shaners90lxhatch

ANY advice or experiences regarding this subject would be greatly appreciated. My '90 lx has a tremec 3550 and an all autometer pro comp ultra lite gauges. Fuel, oil, temp, volts, tach, speedo and n20/fuel psi in the center vent. I cannot get this bitch of a speedo to work for more than a week. First, the plastic drive for the gauge snapped during the 11 hour drive it took me to get it home after purchase. No biggie, I got a new cable for it and had to swap over the gauge end from the original cable (stock attachment is different). I crimped it a bit too tight and my bouncy needle soon took out the next weakest link - the driven gear on the vss unit. It did not strip the teeth off the gear, rather it rounded out the square part of the gear that the cable feeds into. I couldn't find a 23 tooth gear through ford to work with my 4.10's and 245/45/17's so a 21 tooth was the next best option. I installed it, attached the end to the cable with NO CRIMPING and drove it over 1000 miles from Detroit to Illinois and back (and around town quite a bit). I am doing donuts, hole shots, drifts all kinds of stuff and she just kept on reading (although bouncy below 50mph). Now, on my way to work this a.m. I hit the gas to swing me around a corner and the next thing I know it is inop again. I know it has not come apart at the gauge. That end is on there with like 50 wraps of electrical tape and two heat shrink tubes. IT IS GOING NOWHERE. Obviously there is stress on the cable somewhere but it follows the stock routing! The damn ford engineers put the hole in the firewall behind the intake so no matter what I do, it is making at a 60 degree bend at at least one point. The 3550 is nearly identical in placement of the vss and although it makes a good bend there as well, I don't think that is my problem. ANYONE else experiencing similar issues? Will my stock vss work with an electric gauge? any advice on cable routing? Does the gauge cluster in conjunction with the 3550 damn me forever? Please tell me your thoughts guys, I need something as I have monkey'd with this thing long enough. To make matters worse, my dash gets weaker and weaker each time I take it apart as the ******* before me has all the broken dash tabs fastened with drilled holes and sheet metal screws. Sorry for the book, let it flow bros.[:@]

shaners90lxhatch

geez, one at at time people. don't tell me I am the only one here with a tremec and/or an aftermarket speedo. Everyone has their $.02 on rims/tires/exhuast but nobody has any help for a speedo cable. I know some of you have at least disconnected it before.. HELP A GUY OUT WOULD YA?[>:]

dimebag

well tires/rims/exhaust is very common, and most all of the ppl here know and have opinions about that. a speedo problem is not as common as say puttin on some new rims, etc... therefore... maybe the ppl that are on at the moment just dont know... im sure they could give ya some kinda answers... but they know theyd be off, so why lie to ya??? just give the post some time... get back on later tn(11-1 ish) and bump it to the top.. theres usualy more ppl on then, and they might be able to help ya out.

7upedition

i bought my 23tooth from 50resto.com for ten bucks and works like a champ, i do not have the aftemarket trans or speedo guage though, what brand guage is it? have you tried rerouting the cable for a less aggressive bend?

93must

If you have the wrong gear in there it wont last long! It is probably chewing the gears of it! Its only plastic!

shaners90lxhatch

not trying to be pushy or anything........and you do have a good point about the rims & tires........ all I know is that besides myself and a few good friends, I rely on the mustang expertise of you gentlemen to help me get my beast in proper order.
I work for a ford diagnostic center (techs call me when they cant figure out how to fix the car) so have all kinds of little perks and info tidbits at my disposal but as you can imagine, all the fox body manuals have mysteriously grown legs and walked out. As you can imagine, it takes a bit of swallowed pride to ask technical questions to "laymen". Guys at work are help but I like multiple opinions. BTW, If anyone needs specs, carfax, vin histories, ANY STOCK info, EEC help, books for ANY FLM product - let me know. I can find out ANYTHING you want to know. Scratch my back and I will scratch yours.

PONY GUY

I dont mean to high jack this thread but i have a c-4 tha that has a speed sensor in the tail shaft that sends a siganl to the spedo The i have car si a 86 nothcback will the stcok spedo cable in the 86 fit in the same location on that tranny I know thats where they went i just dotn know if th hole size is diferent and i have 235/50/r15 and 4.10 gears what gear should i up grade on the spedo cable?

7upedition

The fact that they are plastic has nothing to do with it, or the teeth number, the gear goes into the same housing and drives the same cable, the only difference is that the speedo will read fast er than you are going when the wrong tooth is used.

in the tech section there is a sticky on speedo gear based on gear ratio and tire size and make model

PONY GUY

so how did u make out with your speedo issue?

shaners90lxhatch

Gear is stripped again (not the teeth, the square part that drives the cable)....so I have an issue with cable tension. I don't know how to resolve this other than getting yet another cable and routing it differently.. But what I am going to do is ditch the pain-in-the-*** cable and link my vss for cruise and dashpot to an electronic gauge.. EBAY here I come. 90 stang with electric speedo...... I like the sound of that.