I finally got around to doing some work on the Z by installing the Instrument cluster polished rings to my otherwise stock dash and must admit. w o w The dash looks awesome :thumbsup: Also, a few months ago I put in the 300Km/h fascia and reported that the speedo was on a time warp. (ie slow to respond during both acceleration and deceleration)thinking I stuffed it. Something about a spring inside the speedo etc... Well, took this opportunity to revisit the damn thing and after carefull study and serious thought I ended up removing the shaft stuck to the needle completely again, in fact did this several times, thinking the speedo is wrecked anyway, why not experiment. BUT dig this...... Investigation showed: - A slightly bent needle shaft - The needle movement felt restricted - But if you pull the shaft out a little bit at a time the needle movement became free of restriction. This had me baffled for a quite a while. Remedy: - Straigtened the needle shaft - Then pushed/forced the needle shaft as far in the speedo base as it would go and BINGO. Free needle movement as normal. - Installed the dash in the car and went for a drive and speedo is well and trully back to normal. - Jumped up and down with extreme Joy. Conclusion: - When trying to seperate the shaft from the needle, as recommended in the instructions, the whole shaft came out from the speedo base and must have bent slightly in the process. - When I attempted to place the shaft back into the speedo base, it was not pushed in as far as it could go due to fear of causing damage. This resulted in the shaft not sitting correctly in the speedo base restricting needle movement and resulting in slow response. What I'm trying to get at is that if anyone else has a slow speedo response after changing the speedo fascia or for whatever other reason this does not necessarily mean that the speedo is wrecked. What I learned during this exercise: - I don't believe there's a spring in the speedo base. - The needle moves due to magnetism - One way to prove this is to turn the ignition on then push the needle about mid way towards the RHS (300KM)side of the speedo and it will flick all by itself in an instant to over 300km. Do the opposite and the needle will flick in an instant to below the "0" mark. This is not done by spring but by the power that is provided to the speedo base (not sure what to call it) Now, if you perform the above two steps without power to the instrument cluster, the needle will behave completely different. It will only move due to gravity, it,s a completely different feel. I hope this makes sense. Anyway, if anyone else has the slow speedo response sidrome there may be a way to fix it. Peter
Hey thanks for the tips A mate of mine has recently put a new speedo in and the needle lags behind on him, hopefully it needs the same fix you just mentioned, should make him happy.:thumbsup:
Get him to give it a go, there's nothing to loose, really. Been driving to work since yesterday and the speedo is faultless!!!!!!! Another thing on calibration... Use the cruise ctrl as your means of calibrating your speedo. This works if you have an unmodified Cruise Ctrl Get on a freeway, and set the C/ctrl to maximum ie 110km/h then see where your needle is pointing. Stop the car and adjust needle as necessary to show dead on 110km. Go for several drives while using the C/ctrl @ 110max setting to confirm. This works a treat and is better than following someone doing 60, 80 etc... V HAPPY Peter
Re: Get him to give it a go, there's nothing to loose, really. Nice write up, but where's the pics? :thumbsup:
I didn't take any photos for two reasons... 1. I don't have any web space to host them 2. If you go to the rings group buy there are photos there. Sorry about the photo bit but I can't wipe off the smile from my face. Absolutely love the look of the dash with the rings!!!! :thumbsup: :zlove:
You guys, I dunno I took my stainless facia, the new 300K speedo face to the instument guy. He did the lot. Glued the stainless face on, and fitted the 300klm/hr face and calibrated the speedo (which on its own is $45) for $85. AND I only had to pull it once. It has me stuffed why people think some of these jobs are home jobs. Your speedo only has to be out of 3 klms an hour to get a speed camera ticket down here ! Seems cheap to me somehow !! LOL he reconned he makes so much money from guys who have rooted up their cluster fiddling with it. He loves em for it.
