This forum has been awesome in the past with my C5. I just bought a 1977 C3 and am working on restoring it. Today I was working on the speedo cable. Looks like the previous owner removed the lower cable and cruise control unit. Leaving the upper cable attached and hanging in the enguine bay. I bought the longer direct cable, but can't for the life of me find where it's suppose to connect to the transmission. Can someone point me in the right direction. Also, pictures are worth a thousand words. Thank you.

Benjamin

 

Benjamin,
The cable connects to the drivers side of the tranny right above the tranny cross member. It is a bear to get to and hard to see without removing the cross member. The cross member and the exhaust are right in the way.

 

Thank you. I've seen instructions online on how to remove that cross member. Would you recommend removing that, or is that a must do?

 

At a similar point. Can you shoot me picture of how and where your speedo connects through the firewall on the upper end into the cabin. Thanks.

 

I would pull the cross member. It is 3 bolts on each side. Take the long one out that goes front to back first and the the two lower ones. Put a jack under the back of your tranny to hold it up before you do that. There are also two bolts the connect your cross member to your tranny, un-do them and then slide the cross member towards the back on your exhaust pipes. You will see where the cable connect to. In that hole in the tranny, there is a thing called a "bullet" that connects your cable to your gear inside the tranny. Pull that out and inspect it while you are there. Sometimes the little round gasket goes bad and will leak tranny fluid out. Beware, tranny fluid will come flowing out (I learned that the hard way) when you pull the bullet out so get a bucket ready.

While you are there you can drop your tranny pan and change your fluid and filter. There is also a rubber bumper that goes between the tranny and the cross member and you should replace that also while you are under there.

That long cable you got will come from the tranny, up between the tranny and driver side floor board and will enter the firewall between your power brake booster and the driver side fender. My camera is not working and those are some real tight places to play around in. Once in side the car you will have to push it into the speedometer. Sometimes it is easier to drop the a/c ducting to get up in there.

Nothing at this site about the cable but everything else you need to know about your car is at this website....willcox.com. good place to get parts also and help over the phone.

 

http://willcoxcorvette.com/repairandinstallhelp.php

forgot to put the link.

 

Yes, I'll be home later this evening. I'll post a pic.

 

Thank you. That is extremely helpful. I should be able to fix it this evening.

 

DeepSea70, I hope this helps you. The driver side fender is far right, the hoses that are running from left to front center are the headlight vacuum hoses. Top is the hood release. The hole where you can see blue, yellow, and red wires is where I pulled the speedo cable from. There was a rubber grommet that came out with it too. Let me know if you need anything else. Thank you.

 

any updates?

 

I was able to jack up and get underneath the car last night. The underside looks like has never been cleaned. And throughout the years oil has built up into a sludgey goo. I spent the evening all my time cleaning. Sorry, haven't removed the cross bar or replaced the speedo gear. Looks like Tuesday will be the day I'll have time to get back under there and get it back up and working.

 

It's getting kind of late here and maybe I didn't read the previous posts correctly. But, I have never removed the tranny cross member to pull the speedo cable. Too much work.

However the other end (speedometer not cruise control) is another story. Pulling the dash pad and at least loosening the gauge panel in my experience is needed. Maybe with girly hands you can reach up from underneath and reconnect the cable but I don't think so.

 

The dash part I'm not worried about. There are tons of pictures and instructions on differant ways to install the speedo cable on that side. The tranny side, I couldn't find anything specific. This I my first C3 and the cable wasn't there to begin with. So I guess there is enough room to maneuver to install the cable without removing the crossbar? Do you happen to have pics? Thank you.

 

Just unscrew the silver retainer to remove the cable. You don't need to remove the bullet to pull the cable. But if you need to just remove the small bolt holding the retainer clip and the bullet pulls straight out.

This is a 2004R Trans but as far as I know they all are pretty much the same.

 

Thank you. I just had the chance to hop on. Thank you for the picture. Tuesday I should have the whole day to crawl under there and find where it goes. Or removed the cross member if it comes to that. Thanks for all ya'lls help. I'll post pics of my progress.

 

I installed the cable yesterday. Took pictures of the process. Very straight forward. I didn't have to remove the crossbar. BUT... still no speedo. Before I install at the tranny, I had a helper watch the speedo as I twisted the inter cable and it worked. On the tranny side, I inserted the squared off end into a red gear like object and tighted down the coller with a channel lock wrench. Not too tight though. Any thoughts on why the speedo still doen't work?


Transmission Connection just above the crossbar and exhaust on driver side.


After I connected the speedometer cable


The firewall hole is just above the fuse box under the driverside dash.


Back of speedometer where the cable clips into. Can be seen if you lay on your back and look straight up. I did not loosen or take apart my dash for this install.

I'm open to opinions on why the speedometer still doen't work. Thank you for the help.

 

If your speedometer responds to turning the cable the it has to be at the connection to the transmission or internally. There are two gears that wear out after a bunch of miles. They are the drive and driven gear. The driven gear is the one that your cable goes into. The drive gear turns the driven gear. Where the two meet can be worn out and might need replaced.

 

Can either one of those be replaced without dropping the transmission?

 

The driven gear goes in under the gear housing which is the piece your cable attaches to. I'm not sure on your transmission but the drive gear on some for sure can be replaced without pulling the transmission. I have a 2004R and I replaced mine by removing the pan and pulling the governor from the valve body. 45min job. I think on the 350 the drive gear is slid onto the output shaft and can be a PITA to replace on some. Wish I knew more about other transmissions but I am really only familiar with the 2004R. You should be able to search the forum for instructions from the others. There is a wealth of knowledge here.
Rick

 

On a 350 you can pull one gear out when you pull the "bullet" out. The internal one you have to drop the drive shaft on the transmission and then remove the tail shaft (4 bolts). Tranny fluid will come out so be prepared. YOu will see the internal gear and there is a little clip that you push down on and the gear will slide right off the back.