Best angle drive unit options? Suggested modifications? (4th speedo fail!)

[kajcienski]

Hello all! I posted a thread a while back venting about my 4th speedo fail in 200 miles. In 2 instances, the dust cap was missing, and the other 2 it was just assumed the drive failed and was replaced (NOS) along with the lower (and possibly upper) cable. In all 4 instances, the speedo needle bounced a tad at lower speeds even with a newly lubricated cable. 3 of the 4 fails were with the LAMBDA counter present, and the 4th was with my new power steering box that takes the place of the LAMBDA counter. I have spoken to several people in my club/online and the theories range from bad luck to the speedo instrument itself. All installs were done by 2 well known vendors so I doubt it is installation error. So... I am trying to collect some data from you all in terms of who sells the best angle drive replacement...? I have heard SpecialT has a pretty rock solid improvement but curious if delorean.eu sells NOS (no info on their site if improved or NOS) or if that is a good improved replacement option as well. I was told the best one made was from speedographrichfield.com but they no longer make it. Then in terms of modifications, it was suggested that I put some electrical tape around the dust cap to lock it in better, as well as using a dab of JB Weld where the angle drive shaft fits into the dust cap to help with the shaft not stripping the cap easily. In case the issue is in the speedo instrument itself, I'm going to replace it with a 140mph unit, which I wanted to do anyway. If anyone has any thoughts on all of this, please let me know. It has been very frustrating. When my angle drive fails, my power steering does not work properly - and it was not cheap. Would love to at least attempt to do what I can to ensure this does not happen again. Thanks everyone!

[David T]

Hello all! I posted a thread a while back venting about my 4th speedo fail in 200 miles. In 2 instances, the dust cap was missing, and the other 2 it was just assumed the drive failed and was replaced (NOS) along with the lower (and possibly upper) cable. In all 4 instances, the speedo needle bounced a tad at lower speeds even with a newly lubricated cable. 3 of the 4 fails were with the LAMBDA counter present, and the 4th was with my new power steering box that takes the place of the LAMBDA counter. I have spoken to several people in my club/online and the theories range from bad luck to the speedo instrument itself. All installs were done by 2 well known vendors so I doubt it is installation error. So... I am trying to collect some data from you all in terms of who sells the best angle drive replacement...? I have heard SpecialT has a pretty rock solid improvement but curious if delorean.eu sells NOS (no info on their site if improved or NOS) or if that is a good improved replacement option as well. I was told the best one made was from speedographrichfield.com but they no longer make it. Then in terms of modifications, it was suggested that I put some electrical tape around the dust cap to lock it in better, as well as using a dab of JB Weld where the angle drive shaft fits into the dust cap to help with the shaft not stripping the cap easily. In case the issue is in the speedo instrument itself, I'm going to replace it with a 140mph unit, which I wanted to do anyway. If anyone has any thoughts on all of this, please let me know. It has been very frustrating. When my angle drive fails, my power steering does not work properly - and it was not cheap. Would love to at least attempt to do what I can to ensure this does not happen again. Thanks everyone!

I had one car that "ate" dust covers, speedo cables and angle drives. It turned out to be that a plastic post broke off inside the speedo head. It had a metal push clip on it and got caught by the magnet and jammed the works. Since fixing it there have been no more issues.

[kajcienski]

I had one car that "ate" dust covers, speedo cables and angle drives. It turned out to be that a plastic post broke off inside the speedo head. It had a metal push clip on it and got caught by the magnet and jammed the works. Since fixing it there have been no more issues.

Thanks David! I remember you mentioning that on my old thread. I have not opened up the cluster yet but this theory is ranking #1 on my list right now.

Also, is DMCH the only vendor that carries the 140mph speedos? Has another vendor made any? I looked online and only found DMCH & DMC Europe as stocking these.

[David T]

Thanks David! I remember you mentioning that on my old thread. I have not opened up the cluster yet but this theory is ranking #1 on my list right now.

Also, is DMCH the only vendor that carries the 140mph speedos? Has another vendor made any? I looked online and only found DMCH & DMC Europe as stocking these.

In the past venders had offered just the silk-screened part and you could have your speedo recalibrated yourself. I don't know if they sell the parts anymore. You might have to buy a whole head. If you replace the head you are supposed to get a sticker from the shop to put on the car door indicating the odometer is not original to the car with the mileage before and after the change.

[jmettee]

When I was shopping around for my replacement about a year ago (previous DMCH replacement lasted only 1500 miles), Hervey just had his units come to the market. I hadn't heard anything about them, but decided to go back to DMCH & exercise what was left of the pro-rated warranty. That replacement is still going, but only around 2k miles on it.

I spoke to Hervey last week, he reports good results with his. They are made by a different manufacturer & hse says he's sold a few hundred (think he said over 200) & only had 1 or 2 come back with failure. Now that they have some time on them, if mine breaks again anytime soon, I'll go with a Hervey unit.

[ccurzio]

I spoke to Hervey last week, he reports good results with his. They are made by a different manufacturer & hse says he's sold a few hundred (think he said over 200) & only had 1 or 2 come back with failure.

HAHAHA. FYI this is the story he tells everyone about EVERYTHING he sells. No, I am NOT kidding.

Speaking of angle drives though, my DMCH angle drive busted recently (lasted only about a year and a half) and I'm not sure what to do. I'd posted something a while back about what incentive a manufacturer or reseller would have to make high-quality parts for rare cars (since if the parts keep requiring replacement that's more money in their pocket) and the guys at Houston said they really wanted to address the question with a proper response, but I never saw anything.

I'll probably buy my replacement from DMCH again anyway since I'm overall very happy with them as a supplier. But I hate feeling like it's only going to last just beyond its warranty again. :(

[kajcienski]

Anyone use Hervey's angle drive unit? Thoughts? Also, anyone hear of putting electrical tape on the dust cap and JB Weld dab where shaft meets dust cap? I'm starting to think I should just stick with the old speedo and see if same issue as David T mentioned. Is there a way to test the speedo unit to see if any resistance or defect problems before I go through apart/together?

[WNY1983]

My upper speedo went along with my angle drive on the way back from the celebration of cars in Indy last may. I had no luck with Hervey's angle drive. It blew up after 1 mile. I purchased a replacement angle drive from Grady. Things are doing OK no problems so far. I did purchase the long speedo cable from Hervey. I took out the transfer box at the floor. Everything is doing well. about 300 miles on the new units. My understanding is this is a hit or miss situation. Be patient things will work out.

[chris williams]

As the OP wrote Speedograph will no longer manufacture the angle drive units for us (Martin G's ones) No specific reason other than the man who made them has been sick for a long time! I'm in the same boat as I need one for my car so have also gone with Harveys one (awaiting delivery) seems to be the cheaper option + the DMCH ones still seem to have a poor reputation, I'm sure Ed's are DMCH ones. As soon as it arrives I will get it fitted and report back.
Chris

[LordFly]

Someday I hope to build a setup where the cable to the binnacle is driven by a servo. Some sort of magnetic pickup.

[Farrar]

Someday I hope to build a setup where the cable to the binnacle is driven by a servo. Some sort of magnetic pickup.

I was thinking of using this guy's technique. (English is not his first language but it's pretty understandable.)

http://historyneverdies.blogspot.com/2010/12/led-speedometer.html

[LordFly]

Yeah, something like that would be an option. I want to maintain the factory look, but make the thing reliable for a change.

[andy blackmon]

I have one of John's angle drive with almost 7,000 miles on it ----- this is the most mileage I have gotten from any angle drive. It may break tomorrow but so far---so good.
Andy B 03513

[Blackie]

I did the electrical tape on the OD and a bit of Araldite on mine when i first got my car on the road, it stayed that way for about 3 years without any issues what so ever. The only reason that i had to replace the angle drive was because i needed to change the rotors and couldnt the drive out of the dust cap without mangling the dust cap. The new DMC unit has a removable drive, so this wouldnt be an issue if you needed to change the rotors, if mine strips out again i will do the same electrical tape / araldite fix.

[TTait]

You might consider calling Rob Grady and ordering the long single piece speedo cable that eliminates the lambda counter.

[kajcienski]

You might consider calling Rob Grady and ordering the long single piece speedo cable that eliminates the lambda counter.

Problem is that I have power steering and it needs to run through that..

[TTait]

I went to a local speedo shop and they offered to convert my car over to a electronic speedometer - but the prices were rather high, so I declined. The basic process is that they replace your entire speedometer/odometer with an electronic unit (just take them your instrument cluster and they can do it. They can create any decal/face you want and I think you can chose the needle, etc.

Then they put magnetic sensors on the rear axle and a reader, and run a wire up to the speedometer. They set the odometer to match the old one and then take the car out to a location with a perfectly measured mile - they trigger a calibrate mode and then drive the car forward exactly one mile, then hit stop. The speedo counts the number of pulses it got and calibrates itself based on the top speed they selected for the needle based on your chosen decal/faceplate. Done.

You would likely lose your high/low indicators and the trip reset knob (although I'm working on an economical replacement for the binnacle lens so a new hole could go anywhere), and the resolution of the speedo at very low speeds would depend on how many magnetic sensors you had installed.

Not cheap - but all do-able. In your case you could then use the angle drive to only drive your speed sensor for the power steering, taking about half the load on the angle drive out of the system. You may alternately be able to place a second reader back at the rear axle reading the same magnets and send that signal to the power steering instead, but you would need to have a couple long discussions with Ed Uding about the inner workings of his system before knowing for sure.

T

[DMCMW Dave]

I went to a local speedo shop and they offered to convert my car over to a electronic speedometer - but the prices were rather high, so I declined. .........

Not cheap - but all do-able.

T

That's really the crux of the electronic speedo issue. I'd love to do it, but the market for a $600+ speedometer conversion is pretty thin (I pulled that price out of thin air, I'll bet the prototype would be even more, so don't ask to order!). The pickup is the relatively easy part, it's converting to an electronic unit that looks stock and still tracks mileage is a problem. I've heard of using a sensor to drive a servo to turn the OEM head, but there can be noise issues with that approach.

It's a nice idea but will not be a "cheap replacement" for angle drives, especially if you want to look OEM. If look at going to an aftermarket (Dakota Digital) unit it gets easier but won't look right.

[David T]

That's really the crux of the electronic speedo issue. I'd love to do it, but the market for a $600+ speedometer conversion is pretty thin (I pulled that price out of thin air, I'll bet the prototype would be even more, so don't ask to order!). The pickup is the relatively easy part, it's converting to an electronic unit that looks stock and still tracks mileage is a problem. I've heard of using a sensor to drive a servo to turn the OEM head, but there can be noise issues with that approach.

It's a nice idea but will not be a "cheap replacement" for angle drives, especially if you want to look OEM. If look at going to an aftermarket (Dakota Digital) unit it gets easier but won't look right.

As with most "upgrades" it always comes down to money. No matter what you do it will, for the foreseeable future, be cheaper to fix your original system no matter what is wrong with it. One big advantage to converting to a full-blown EFI system is that as a side benefit you can get an electronic dash easier. Look up Dakota Dash for more info.

[jawn101]

I have Hervey's angle drive and haven't had any problems. I also have DPNW's upper and lower cables and I cleaned and rebuilt my lambda counter a while back. No issues with the dust cover, etc.