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speedo and gear change

rowingone

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 2, 2003
Messages
221
Location
colorado
Corvette
1964 conv
The rearend in my freshly purchased 64 was changed to a 308 and now the speedo is off . . can you correct this without removing the tranny?
 
You need to change the speedo drive gear(s) in the tailshaft housing of the transmission. There are several to chose from.
They are, or were, identified by the colors for the appropriate rear end gear ratios. very easy to change once you know what you need. If it's the just the driven gear you need, then it's about a five minute job. If you have to change both the driver mounted on the tailshaft and the driven, then figure about an hour.

vettepilot
 
If the old ratio was 3:55 or less, you will probably only need to make the easy change.

You need to measure your speedometer error first, which can be done by setting a constant speed on the freeway such that the mile marks go by at exactly one minute apart (you are exactly at 60mph) and note the reading on the speedometer. Then pull the plastic "driven" gear currently in the transmission and count the teeth and check the color of the plastic (to do that, remove the speedo cable from the transmission, then a bolt & retainer, and use a screwdriver to gently slide out a fitting, shaft, and plastic gear as an assembly). If that plastic gear has 21 or fewer teeth (possibly 22 teeth IF the plastic gear is silver-colored), you can make the simple driven gear change.

By using the ratio difference between the indicated speed and the actual speed (60mph) divided by 60mph, you can figure out which gear you probably need... if you have a 20-tooth (blue) gear and the speed difference were 10% (ie, 2 teeth), you will now need an 18-tooth (brown) gear. The brown 18-tooth gear is the gear normally found in a 3.08 ratio car, but tire size can make a difference.

Vendors like Corvette Central sell the gears for about $9 each.

If your differential was formerly 3.70 or higher (numerically), then the steel drive gear inside the transmission has to be changed, also, which is a lot more difficult... I think the tranny has to come out to change that one, but I haven't changed one.

There are also aftermarket adjustable cable gearboxes that can be "spliced" into the cable under the dash to allow you to alter the speedometer reading, but it would be relatively expensive (maybe $50 to $100, yet still cheaper than tearing the tranny apart).

If you haven't already noticed, the tachometer needle pretty much parallels the angle of the speedometer needle in 4th gear... you can judge your steady-state speed pretty accurately by simply mentally superimposing the tach needle position onto your speedometer (or make some marks with a grease pencil on the tach face), and thus you can get along pretty well without a speedometer.
 
Frankly, I'm not certain if a mechanically-driven ratio box is "adjustable" except by changing it's internal gears; it is probably ordered to match a particular speedo error. No, I don't know precisely where you can buy one, but a speedometer repair shop would.

Try Bob's speedometer at 800-592-9673.

I did a google search and came up with some hits using argument "speedometer ratio adapter". Here's a few hits:

http://www.a1electric.com/speedometer.htm

http://www.daytonaicecoldautoair.com/

http://www.speedometerservice.com/sales.html
 

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