensor, but which instead would send a signal to an electronic speedometer/odometer?

Again, I don't know how it works, so I am hoping someone here more familiar with modern cars can chime in and tell if it's possible or not. Or if it's already been done on a DeLorean and I just haven't heard about it yet. Or if it's a bad idea. Whatever.

Thanks in advance!

[Exolis]

I'm not a 100% sure on the location of sensor. I heard some are in transmission now too, but it does make sense for sensors to be in the wheel for traction control systems. In modern cars, the speed goes to the ABS system(now commonly known as Vehicle Dynamic Control) where wheel speed is input to the controller and sent out on the Controller Area Network for other ECU modules to read the Vehicle Speed.

To do this, you would need a meter and VDC system from a modern car (of the same make, model and year) to modify and install on the DeLorean.

I imagine there are other ways that are much more simpler, such as some kind of sensor hooked into a Microcontroller that sends out a processed value to a Display.

[DMCMW Dave]

If I was going to do that I'd put the sensor on/in the transmission rather than on the front wheel.

It's certainly do-able but at this time it would hardly be cost-effective since you'd have to figure out a sensor, some electronics, and a new speedometer head that looks/fits in the original cluster. I'm not sure what the market for a "get rid of your angle drive for $600" solution would be.

[Farrar]

I'm not sure what the market for a "get rid of your angle drive for $600" solution would be.

Probably the same people who spend $4,000 on EFI and turbochargers ;)

[justlooking]

Probably the same people who spend $4,000 on EFI and turbochargers ;)

You can buy a Cable-X, which puts an electronic sensor in place of the angle drive, and then adapts a small DC motor to drive the mechanical speedometer. It's not cheap, though. ~$350.

Not sure how much noise it makes either. Would you like to hear an electrical motor whirring faster and faster as you speed up? Probably not. Then again, if you liked how the BTTF time machine sounded in the movie, it could be perfect!

[jangell]

I haven't had a functioning speedometer for years now. If I hook up an angle drive it dies within 5 miles. The cable feels turns fine until I hook it up to the angle drive, and then it becomes very difficult to turn. I have no idea why.

My plan was to mount an magnet between a couple of the bolts on the transmission's drive flange, and mount a hall effect sensor just above that. I was probably going to 3D print a simple plastic holder that would secure the magnet in place and to mount the hall effect sensor (if I ever get my 3D printer working). Then I was going to to use an Arduino to count the pulses, covert it to a speed, and send it to a computer to put on a large LCD. The computer bit's a longer term project, though; sending it to a simple display like the ones from Adafruit would be much simpler -- like this four-digit clock-like LED display backpack (https://www.adafruit.com/products/881). This whole thing, including all the parts, would be under $50, and the Arduino could be set up for other projects as well.

Of course, it's a very DIY kind of thing, and you'd need a way to mount the display near the instrument cluster, and probably a nice box to put it in. Or you could use some gauge-style electric speedometer that takes pulses or varying voltage as an input, and replace your current speedometer with it. For a while I was toying with using an electric motor to turn the stock speedometer's drive cable, but my knowledge of motors is fairly limited, and I had trouble finding a motor that could run at very slow speeds but also go up to higher speeds to get the speedometer up to 85 MPH just by varying the voltage.

I still want to do EFI one of these days...

-- Joe

[jangell]

You can buy a Cable-X, which puts an electronic sensor in place of the angle drive, and then adapts a small DC motor to drive the mechanical speedometer. It's not cheap, though. ~$350.

Neat -- I didn't know that existed. I agree the price is pretty steep, though, although probably cheaper than the number of angle drives I've gone through.

-- Joe

[Farrar]

If you DIY, it doesn't necessarily have to be massively expensive... Once upon a time, someone found a speedometer from another car 1997 Nissan Maxima?) which would line up perfectly with the face of the D speedometer. If you could drill two small holes in the wheel hub (one for the sensor, one for the screw to mount it), and have it talk to the Nissan speedometer, you would not be out an inordinately huge pile of cash, and have something which, ostensibly, would last a long time.

[Edit: the reason I was thinking of having the sensor mounted at the left front wheel is because it's closest to the original design of having the angle drive on the left front wheel. No other reason, really.]

I still don't know how those wheel hub-mounted sensors works, though -- how they get their pulse, I mean.

However, I think from the general consensus here it seems that a transmission-mounted sensor is better. Why is that? More reliable output?

[jangell]

I was going to mount on the transmission just because it was easier to fit in there, and I wasn't really sure how to make something work where the angle drive was, or mount something to the hub area.

I also toyed with the idea of using an electric motor with a rubber head mounted on the shaft, which was pressed against the transmission drive flange. As the car's wheel turned, it would turn electric motor, which in turn would generate electricity and be read by an Arduino. The advantage was that it would react more quickly to speed changes than counting how quickly the magnet went around the axle, but the down side is that the motor could fail, since it contained moving parts and would be in physical contact with another moving part (magnets and hall effect sensors should never fail, or at least last a very long time).

-- Joe

[Farrar]

By the way: In theory, this would only be needed for drivers of manual transmission DeLoreans.

[Jonathan]

I haven't had a functioning speedometer for years now. If I hook up an angle drive it dies within 5 miles. The cable turns fine until I hook it up to the angle drive, and then it becomes very difficult to turn. I have no idea why.

If someday you figure it out, please let me know, because this is EXACTLY what mine does.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Getting MPH is very easy if your going to build custom electronics. Any of your sensor ideas will work. You would want more resolution than 1 RPM of the wheel for slow speeds.

The big problem is getting a display that many people (with money) like.

[Nicholas R]

You know this is just a thought. Some of the transmissions in the Renault UN1/369 series have vehicle speed sensors in them. Ours just has a plug/plate blocking where the sensor goes. I'm sure ours could be swapped over to have the VSS installed. No idea about automatics though.

[DMCMW Dave]

You know this is just a thought. Some of the transmissions in the Renault UN1/369 series have vehicle speed sensors in them. Ours just has a plug/plate blocking where the sensor goes. I'm sure ours could be swapped over to have the VSS installed. No idea about automatics though.

I'm not so sure. Our trans is assembled backwards due to the rear-engine configuration and I'll bet that the speed sensor won't fit the differential in this configuration. I'd also love to see what that looks like.

[Ron]

I still don't know how those wheel hub-mounted sensors works, though -- how they get their pulse, I mean. Basically, as the axle (or output shaft if transmission mounted) turns, teeth mounted on a disk about the axle/carrier/integrated into the rotor, etc. pass by the pickup coil causing a pulse/signal which is sent to the computer. The computer uses the pulse/signal to calculate how to drive the speedometer.
Similar to how the distributor drives the tachometer or common ABS setup:



16903


A magnet and pickup coil is another way....

Food for thought- A D's Governor Computer has an unused wire connected to a generator driven by the output shaft. It is terminated in the "Black Block"......

[Farrar]

Thanks! That's simpler than I thought it was.


A magnet and pickup coil is another way....

This is what I was hoping was not involved... :)

[Dangermouse]

Thanks Ron, I never knew that about ABS sensors. We use that sort of thing in industry to detect motion/no-motion also.

[Nicholas R]

I'm not so sure. Our trans is assembled backwards due to the rear-engine configuration and I'll bet that the speed sensor won't fit the differential in this configuration. I'd also love to see what that looks like.

I think you're right. After looking into it more, it looks like the sensor is actually gear driven by a separate gear on the differential assembly that is opposite the differential ring gear.

The speedo drive gear is mounted onto the differential carrier and mates with a driven pinion located in the right hand side of the casing.

With our differential flipped, that drive gear would be on the other side. The sensor assembly only fits in one side of the casing though so it's clearly a front wheel drive only sensor.

[Farrar]

How about using a stepper motor where the angle drive used to be?

Confession: I've never removed my angle drive, so I don't know exactly how it works...

[TTait]

I looked into this about a year back... Took my instrument cluster to a local speedometer shop and they said it would be very easy. First we mount the speed sensor, this can happen at the front wheel, the transmission, or on the rear axle using various universal sensors that create a pulse.

Then they remove the speedo unit and use appropriate spacers etc. and shoot a digital photo of the existing speedo to use for reference. They can create a duplicate graphic, or set you up for a 140, 160 mph unit. If you want the DMC logo added, or if you high,low beam indicators that need to backlight, they can work that out too. In some cases they use the original speedo face if you are willing to have a remote trip counter reset.

The big problems are that it has an electronic readout odometer and that the location of the reset knob is fixed, so you would have to create a new lens and have it drilled out. The odometer starts from zero, so you cannot pre-set it to the current mileage on the car.

They then set a couple dip switches etc to tell the new electronic speedo unit what the indicated speed is for a given angle, and then you hook up the sensor wire, power and ground.

Final step is to take the car out on the road, and use the trip reset knob to put it into a calibrate mode, then drive the car for exactly 5280 feet (1 mile) and turn calibration off. The speedo then knows what the scale of its display is, and exactly how many clicks of whatever sensor you chose per mile, and it just works from there on out.

Its not cheap - we did not get into all the details, I decided to give the angle drive one more chance, as it was still under warranty - and to date the replacement has been fine.


As to those of you burning through angle drives, consider buying a single piece long speedo cable from Rob Grady - it eliminates the lambda counter and and should eliminate most any hidden problems. I suspect that the lambda counter spins well enough in your car when turning it by hand, but would catch, snag, or drag when it runs at speed.

I know Hervey sells a long cable too, but the one I got from him did not screw down onto the angle drive well enough and/or the cable inside the housing was a bit too short, and it could pop loose and spin, or partially jam and rip up the angle drive. Of course, that only ever happened to me, he "has sold thousands of those cables and no one has ever had any trouble with it whatsoever".

[dmc6960]

I know I've been pretty silent lately (online at least) but I am still working on my full electronic cluster replacement.

Regarding replacing just the speedometer/pickup, this is what I've learned over my years...

A speed sensor on the transmission is not possible due to the reversed gears like Dave and Nick previously mentioned.
Speed sensors tacked onto the output shafts may be suitable for cruise control, but not good enough for accurate speed and distance recording.

I was the one who found the standalone Nissan speedometer. Its a 140mph unit so you would need a 140mph decal, possibly with some SLIGHT adjustments to the exact configuration of that unit. The input for the Nissan's sensor unit is 1000rpm/60mph. Same as our OUTPUT of the angle drive. Since the angle drive has a slight gearing reduction, it can not directly replace it without some adaptive electronics. The Nissan's sensor MAY fit into the angle drive's adapter nut without much hassle. The trip reset shaft still wasn't in an ideal spot on the Nissan speedometer.

Universal pickups like those from Dakota digital are similar in size to the angle drive, but none are available as a drop-in replacement for the angle drive. As part of my cluster project I am looking into getting some units custom-machined to fit in an OEM manner (internal snap ring).

Farrar, I think you may have asked me specifically about what pickup sensors I'm using for the new cluster. I dont remember answering you though. If your still interested in details, let me know.

[Farrar]

I think you may have asked me specifically about what pickup sensors I'm using for the new cluster. I dont remember answering you though. If your still interested in details, let me know.

It was a while ago, and I left DMCTalk for some time. Yes, I'm still interested, but if you'd rather discuss it privately, that's fine, just let me know. I'm not trying to replicate your setup, just trying to think of a way to eliminate the one mechanical "sensor" on my dashboard, as a sort of mental exercise. :)

[Ron]

Speed sensors tacked onto the output shafts may be suitable for cruise control, but not good enough for accurate speed and distance recording.
You have me wondering why one couldn't mount a sensor on the transmission and a multi-notched plate between the drive flange and axle. The plate wouldn't have to be very thick (thinking about crank and cam shaft position sensor plates)....ABS sensors work OK even though they don't turn at exactly the same speed.
??

[jangell]

Speed sensors tacked onto the output shafts may be suitable for cruise control, but not good enough for accurate speed and distance recording.

Why is that? Isn't this functionally identical to what the angle drive does on the front wheel, just on the rear wheel? Or does it have to do with the limits of the specific sensor mechanism being used?

-- Joe

[Farrar]

You have me wondering why one couldn't mount a sensor on the transmission and a multi-notched plate between the drive flange and axle.

Thinking outside the box! I like it! :)

[Exolis]

I know I've been pretty silent lately (online at least) but I am still working on my full electronic cluster replacement.

Regarding replacing just the speedometer/pickup, this is what I've learned over my years...

A speed sensor on the transmission is not possible due to the reversed gears like Dave and Nick previously mentioned.
Speed sensors tacked onto the output shafts may be suitable for cruise control, but not good enough for accurate speed and distance recording.

I was the one who found the standalone Nissan speedometer. Its a 140mph unit so you would need a 140mph decal, possibly with some SLIGHT adjustments to the exact configuration of that unit. The input for the Nissan's sensor unit is 1000rpm/60mph. Same as our OUTPUT of the angle drive. Since the angle drive has a slight gearing reduction, it can not directly replace it without some adaptive electronics. The Nissan's sensor MAY fit into the angle drive's adapter nut without much hassle. The trip reset shaft still wasn't in an ideal spot on the Nissan speedometer.

Universal pickups like those from Dakota digital are similar in size to the angle drive, but none are available as a drop-in replacement for the angle drive. As part of my cluster project I am looking into getting some units custom-machined to fit in an OEM manner (internal snap ring).

Farrar, I think you may have asked me specifically about what pickup sensors I'm using for the new cluster. I dont remember answering you though. If your still interested in details, let me know.

For what Model and Year might this be for?

As for the idea of adding Digital Meter. As been discussed, can use a pick up sensor with some kind of notch to detect. Using a microcontroller like the Arduino, you can program it with a little bit of math and have it display as a digital number or add additional programming and a stepper motor for the Speedometer.

[dmc6960]

You have me wondering why one couldn't mount a sensor on the transmission and a multi-notched plate between the drive flange and axle. The plate wouldn't have to be very thick (thinking about crank and cam shaft position sensor plates)....ABS sensors work OK even though they don't turn at exactly the same speed.
??

Likely any toothed sensor for the axle flange would have to be custom machine-cut. That made it a no-go with my project ($$$). I also didn't like the lack of multi-mounts available to the outside of the transmission for the sensor pickup. Sure with some brackets the case-half bolts would work but I didn't want to have people unscrewing their transmission bolts.

[dmc6960]

Why is that? Isn't this functionally identical to what the angle drive does on the front wheel, just on the rear wheel? Or does it have to do with the limits of the specific sensor mechanism being used?

-- Joe

For the kind that truely do just "tack on", like the 2-magnet pickups sold with cruise control, this does not have the resolution necessary for a speedometer with distance recording. For anything more involved, see my response to Ron above.

An already existing electrical sensor nearly identical in size to the angle drive, and just needing minimal modifications to mount, is the most effective pickup for my needs.

[Farrar]

An already existing electrical sensor nearly identical in size to the angle drive, and just needing minimal modifications to mount, is the most effective pickup for my needs.

...like a stepper motor mounted exactly where the angle drive used to be? That'd be the closest thing I could figure to a "minimum modifications required" solution.

[dmc6960]

For what Model and Year might this be for?

The Nissan speedometer or my cluster replacement? The Nissan speedometer mentioned here is from a 94-97 Maxima. The electronic backlit DeLorean cluster I'm building is for all DeLoreans.


As for the idea of adding Digital Meter. As been discussed, can use a pick up sensor with some kind of notch to detect. Using a microcontroller like the Arduino, you can program it with a little bit of math and have it display as a digital number or add additional programming and a stepper motor for the Speedometer.

My cluster is being built with Microchip brand micro-controllers. Its a lot more programming than an Ardunio (you basically need to write the WHOLE program from scratch). However there will be much more flexibility in creating the control board. Less expensive too ($$$ again!). This is the same method Dave (Bitsyncmaster) uses for his custom component replacements.

[dmc6960]

...like a stepper motor mounted exactly where the angle drive used to be? That'd be the closest thing I could figure to a "minimum modifications required" solution.

Its not a stepper motor, its an AC generator. I'm not exactly sure how it counts "pulses per revolution" yet, but I suspect its related to the sine wave frequency. Need a scope on it to find out for sure. AC voltage does increase with faster input speeds.

[jangell]

I'd love to buy one of those custom electronic pickups from you, if you're having multiples of them made. I'm doing some other projects (my own custom instrument cluster... someday), and I need a way to get the speed out of the car; everything else seems fairly simple to read, since they're already electric. If I can drop in your pickup and hook it up to an Arduino, it'll save me the trouble of coming up with my own custom solution (which at this point was going to be magnets and a hall effect sensor on the transmission drive flange).

-- Joe

[Farrar]

Its not a stepper motor, its an AC generator. I'm not exactly sure how it counts "pulses per revolution" yet, but I suspect its related to the sine wave frequency. Need a scope on it to find out for sure. AC voltage does increase with faster input speeds.

They operate on the same principle -- fixed sensor(s) over a rotating toothed ferrous wheel. But you're the expert, so I'll shut up now. :)

[Exolis]

The Nissan speedometer or my cluster replacement? The Nissan speedometer mentioned here is from a 94-97 Maxima. The electronic backlit DeLorean cluster I'm building is for all DeLoreans.



My cluster is being built with Microchip brand micro-controllers. Its a lot more programming than an Ardunio (you basically need to write the WHOLE program from scratch). However there will be much more flexibility in creating the control board. Less expensive too ($$$ again!). This is the same method Dave (Bitsyncmaster) uses for his custom component replacements.

Thank you, don't think we'll have a Maxima for that generation in our Parts database. Also big thank you for the reference to Microchip, looked at their site and seems to have a lot of goodies. This is what I've been looking for, for a long time. Will have to look more into this site later! Been planning on making a IPDM/BCM for DeLorean.

[nkemp]

I chased this for a while and got hung up trying to find a suitable sensor and resolving the needle problem. Then I used a GPS for speed indication. Here are some thoughts (as best I can recall):

- Take a look at the "12OclockLabs Speed sensor Adjustor". It is used to match speed sensors to a digital speedometer. Thus you could use a more current electronic speedometer behind the faceplate and match to any speed sensor. You might even be able to detune the 140 MPH speedometer to the 80's (time and speed :-)

- One option for speed sensor is to use "tone rings" if we could find one that fit the output shaft/hub/flange we would have plenty of resolution. If we could get a group buy they can be custom made.

- The Rotary DeLorean used a sensor that bolted to the front left axle (replacing the angle drive) as I recall. I have been unsuccessful finding the sensor that fits properly.
- This company may have a solution: http://www.arthurallen.com/ They make angle drives here in the US (WI?)
- The one the Mazda conversion used was the speed sensor on a 1990 20b Mazda Eunos Cosmo... good luck finding those (car or sensor) in the US
- Just looking at a photo of the 300zx VSS (the connector end) makes me wonder if it might work. Does anyone have one laying around their shop?

- I suspect that most of the problems with the angle drive are eliminated via one or both of the following when using an electronic sensor & wired connection. Thus using the front axle is a fine location for an electronic sensor.
- The 90 degree angle is eliminated
- The angle drive doesn't need to drive the cable while being subjected to turns, vibration and elements

- There are some later model speedos that have a digital odometer. These can be removed from the board, rewired with longer wires and then the LCD can be positioned behind the D's odometer window. Now the Odometer fits where ours is.
- Read this article: http://www.3si.org/forum/f1/digital-odometer-conversion-450678/

- Don't redrill the clear instrument cluster plastic. Instead locate a pushbutton (normally open) behind the current hole and use the existing hole. Run the wires in parallel to the switch on teh speedo's board. The interface to reset the odometer is a momentary push button.

- Note a slight improvement... most modern units have 2 trip odometers!!!!!!!!

- Fitting the D's speedo needle to the Maxima (or whatever) is a bit of a problem. This is the problem that I stopped my efforts on. As I recall, the Maxima speedometer pin/shaft does not fit the DeLorean needle (white pointy thing that points to the speed) AND The shaft may need to be extended to get far enough through the face.

That's all for now,
Nick

[nkemp]

There was a guy that tried making a speed sensor adjuster to match the speed sensor to the speedometer. The idea was to use a pulse to voltage convertor and then a voltage to pulse convertor with adjustment to adapt the pulses to the speedometer. As I recall, the circuit worked well at lower speeds and not so well at highway speeds. Visit: http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=48943&page=8 to see the circuit. It was simple and cheap as I recall.... but it didn't work well enough and he moved on to other things... details.

Nick

[jgarland79]

I would love to help with the electronics part of this project. I've been thinking about this a bit myself. A wheel speed sensor would be ideal, but it wouldn't work unless you had a reluctor wheel built into your hub assembly. It might be possible to find a replacement hub that has a reluctor wheel built into it.

I think a simpler solution would be to connect a short speedometer cable from the wheel to a rotary encoder. The rotary encoder would be connected to a microcontroller, and the microcontroller would replace the lambda counter, and drive a small servo motor connected to the instrument cluster.

BTW:

I'm new here. I bought my DeLorean on Saturday. VIN: 887

:)

[Ron]

BTW:

I'm new here. I bought my DeLorean on Saturday. VIN: 887

:)
:welcome:

(Make it official here (http://dmctalk.org/showthread.php?1354-Introductions!&highlight=introductions) ;-)

[tommyrich]

1834718348183491835018351


OK, So I took on the challenge of designing a motor to drive the upper speedometer cable. My lower speedo cable was starting to hang up and I wanted to see how it could be done. It was not simple at all.

First, the thread size of the upper speedo cable is very strange, it is 3/4-26 which is very difficult to find. So I had to make my own threads on a lathe, starting with a small piece of black pipe.

Second, driving the speedo cable in not straightforward: DC Motors are great at high speed but stall at low speeds, Stepper motors are great at low speed but run out of torque at high speed. After trying several different motors/controllers, I found a stepper and controller combo that would work. Keep in mind the motor has to go from 0 to around 1200 rpm and be controlled (speed-wise very precisely. I found a controller to use current limited output so I could drive a low voltage (3.6 volt) stepper motor with 12 Volts. This give the motor the higher torque at higher speeds.

My car has the advantage of having 8 magnets on the output shaft of the transmission (it is a Porsche 915 transmission). I used a Hall-effect sensor to generate pulses (8 per revolution of the rear wheel). The pulses were counted by a microcontroller in 1/4 second periods and added together (integrate over 1 second). I loaded the microcontroller with a lookup table to generate the proper pulses to the stepper motor controller based on the speed of the car.

The results: The speedometer works great! It has very little "bounce" at low RPM. It is rock steady over 30 MPH. It is dead accurate (compared to the GPS speed). It is a little laggy when accelerating fast or stopping very fast, but I am working on that by changing the integration formula.

I don't plan to produce them (very labor intensive), but if others are interested, I could provide more details. The total cost is only around $50, but there is a lot of wiring, fabrication and calibration. I also do not yet know the long-term reliability (but I only put on about 1K miles per year on my D).

BTW, the Delorean speedo DOES take miles off of the speedometer when driven backwards (so one could program a "Ferris Bueller mode" into the controller and let it take off the miles while sitting in the driveway :wink: ).

Tom

[DMCMW Dave]

How noisy is it? ( I suspect I'll find out tomorrow).

[tommyrich]

It is actually pretty quiet. The controller does "microstepping" which smooths out the vibrations. It is unnoticeable when driving.

Unfortunately I will not be attending the spring social. I am accompanying Dave and his electric Delorean to an Earth Day event in New York City. I do hope the SS is a good event, they usually are. This will be the first one that I have missed since joining the Delorean community.
Tom

[jgarland79]

I would like some more detail. What motor did you use? Where did you source it from? Can you post some images? Can you post a video of the speedometer needle while it's running?

[tommyrich]

I would like some more detail. What motor did you use?
3.1V stepper motor (SKU = SMT-355)


Where did you source it from?
AllElectrinics.com
$2.50 each




Can you post some images?

I thought I did.



Can you post a video of the speedometer needle while it's running?

I have one of it running a full-speed test ( I wanted to see how fast I could change speeds without stalling the motor) But I couldn't upload it here. I will have to host it elsewhere and provide a link.

Tom

[tommyrich]

Here is a short video...sorry it took so long, I got distracted by the vendor-bashing threads...:mallet:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=k8yyrSY8Rzs

[Farrar]

Wow, amazing work! Well done!

[nkemp]

For those who may try mounting another speedo behind the D's face (such as the Maxima speedometer) ...

The needle coming through the face on the Maxima speedo is 1mm. The D's needle coming through the face is about .75mm. Thus if you want to maintain the original D pointer, then the hole must be enlarged a bit. A #60 drill bit is 1mm. I've not tried drilling the hole larger yet. The 1mm bits are so small that breaking in the hole is a real concern... the D's pointer material is steel.

Maybe there is a way to replace the D's metal parts with plastic and moint the D's pointer on the plastic.

2-cents worth ... or maybe less,

Nick

[LordFly]

18349

I don't plan to produce them (very labor intensive), but if others are interested, I could provide more details.

I would love to have some more details! Especially about what is in that magic box that allows you to program/control it, as seen in the picture. The last time I did anything like that was with an HC11. Which is not exactly idea for this kinda thing.


BTW, the Delorean speedo DOES take miles off of the speedometer when driven backwards (so one could program a "Ferris Bueller mode" into the controller and let it take off the miles while sitting in the driveway :wink: ).

I don't know about everyone else, but I need a "Reverse Ferris Bueller mode" to add on all the miles that are missing from driving for years with no speedo ;)