[DeTomaso] Speedometer Cable

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 4/12/13 12 41 7, JDeRyke at aol.com writes:


> Not sure on the wide-body cars. On early Panteras, removing the 
> thumbscrews
> that hold the speedo in place sometimes allows the instrument to pull out
> the front enough to get pliers on the nut. This situation sometimes comes
> from owners who over-oiled the internal cable, then tried to prevent 
> leakage by
> over-tightening the nut. Or from simple corrosion. Maybe a skinny, 
> flexible
> neighborhood kid with small hands could reach under the dash with 
> waterpump
> pliers?
> 

>>>All excellent suggestions.   I would also say that working on it while 
lying on your back, under the car, can really suck.   It's possible to just 
kneel on the ground alongside the car with the door open, and reach in with 
your left hand to do this work.   You are doing it entirely by feel in that 
case though, and there is a lot of junk in the way (wires, defroster hose, 
metal structure, etc. etc.)

The last time I did one of these, we followed the advice Jack gives above, 
and pushed the instrument out of the dash and into the cabin, then we were 
able to get the cable swapped out in a somewhat more comfortable way (the 
wires etc. prevented it from coming very far so we still had to do it kneeling 
on the side of the car).

Getting it back together was an adventure.   The left-side knurled nut 
could be threaded in place kneeling outside the car, but the inside one required 
the upside-down-under-the-dash trick.

This job is never any fun.   Do everything you can to ensure the cable's 
routing into the back of the gauge is as straight as possible.   Many times, 
the cable will make broad, gentle curves all the way from the back to the 
front of the car, and then the last inch will feature a sharp bend where it 
enters the back of the speedo, a guarantee of a quick fail and the need to do 
it again.   You want the cable to have as straight a shot as possible where 
it enters the gauge.   That means routing it over/under/alongside/through the 
various other obstacles that you will encounter behind the dash.

Good luck!

Mike