Took my newly aqcuired B down to Shrewsbury yesterday, top down in the sun and took along my satnav for company (and 'er indoors ). Was rather disappointed to see how far out the speedo was. As this B was bought new from DTR back in 2000 I am assuming that DTR just stuck an MPH speedo dial over the original KPH one as the milometer and odometer are still KPH. When the speedo was reading 70MPH the actual speed with the satnav was 60MPH
That's quite a discrepancy, I would have expected around 3 or 4 MPH difference but not that much. I guess it's just the actual printed numbers on the MPH speedo that are in the wrong place

Did DTR import the car or was it UK spec build?

Mine has a KPH speedo guage with a convertor to MPH on the same gauge so has an MPH sticker on covering the KPH one if you know what I mean.

60 mph is just under 100 kph so your theory doesn't sound quite right?

Wonder if the speedo cable is slipping, does the needle move about or is it rock steady as it goes up & down the scale?

Not sure Alan whether you have read what I have written
So I read what I wrote again just to make sure I knew what I had written
The speedo was showing 70MPH but the true speed on the satnav was 60MPH. I am assuming that DTR have stuck an MPH dial over the original KPH dial.
DTR imported the car new for the guy that I bought it from so it will have had a KPH speedo and like I mentioned, the mileometer and odometer still read in KPH.
Confused?? you will be............

Ok got that, but if the clock was showing 70MPH then that's 110kph or 70kph is 50mph so I doubt it's anything to do with the clocks as such and more chance of it being the speed convertor gearing or the speedo cable.

No Alan, what I mean is, I think that the MPH face that I assume has been stuck over the top of the KPH face is wrong in that the figures are printed in the wrong place.
I'm quite sure that the actual speedo is reading the same as any other speedo and if I was to remove the MPH face then it would be correct. Now if I could remove the MPH face and turn it about 5 degrees clockwise then it be nearer the mark

So is it out by the same ammount at all speeds? maybe the speedo needle was put back offset as I would think the speedo dial would have cut out's etc to make sure it sat in the right place.

Now you mention it I think it is. I noticed that when the speedo read 60MPH the satnav said 50MPH which is the same margin as at 70MPH. Also, the needle sits at around 10MPH at rest. Maybe a strip down and look-see is on the cards

Just be carefull there has been a few threads about the needle being damaged when removed. Although why they didn't just use a convertor is beyond me?

Whqt do you mean by a converter??
Come to think about it, they must have removed the KPH face rather than stick an MPH face over the top otherwise the dash lights would be very dark and they would be trying to illuminate both sets of numbers whereas the MPH speedo is well lit from behind.

The convertor changes the mechanical movement of the speedo needle and geared in such a way that it turns the kph movement to mph. My barchetta is fitted with one so both the speed & milometer now both records miles but as a result the trip meter doesn't work BUT the speedo shows a scale of up to 240mph

OK, thanks Alan.
I have just bought the chrome surrounds for all the dials so the instrument panel will be coming off very shortly (maybe today) so I will investigate further

Sounds like when whoever changed the face with the writing on from KMPH to MPH they didn't take note of where the needles were dead at.

This may be a little hard to explain...

When you take the speedo cluster out and remove the front covers, you must pull off the dead pins to fit the new face plate. If you don't mark where the needles drop too they won't read right. You can also just pull the needle behind the dead pin and mark where it sits at.

It may be a case of just pulling the needles off rotating them a few degrees and putting them back.

This is, as Alan says a bit difficult and it is easy to break the needles altogether. As the needles may have been pulled off already, they may pull of more easy than normal.

Would be worth taking the speedo cluster out and having a fiddle. If you want to take the cluster out of the car, I would disconnect the battery before unconnecting the wires in case the air bag light decides to play silly buggers...


DJ OD

Thanks for all the info DJ OD

Hi mine is the same in so much as at standstill mine is reading 10mph (its very economical at that speed you just never seem to get anywhere!!). It looks as though the stuck on face has been stuck on in slightly the wrong place as in rotation. I think I will live with it for now.

I have an overlay, but it seems to be fairly accurate.

I'm not worried about the speed at standstill as I think my old Alfa 33 didn't go below 20mph !

Have you tried hitting it with a hammer, super?

Mine shows 5 km/h at standstill.

Ha bloody Ha