T5 gearbox into M series

[spitfire4v8]

I have an M in at the moment, converted to ford V8 with T5 gearbox.

What have people done about the speedo drive cable on similar conversions? There's a cable in the gearbox which is presumably a ford based cable, but what have you done at the Speedometer end which is presumably Triumph (smiths) instruments?

Not particularly keen on sending everything to speedy cables, I won't see it back for a year!

Any advise appreciated

cheers

[GAjon]

My recollection, albeit a T5 to an Essex , was the standard drive cable fit.
The gearbox end was a square ended inner cable with the outer terminating on a circular metal flange retained by a circlip in the gearbox speedo drive unit.

[anonymous-user]

spitfire4v8 said:

I have an M in at the moment, converted to ford V8 with T5 gearbox.

What have people done about the speedo drive cable on similar conversions? There's a cable in the gearbox which is presumably a ford based cable, but what have you done at the Speedometer end which is presumably Triumph (smiths) instruments?

Not particularly keen on sending everything to speedy cables, I won't see it back for a year!

Any advise appreciated

cheers

Speedycables were getting more staff trained so maybe a couple of days short of a year now

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 24th October 18:25

[1969tuscan]

Just got a Speedo cable with circlip 80in length to fit type 9 five speed gearbox and Smith's drive for Speedo end for my 1969 vixen off eBay fits all Smith's Speedo head conversion cable ,plenty on there but this is cheapest I found £23/95 and fits straight on

[spitfire4v8]

^^^ wow will definitely give that a look.

Should have made things a bit clearer intially in that it's a 2500M conversion so original gearbox was a triumph not a Ford, sorry for the confusion.

[anonymous-user]

Jules,
I needed a new speedo for my conversion, went for electronic smiths cobra speedo.

[catfishdb]

My 2500M had the original Triumph cable fitted. I have forgotten if there was any fidling with the transmission end. It was almost too short to run the length without any tight turns. The cable at the back of the original Smiths gauge turned too sharp and snapped after a year of moderate use. I wasn't that happy with it anyway. It tended to jump around a bit at low speeds.

So...........I had a set of gauges made at SpeedHut in the US. This also corrected the tach.

Arthur

[catfishdb]

Couldn't help myself.........had the rest of the gauges ordered as well.

So much easier to read at low light levels.

[Slow M]

catfishdb said:

Couldn't help myself.........had the rest of the gauges ordered as well.

So much easier to read at low light levels.

Looks great!

[catfishdb]

Thanks Bernard,

I originally wanted to keep the factory gauges but they were so dim and the speedometer jumping issue bugged me. Together with the 6cyl. tach. trying to read the pulses of the V8.

Back to V8 conversions...... what has everyone done about the shift lever location? Mine sits roughly in the same location but required the lever post to be bend quite dramatically. In 1st it looks ok but 2nd and reverse are "up-hill". I never leave it in reverse when parked because it looks odd if you peer in the window at the gear shift location. I think that is a personal issue.

It is off to the fab shop over the winter to have the roll bar tied into a full cage. Every once in a while I get freaked out in traffic when sitting beside an SUV. Only a bit of plastic between me and the great outdoors.

Looking forward to next summer.
Arthur

[GAjon]

catfishdb said:

what has everyone done about the shift lever location? Mine sits roughly in the same location but required the lever post to be bend quite dramatically. In 1st it looks ok but 2nd and reverse are "up-hill". I never leave it in reverse when parked because it looks odd if you peer in the window at the gear shift location. I think that is a personal issue.



Arthur

This is on a T5.

[catfishdb]

Aha....I see what you did there.
Puts the shifter forward in a more comfortable position with a flatter shift pattern.....yet so simple.

Off to make some notes.
Thank you John,
Arthur

[GAjon]

The actual position is where it is with the cranked lever, but the movement arc is reduced stopping the gaiter from being ripped and it also feels slicker.

[LLantrisant]

just one word to the above shown GPS speedo:

they only show you the speed when you have GPS signal.....in some rural areas, in mountains or tunnels....the speedo will drop to zero.....and catch-up again once the signal is back....i have driven certain roads where the GPS signal was missing for several miles....

and: officially by law they arent allowed too.

[catfishdb]

You are correct about it reading zero when there is little or no wireless signal. It happens on occasion briefly. The one that I find interesting is when I start it up from time to time it will read "acquiring" for a couple of blocks before it gets a reading.

I am hard pressed to find any tunnels over here in central Canada, so not an issue.

To be honest....never looked into the legality of it. I find that our police mainly stick to radar speed enforcement. Unfortunately there appears to be little enforcement of the myriad of other traffic rules. Now I'm curious if the GPS speedo is on a list somewhere.

Arthur