Electronic speedometer signal

[seventy4burban]

Has anybody ever used or experimented with an aftermarket mechanical to electronic vehicle speed converter? I used to have one on my old Chevy suburban when I added fuel injection. I'm wondering if something could be adapted to the DeLorean to hook up to the mechanical cable and produce a electronic vehicle speed signal

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[JBaker4981]

Speedbox makes one.... Lots of threads about it too :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lhf0LE3OZM

[seventy4burban]

Speedbox makes one.... Lots of threads about it too :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lhf0LE3OZM

That isn't what I meant. I am talking about a device that connects to the mechanical cable and creates a electronic signal. Leaving the angle drive and everything else intact.

[FABombjoy]

Rostra makes in-line cable VSS signal generators for cruise control.

For EFI I'd skip that approach and use a 930 ring with hall effect sensor.
Less expensive and loads more reliable.

[Josh]

That isn't what I meant. I am talking about a device that connects to the mechanical cable and creates a electronic signal. Leaving the angle drive and everything else intact.

The angle drive is the most failure prone portion of the system, and the stock speedometer only accepts a mechanical input.

What you are requesting is very obscure and not sure why you would want the headache.



If you are looking to provide a vehicle speed signal to some sort of device, there are better and more reliable ways of doing this. I must re-iterate that you should not increase your reliance on the delorean angle drive unit - it will let you down.

On my swaps I install a toothed ring on the CV axle. This signal is then interpreted by the ECU or Dakota Digital box.
Another method is going with a speedbox as Jesse suggested and you retorted to; this eliminates the angle drive and provides a conditioned VSS output for other devices.

[seventy4burban]

Well my car has 55,000 mi on it and still has all the original speedometer parts other than the speedometer itself and still works great. The only thing I I've done to it over the years is to make sure that it well lubricated. I'm just not a fan of using a GPS-based device as a measurement of vehicle speed and miles driven.

There's plenty of older vehicles transmissions/ transfer cases that were cable driven that you can maintain the cable driven speedometer but add a vehicle speed sensor for EFI or whatever. So I'm simply trying to think if I could use similar concept for any modern electronic application that happens to require a vehicle speed signal.

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[Bitsyncmaster]

I think my angle drive is one from Grady. It has not let me down for the 20 years of owning my car. So there may be some reliable units out there, just not sure you can find one these days. I did install a one piece cable long ago and that probably helps.

[Emit]

If you want an electronics project to do:

<background>
A few years back I swapped my C4 transmission in my 68 mustang for a more modern '99 4r70w, which didn't, at least to me, have a connector for a speedo, so I needed to build a digital speedo
</background>

You can gut the speedo and put in a stepper motor for dashboards, drive it with an arduino and take the signal from the CV axel, you can even replace the odometer with a little screen, so no gearing or moving parts.

While it sounds easy, there was a lot of trial and error, what worked on the bench was unusable when driving, but I have it stable now and it's being working well for a good few years. I had a lot of fun building it because I needed a winter project, electronics is my happy place and I got to 3D print a bunch of bits to hold it all in situ... so I'm not suggesting this as a solution for anyone, just throwing this into the conversation.

[Bitsyncmaster]

If you want an electronics project to do:

<background>
A few years back I swapped my C4 transmission in my 68 mustang for a more modern '99 4r70w, which didn't, at least to me, have a connector for a speedo, so I needed to build a digital speedo
</background>

You can gut the speedo and put in a stepper motor for dashboards, drive it with an arduino and take the signal from the CV axel, you can even replace the odometer with a little screen, so no gearing or moving parts.

While it sounds easy, there was a lot of trial and error, what worked on the bench was unusable when driving, but I have it stable now and it's being working well for a good few years. I had a lot of fun building it because I needed a winter project, electronics is my happy place and I got to 3D print a bunch of bits to hold it all in situ... so I'm not suggesting this as a solution for anyone, just throwing this into the conversation.

I like a digital MPH. My Toyota has both but never look at the dial. Much less work doing digital readout.

[mike123]

Making a BTTF style speedometer was the first domino to fall in a line that led me to buying a DeLorean. It was super fun. I use GPS but if I were to redo it, I would use one of those Hall sensor rings.

And totally agree on it being easier than the needle gauge. For the past two years, I kept my digital BTTF speedometer on the binnacle and used that while driving - it was the only time machine part I had but it was just so darn practical.

It was especially useful when the spindle thing in my angle drive broke after 73,000 miles :-) That is despite the previous owner logging every time he lubricated it. They all work perfectly until they all of a sudden don't!