speedo cables

[Austin Healer]

The last 4 cables I have purchased from Sunbeam Specialties have not been correctly manufactured. The inner cable is approximately 3/8" too long. I installed the cable into the drive end of the speedometer and bottomed it out. i did install the rubber o-ring in order to avoid preloading the cable on the speedo connection. It was impossible to install the nylon gear for the drive inside the gearbox.. My solution, at least for now, was to drill a hole in the end of the nylon gear so the cable could pass through it completely. There is no possibility that the gearbox can ingest the cable as there is a compressed cable stop at the speedo end. I have tested this on the bench and the speedo works when driven in reverse with a drill....

Just wondering if anyone else out there has had the same issue and if there is an alternate source or solution.

 

[Agent 861]

The last one I did was fine -However was a RHD one and ex Tiger Alpine Spares in the UK

 

[Austin Healer]

The last one I did was fine -However was a RHD one and ex Tiger Alpine Spares in the UK

I have it all assembled now... and the speedo works fine... the cable hangs out 3/8" past the end of the plastic gear. I suppose I'm going to go through this again when I convert the car over to RHD after my move to the green and pleasant land!

 

[Bryan]

I have some inner cables

 

[Austin Healer]

I have some inner cables

I have a pair of new cables from Sunbeam Specialties. They are identical and both inner cables are too long. I tested them with several gears and with two different speedo units (MK1 and Mk2). My solution to drill the gear to allow the cable to extend through completely solved the issue. later today I will measure the inner and outer parts.

 

[Austin Healer]

A picture below to illustrate the issue. With the speedo cable inserted into the gauge to it's collar and an o-ring on the drive end to eliminate cable preload on the gauge the cable extends past the gearbox connection by 3/4". The plastic gear for the speedo drive bottoms out on the cable before you can install the gear retaining clip (by 3/8"). If I didn't have the o-ring on the drive end of the gauge the cable would extend past the gearbox connector by 7/8" and the clip position would be off by 1/2".

The gear will fit with a maximum of 3/8" of cable extended past, Anymore and the cable will either bind on the speedo or the gear will bind. Either you'll get a stripped gear, or a snapped cable.

I measured the inner cable and it's 83" long. The outer sleeve is 81.5" long. The cable assembly would work if one of the following modifications were done. The cable was 1/2" shorter, or the sleeve was 1/2" longer. With these dimensions the o-ring probably wouldn't be required, though I'd still use if for safeties sake.