150 mph speedo practicality

[TimW]

I just noticed my new2me 914 has a 150 mph speedo, which is blocked from view quite nicely by the ~smaller than OEM~ Dino steering wheel, both there from the PO.

Both rate high on the cool meter, geeze the Dino is like a video game wheel, but is this setup at all practical for anything but track racing? All I’ll be doing is daily city driving...but doing it in style .

Or should I just be satisfied knowing 25mph is somewhere between 0 and 30, and 45mph is somewhere between 30 and 60?

[BTW: I just noticed because I haven’t sat in the drivers seat since the cold, dark night I drove it off the car dolly and into it’s winter restoration home.]

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Just be satisfied with the 150 MPH speedo. It's stock on many of the 914s anyway. It should keep the "area of interest" reasonably visible, and the extra "resolution" you'd get by going with the 120 is just about not noticeable.

Besides, 914 speedos are pretty inaccurate anyway.

--DD

[HMeeder]

Dave's right.

The 120 mph speedo has a touch more resolution (being in 5 mph increments)

Like Tim I have a smaller wheel on my '72 which at freeway speeds renders the needle completely blocked from view.

My'74 has a stock wheel and the 150 mph speedo (a bit like having a 3rd arm, considering our cars typically can barely crack the 100-110 zone on the best of days, going downhill, with a tailwind.) More of the usable range is visible with this set up, but like Dave says accuracy is questionable.

What I do, for the most part is drive by sound and tach. There's a reason the Tach is bigger than the rest of the guages. The speedo is a vestigial organ put there to keep the safety Nazis happy. But then again, when my speedo broke, I took it apart and repaired it--

Again, use the speedo to compare and find out what revs equal what speed in what gear. This will in the long run teach you more about how your car drives and also help you should you ever want to autocross or time trial.

Besides,you are probably most likely to get a speeding ticket at around town speeds which is the part of the speedo you can still see.

Motor On!

------------------
Herb
'72 1.7 Tangerine 'Teen
'74 2.0 Red Rustmobile

[DDS]

I seem to remember that you can rotate the speedo so that the most used areas are visible. Haven't tried it.

Dave

[HMeeder]

Very true:

The gauges are only held in place by a rubber ring. If they have never been removed you can use a slim piece of plastic (like one of those disposable putty knives) to pry the thing loose. Of course, you can use a screwdriver but may risk nicking/scratching the trim ring or your dash.

Many of the guys who race turn the tach so that red-line is at the 12 o'clock position. That way you never have to take your eyes off the track. When you see the needle in your peripheral vision, you know your hitting your motor's limits.

Or... you can turn it so the fattest part of your power band is at 12 o'clock. That way as long as you can see the needle you know you are geting the most out of the motor. our cars don't have enough torque, so to pull around the track as quickly as possible, you've got to keep the revs up.

I'm no expert at racing, but that's what I hear and my experience so far leads me to favor the last approach. If I can get my broken toy running for the next AutoX I'll be giving it a shot.

Also, Dave's comment about accuracy seems to be valid, if only for the fact that virtually everyone runs on tires with other than stock aspect ratio. (I think I remember reading that the originals for some cars equates to 155/85 or something. My 30 year old owner's manual states that if moving to a 165 series tire that the speedometer must be replaced. At any rate, much taller and narrower than todays tires.) This means that, unless you have the original rubber, your speedo isn't going to be accurate antway. I think that I also remember seeing on the 914fan.net site someone having a formula for converting different tire sizes to different speeds. It never bothered me enough to look for.


------------------
Herb
'72 1.7 Tangerine 'Teen
'74 2.0 Red Rustmobile

[This message has been edited by HMeeder (edited 02-28-2001).]

[TimW]

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I now have 8 fairly new 165’s, so stock it is for quite a while ~translation~ my speedo should be right on.

Dave I like your suggestion, and yes it will work/rotate. It seems reasonable, although it will probably drive my wife crazy...if she ever drives the 914...if she can figure out the shifting pattern...if she can stand the noise from the Monza...okay, my wife can’t drive our 914.

Anyway, I’ll give it a try and if I don’t like it I’ll make the swap.

Thanks for the feedback. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t doing something foolish.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Even with the right size tires, the speedos don't appear to be all that accurate. I've even seen complaints in magazine articles from 1970 about the "optimistic" 914 speedometers.

It's just the nature of the beast, I suppose.

An interesting coincidence--my little tiny tires and my speedometer cancel each other out at ~70 MPH and higher. The speedo seems to read pretty accurately up that end, even though it's about 5 MPH faster than my actual speed at 30 MPH.

--DD