Conversion to electronic speedo ?

[earlybay]

Anyone know what would be involved in converting my 350i to an electronic speedo ? Rimmer seem to list an SD1 speedo transducer - would it just be replacing the speedo cable take-off (off the final drive) with an electronic one and then calibrating the read-out ?

[B@man]

You will have to change the speedometer to one that accepts a pulsed signal, I believe speedy cables can do this but I guess it won't be cheap as they need to put a circuit board and stepper motor into your housing. I know Griff / Chimp have electrically operated speedo's as the Griff gearbox I bought lat year has a pulse generator fitted where the speedo drive should go.

If your current speedo is working it seems like a lot of trouble !

[earlybay]

yes sorry meant to say obviously id have to change the speedo itself ...

my speedo isn't working at the moment due to an issue with the cable so its just something I was considering, but probably not worth it in the long run as you say ...

[B@man]

The cable run on the wedge is pretty good as there are no real tight bends. So unless the head is shot it's probably easier to stick with the cable !

One of my previous cars the speedo cable did a right angle turn as it left the box and as such became a consumable !

[wooly350i]

We used Cable-Tec cables and controls for Delilah's and my v8 Speedo cables, very quick and efficient.
Just checked my details and they're email is [e-mail]
Cheers wooly.

[RCK974X]

Even with a transducer instead of a cable, you still have to calibrate the speedo - newer aftermarket ones have a procedure to do this on a measured mile, and/or to a set number of pulses per mile. But you need to know turns per mile on your wedge.

For example, Ford based stuff is simple as Ford pretty much stuck to 1000 turns per mile for all their models, or 2000/4000 pulses per mile on the transducers (2 or 4 pulses per turn), but unfortunately BL didn't seem to adopt a nice simple standard (as far as I know).

Wiring is easy, just power & earth to speedo, and two or three wires between speedo and transducer.