I made the mistake of trying to clean my old speedo face when I had the dash apart, and wiped off several numbers Since then, I've seen a few posts by those that have done the same. I guess the paint on there really oxidizes over the years. Anyway, there are many reproduction faces sold, and I was wondering what was involved with replacing the face. Is it just a simple "remove screws and replace" operation? And I assume the speedo needle just pulls off, but how do I ensure I get it back on correctly? Thanks for any help!

 

What year is your car?

 

Oops - I forget to show my signature... it's a '71.

 

ttt - I already bought the replacement face, just want to know what I'm getting myself into other than the dash removal. Anyone do this?

 

I recently pulled the speedo on my '71...

The work isn't that hard, but it did take some time.

I started by disconnecting the negative terminal of my battery (safety tip!), then by pulling out the seat (makes the under-the-dash work much easier, pulling the seat is trivial). Pulled off the pads on the side of the winshield frame so I can pop the top dash pad up (this is something like 4, maybe 6 screws). Undo the screws on the top of the driver's side panel, same with the passenger side (to pop the main dash pad up, don't forget to remove the screw from the center console to the dash pad).

Now unscrew the rest of the driver's side panel screws (two on the door side, two on the center console side). Also remove the steering colum cover from under (again, two screws). There are two huge bolts that hold the steering column up, undo those and drop the column down (depending on the size of your midsection, it may make your life easier to pull the steering wheel, I'm a small guy, so I didn't bother).

At this point, the drivers panel should move forward a little bit quite easily. Don't pull too hard! Now reach around and disconnect the tach and speedo cables from the back. Once you disconnect those, your dash should be pretty free to move (but don't yank it!!).

Now you need to disconnect a bunch of wires and vaccume hoses. There is a connector to the headlight switch as well as vaccume hoses. Be sure to label the vaccume lines!!! Also remove the hoses from the override switches on the bottom (again, label them!). Disconnect the main harness from the steering column (this is for turn signal switches 'n such). At this point, you should see at least 14, maybe more individual wires going into the back of the speedo and tach. These are the lights and ground wires.

At this point, all wires should be off of the back of the panel. Be careful pulling the panel forward, as the main wiring harness is draped over the top of the panel and held in by metal straps (I bent mine out of the way, they are quite flexible so no real harm done).

Your panel should be free!

Unscrew the speedometer from behind the panel and the entire unit should come out easily. Pull the needle off carefully (hold the center with your fingers and twist against the normal direction). This will allow you to pull the face plate off and replace it. You may want to have the speedometer serviced, but that could be expensive (around $150), consider having the needle calibrated or you run the risk of having it be wrong once you have it installed again.


Putting things back together is pretty much the reverse. Just take it slow, and if things feel like they don't fit, something is in the way. Don't force it. A few "while you're at it" things to do, replace all of the little bulbs, the headlight switch, maybe even the speedo and tach cables as well (all of which are cheap... headlight switch is the most expensive, around $40). Nothing like having something simple like that go once you get it all back together.


You could probably do this in fewer steps, but I have a tendancy to prefer more, easier work than less harder work (reaching behind the panel to undo the speedo and tach cables without doing everything is very doable, but that leads to way more cuss words than I'm used to saying).

Also, I'm pretty much an amature mechanic, but a little bit ****, and I found the job pretty simple... All told I spent about 6-8 hours of actual work (I labeled screws 'n stuff to make sure I could get it all back together).

Alex

 

Alex - Outstanding write-up. Thank you! I have done this removal in the distant past, but this makes it seem much more "do-able" now. And thanks for the other tips - I really should get a new headlight switch, as mine is heading south. Something I might have forgotten. Good note on the speedo calibration, too. I hope I can get away without it, but that is a good idea. Always a "while I'm at it", isn't there? Thanks again!