NB Dial Cluster after market speedo

[Donovan]

I am looking at putting in a NB dial cluster into my NA, souly for the reason of the electric speedo output on the T56 gearbox. Was originally thinking about putting in an electronic to mechanical converter, but thought why make life easy for me.

So have talked to the guys at Milford Auto Electrical, and they will sort that part out provided I can get a cluster with the plugs. But the next problem is that all the clusters are out of Jap cars, and only have the 180kph speedo. Since this is going to have a 300kw engine, and it will be on the track, it will get wound past the 180kph pretty quickly.

If I can't find a NZ 220kph cluster the other option is an after market speedo in the cluster. Anyone know where to find one of these?

[Euen]

Going aftermarket could mean rebuilding the whole cluster as I think the standard guages are mounted directly to the printed circuit board. Have a chat to Bob at Robinson Instruments, he may be able to offer some advice.

You could always look at these if you are going aftermarket. The tacho and speedo come in 80mm and 100mm diameters.
http://www.caigauge.com/page36.html

I used the 80mm version.

[Donovan]

Someone mentioned to me that Mazdaspeed used to/still do a aftermarket speedo for the NB, but I haven't been able to find any mention of this on the web.

[2low2c]

for track use who looks at the speedo over 180 anyway you only need a speedo for pit lane speed limet ,if you want to know your speed over 180 use a greddy turbo timer and set it to display speed it can read speeds over 300km .

[Donovan]

ok, change of tact, not looking for the 260kph, just a 240kph NB as in the NZ new.

Can't seem to find a 240kph dial cluster from a wreckers for love nor money. Have tried lot's of places in NZ and Australia. JDM 180's are common as muck (well sort of) but not the 240kph. Am thinking about trying Canada next, to see whether they have any. Any other countries that anyone can think off that would run KPH instead of MPH?

Failing that, can buy just the speedo from Mazda new for under, and just get the JDM cluster and put the new speedo in place of the old one. Another option is get one from the US (they are dirt cheap over there) and replace the face with a 240 face, as theirs are 150MPH, so same scale. The tricky part is the trip meter would still be in Miles, I can get a metric trip meter, and have assumed that the smarts are in the trip meter itself for recording, rather than some place else in the cluster.

Third option is just to buy a whole new cluster, but I am guessing it is pretty expensive.

Of course, even if I still sort out which of the above 3 paths I go down, I still have to try and get my hands on the plugs from the dash loom to wire it all in.

Any thoughts, comments welcome.

And why am I doing all this, basically cause I am stupid, stubborn and thrive on stress. Like the factory look (or as close as possible, without pods and extra gauges all over the place) don't like JDM 180kph (any JDM car I have ever owned I have swapped out the speedo) and my justification for it is if I do a Targa, the allowed top speed 200kph, so need a speedo that at least goes up to that.

[Euen]

......... and my justification for it is if I do a Targa, the allowed top speed 200kph, so need a speedo that at least goes up to that.

If you use the Monit computer, it includes a digital speedo (including storage of maximum speed). Your co-driver monitors that for you so you can keep your eys on the road.

[SLYDIT]

have you thought about having your speedo recalibrated?
you can get the sweep of the dial changed and simply make a new gauge face.
for example the stock sweep has 10 major points of 20kmh increments...just get the dial re calibrated to 25kmh instead this would give you a 225kmh speedo.
i made new "white dials" for my car using some plastic sheet and a good old colour printer! I just edited the dial face in photoshop, added a miata logo etc. no reason why you couldnt do the same with a new 200+ kmh dial.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/264041/19 ... x-5/page-5

also maybe just get some new aftermarket gauge faces, then get speedo re-cal'd to them?

have a look here:

http://www.revlimiter.net/mods/gauges.php


try these places below.

http://www.mx5mania.com.au/product1427.htm

http://www.aucklandspeedoservices.co.nz/

Parrott E & Son Ltd
360 St Asaph St Christchurch
0-3-366-9554
Facsimile 0-3-366-9554

[Donovan]

have you thought about having your speedo recalibrated?
you can get the sweep of the dial changed and simply make a new gauge face.
for example the stock sweep has 10 major points of 20kmh increments...just get the dial re calibrated to 25kmh instead this would give you a 225kmh speedo.
i made new "white dials" for my car using some plastic sheet and a good old colour printer! I just edited the dial face in photoshop, added a miata logo etc. no reason why you couldnt do the same with a new 200+ kmh dial.

So following that logic, am I right in saying that I could add in 10kph in the re-calibration and get a 270k speedo?

Does anyone know what the WOF/legal requirements for speedo readings, as it means that there would be the first marker point of 30kph instead of 20kph. Is it a legal requirment to show markings on the speedo for every 10k (which means I would have to work out the scale when redoing the face) or can just get away with the markings at 30, 60, 90 etc.

[2low2c]

donovan give me a call or come and see me i thinck i can help you out on this a nb six speed dash has the 180km mark a lot higher than a 5 speed
so not hard to modify to go to 240 km

cheers Paul