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Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: 4380r on Saturday,December 28, 2013, 04:07:52 PM

Title: May I ask a stupid question?
Post by: 4380r on Saturday,December 28, 2013, 04:07:52 PM

Took my speedo out today. Because the speedo gear drive in the 365 transmission is essentially unobtainable now, I'm installing a GPS driven Speedhut speedo/odo. Visually looks very much like stock, and actually will function a whole lot better. Sacrificing originality for functionality.When the apocalypse comes, and satellites fall from the sky, it won't work anymore. But by then, who will care?

That said, had to take the speedo out largely by hand/not by sight, reaching up under the dash. There are/were black (ground) wires on each of the speedo mounting posts. What do those ground wires go to/come from? Assuming one for the gauge light? Yes? No? The other?

Thanks for indulging my naivte/ignorance.

Title: Re: May I ask a stupid question?
Post by: EuropaTC on Saturday,December 28, 2013, 10:17:40 PM

As far as I know the thin earth wires just form a circuit for the dash lights. I haven't looked closely at the Europa circuit but I'd guess that the two wires form part of a "ring main" type earth circuit going around all the instruments ?

Brian

Title: Re: May I ask a stupid question?
Post by: Serge on Sunday,December 29, 2013, 12:59:57 AM

There are some people that are reproducing speedo gears for Alpine A110 gearboxes, there might be one that fits the 365 gearbox. I think at least one of them fits the 336 gearbox.

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370457764929&ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370457739338&ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

The same seller lists quite a lot of different speedo gears, with a lot of different gears, so I would check him out if you want a speedo gear.

Edit: He lists this one for the 365 gearbox, but please triple check this is correct:
http://cgi.ebay.fr/PIGNON-TACHYMETRIQUE-11-DENTS-ALPINE-SC-A310-/370457746853?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_71&hash=item5641009da5



Kind regards,

Serge

Title: Re: May I ask a stupid question?
Post by: andy harwood on Sunday,December 29, 2013, 07:39:28 AM

what Brain says.
when I replaced the gauges in my tcs, that is exactly what I found.
hth

Title: Re: May I ask a stupid question?
Post by: 3929R on Thursday,January 02, 2014, 08:17:06 AM

Quote from: 4380r on Saturday,December 28, 2013, 04:07:52 PM

...the speedo gear drive in the 365 transmission is essentially unobtainable now...

What does "essentially unobtainable" mean?  Did you check with the usual suppliers?  Prohibitively pricey or just non-existent?

My speedo hasn't worked since I pulled my car out of its storage container.  The speedo cable is severely kinked where it enters the trans and I fear the gear drive might be toast.  I've been using an old GPS running watch when I want to know how fast I'm going but it would be nice to get the original speedo working. 

Serge,  Thanks for the tip!  I hope to get back to my rolling restoration this spring and summer and will check out this lead.