C5 Tech Corvette Tech/Performance: LS1 Corvette Technical Info, Internal Engine, External Engine, Tech Topics, Basic Tech, Maintenance, How to Remove & Replace
Sponsored by:
Sponsored by:

Speedometer swap: 200 vs. 300 MPH

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 12:20 AM
  #1  
94legaleagle's Avatar
94legaleagle
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
15 Year Member
 
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,364
Likes: 1
From: Rugby North Dakota
Default Speedometer swap: 200 vs. 300 MPH

Saw a thread the other day with a 300 MPH speedometer which got me to wondering:

1 - are 300 MPG speedos available in the USA from GM? OR, are the 300 MPG speedos a Canadian only thing? - I'm referring to a factory/GM 300 speedometer gauge face.

2 - has anyone swapped their 200 MPH Speedo out for a 300 MPH speedo? if so, what is all required?

3 - can you just swap the factory 200 MPH speedo for a 300 MPH speedo - will everything work and will your speed show correctly on the 300 MPH speedo, OR, do you have to swap other parts / sensors, etc . . . in order to get a 300 MPH speedo to work correctly

IN SHORT, someone been there/done this, who can walk me thru the process? I think it would be COOL to have a 300 MPH speedo. It's the one interior mod I'm seriously interested in.
Reply
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 12:28 AM
  #2  
DefenderC5's Avatar
DefenderC5
Melting Slicks
15 Year Member
Conversation Starter
All Eyes On Me
 
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 3,447
Likes: 6
From: Los Angeles
Default

300 km/h??

I think 300 mph is quite a bit out of reach
Reply
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 12:35 AM
  #3  
94legaleagle's Avatar
94legaleagle
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
15 Year Member
 
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,364
Likes: 1
From: Rugby North Dakota
Default

Originally Posted by DefenderC5
300 km/h??

I think 300 mph is quite a bit out of reach
See this thread: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1613618

Actually, I got the picture of the guages I'm talking about w/ the 300 MPH speedo to appear in post #4, BELOW vvv

I know the car won't actually do 300 MPH, I just want a speedo that SHOWS 300 mph -

I'm trying to figure out if that is a US, Canadian or European 300 MPH speedometer; then, I need to figure out what all is needed to make it work; then, I need to figure out where to get the parts.

The way it appears in the above post, it is a 300 MPH speedo, and the DIC button is used to go back and forth between MPH and KPH, just like our Vette's do w/ the 200 MPH speedo.

Last edited by 94legaleagle; Feb 6, 2007 at 12:41 AM. Reason: added picture in post #4
Reply
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 12:39 AM
  #4  
94legaleagle's Avatar
94legaleagle
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
15 Year Member
 
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,364
Likes: 1
From: Rugby North Dakota
Default

Originally Posted by 97vetteman
The European model must be nuch fasteer than the USA Vett cause my speedo goes upto 300mph!

I think I figured out how to get the speedo picture to appear here.
Reply
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 02:16 PM
  #5  
Mad_Maxxx's Avatar
Mad_Maxxx
Burning Brakes
 
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,171
Likes: 0
From: TN
Cruise-In VII Veteran
Default

You will be the talk of all the local ricers and newbies! (It says 300, so it must go 300!)
Reply
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 04:38 PM
  #6  
DefenderC5's Avatar
DefenderC5
Melting Slicks
15 Year Member
Conversation Starter
All Eyes On Me
 
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 3,447
Likes: 6
From: Los Angeles
Default

Originally Posted by Mad_Maxxx
You will be the talk of all the local ricers and newbies! (It says 300, so it must go 300!)
The 300 is to represent when its switched to km/h. Mainly because on the US version, while running in the Km/h mode on the DIC, 200 km/h would only be abou 120 mph... and we know the C5 easily goes over that.

I DO UNDERSTAND that when its in Mph mode it works too, but your needle will almost always be leaning to the left, not even using half your gauge.

Doing this swap would be purely for the useless bling effect, like NOS stickers with no nitrous.

But to each their own, you would just need to find a way to adapt your euro console to your US computer. Or swap it all out entirely. Pretty expensive if you ask me to change your 200 to a 300... lotta money for one digit.
Reply
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 06:08 PM
  #7  
Fastbird's Avatar
Fastbird
Race Director
20 Year Member
Pro Mechanic
Liked
Community Favorite
 
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 12,466
Likes: 886
From: Fort Wayne IN
2025 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
C5 of Year Finalist (performance mods) 2019
2017 C5 of the Year Finalist
2016 C5 of the Year Finalist
2015 C5 of the Year Finalist
Default

Originally Posted by DefenderC5
But to each their own, you would just need to find a way to adapt your euro console to your US computer. Or swap it all out entirely. Pretty expensive if you ask me to change your 200 to a 300... lotta money for one digit.
Do we know for a fact that the "euro" console is pinned differently, or might it simply be a case of the speedo being calibrated differently, in which case it would simply be plug and play in the USDM cars.
Reply
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 06:13 PM
  #8  
94legaleagle's Avatar
94legaleagle
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
15 Year Member
 
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,364
Likes: 1
From: Rugby North Dakota
Default

Originally Posted by Fastbird93
Do we know for a fact that the "euro" console is pinned differently, or might it simply be a case of the speedo being calibrated differently, in which case it would simply be plug and play in the USDM cars.
Good question -

And, aren't most of us about "bling" - I simply think it would be cool to have a 300 MPH speedo - not quite the same as having NOS stickers, but no NOS - stickers don't do anything for you whereas the 300 MPH speedo WILL still show your speed, up to the max speed of the car - who cares that the MPH digits from 187 (or so) to 300 would not get used (unless you switched to KPH)

Fastbird93 restated my question in a great way - if you get a 300 MPH speedo, is it plug and play, or does something else need to be done to make the 300 MPH speedo show the correct speed in the USofA?
Reply
Corvette Stories

The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts

story-0

10 Ugly Corvettes That We Still Kinda Love

 Joe Kucinski
story-1

Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer

 Brett Foote
story-2

10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)

 Michael S. Palmer
story-3

8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems

 Pouria Savadkouei
story-4

10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years

 Joe Kucinski
story-5

How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972

 Joe Kucinski
story-6

Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!

 Michael S. Palmer
story-7

Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!

 Joe Kucinski
story-8

150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter

 Joe Kucinski
story-9

8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time

 Verdad Gallardo
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 06:28 PM
  #9  
Blue Angel's Avatar
Blue Angel
Burning Brakes
15 Year Member
 
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,085
Likes: 3
From: Ottawa Ontario, Canada
Default

I'm pretty sure you'll need to swap the whole cluster since the US cluster has high resolution up to "100" and low resolution from "100" to "200". The Canadian speedo is constant all the way from "0" to "300".

Don't forget that you'll be stuck with metric water temp and oil pressure gauges if you do the swap... not a big deal to some, but I prefer the old PSI and Deg. F for my dash... I live in Ontario but I imported my car from NY.
Reply
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 07:59 PM
  #10  
Fastbird's Avatar
Fastbird
Race Director
20 Year Member
Pro Mechanic
Liked
Community Favorite
 
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 12,466
Likes: 886
From: Fort Wayne IN
2025 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
C5 of Year Finalist (performance mods) 2019
2017 C5 of the Year Finalist
2016 C5 of the Year Finalist
2015 C5 of the Year Finalist
Default

Originally Posted by Blue Angel
Don't forget that you'll be stuck with metric water temp and oil pressure gauges if you do the swap... not a big deal to some, but I prefer the old PSI and Deg. F for my dash... I live in Ontario but I imported my car from NY.
Swapping the entire cluster was without question, but you do bring up a good point. I'm willing to bet that individual components could be pulled from the cluster to make it all work though. Just takes some ingenuity.
Reply
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 08:15 PM
  #11  
BlackZ06's Avatar
BlackZ06
Safety Car
10 Year Member
 
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 4,933
Likes: 30
From: San Rafael CA
Default

Originally Posted by Fastbird93
Swapping the entire cluster was without question, but you do bring up a good point. I'm willing to bet that individual components could be pulled from the cluster to make it all work though. Just takes some ingenuity.
The gauge cluster is a single unit. I don't think you're gonna find you can swap out single gauges. Look at the picture above of a "Metric" IPC and you'll note that the gauge lettering is metric for oil pressure and water temp.

Also, I suspect that you MAY have to re-program the BCM (requires a Tech2) as the BCM "knows" the "Country of Sale" and probably sends data out accordingly.

HTH
Reply
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 09:18 PM
  #12  
Gannet's Avatar
Gannet
Safety Car
Supporting Lifetime Gold
10 Year Member
 
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 4,448
Likes: 4
From: Sarasota Florida
St. Jude Donor '06
Default

I've seen two US cars in person that have this swap. Both have Z06 300 "mph" units (the bastages). My understanding is that it's a direct bolt-in, no reprogramming required. Call Greg at AntiVenom if you want to know for sure; he put one in his car. I don't believe the parts are readily available from GM, but there is a certain used market for them. They are not cheap.
Reply
Old Feb 6, 2007 | 09:58 PM
  #13  
94legaleagle's Avatar
94legaleagle
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
15 Year Member
 
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 2,364
Likes: 1
From: Rugby North Dakota
Default

Originally Posted by Gannet
I've seen two US cars in person that have this swap. Both have Z06 300 "mph" units (the bastages). My understanding is that it's a direct bolt-in, no reprogramming required. Call Greg at AntiVenom if you want to know for sure; he put one in his car. I don't believe the parts are readily available from GM, but there is a certain used market for them. They are not cheap.
Thanks for the heads up - Is AntiVenom a supporting vendor, or can you PM me w/ contact information - they sound vaguely familiar, but I'm not sure how to contact them

I was starting to toy w/ the idea of getting a used cluster out of one of the car's for scrap that occassionally appear here, and then tinkering w/ the back of it to see if I could swap in a 300 speedo, but leave everything else the same - then contact one of our Canadian or European brothers to get the cluster - but I'll call Greg and see what he says -
Reply
Old Feb 7, 2007 | 01:06 AM
  #14  
tstar's Avatar
tstar
Le Mans Master
10 Year Member
 
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,987
Likes: 18
From: DuBois PA
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15
Default

I bought a spare IPC and tore it apart, I've been working on a way to change the lighting to Red. The gauges are all individual and you shouldn’t have a problem with swapping in the 300 MPH gauge. The faceplates are just held on with double sided tape. I have some pics here….

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...1588861&page=9

Post 174

Here’s a shot of the cluster sans faceplates



The back side



Now whether or not it'll function correctly, I can't answer that...
Reply
Old Feb 7, 2007 | 08:19 AM
  #15  
Fastbird's Avatar
Fastbird
Race Director
20 Year Member
Pro Mechanic
Liked
Community Favorite
 
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 12,466
Likes: 886
From: Fort Wayne IN
2025 C5 of the Year Finalist - Modified
C5 of Year Finalist (performance mods) 2019
2017 C5 of the Year Finalist
2016 C5 of the Year Finalist
2015 C5 of the Year Finalist
Default Cool

Originally Posted by tstar
I bought a spare IPC and tore it apart, I've been working on a way to change the lighting to Red. The gauges are all individual and you shouldn’t have a problem with swapping in the 300 MPH gauge. The faceplates are just held on with double sided tape. I have some pics here….

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...1588861&page=9

Post 174

Here’s a shot of the cluster sans faceplates



The back side



Now whether or not it'll function correctly, I can't answer that...

I can't see pics from work, but from what you are describing, this should actually be a fairly easy swap to make happen so long as you have a donor euro cluster handy.
Reply
Old Feb 7, 2007 | 01:40 PM
  #16  
tstar's Avatar
tstar
Le Mans Master
10 Year Member
 
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 5,987
Likes: 18
From: DuBois PA
St. Jude Donor '11-'12-'13-'14-'15
Default

Physically… yes it can be accomplished without too much grief. Now that I’ve already taken out the IPC once it would probably take me less then an hour to get it out and disassembled. I don’t have a clue as to whether or not the 300 MPH Speedo is a plug and play swap.

When you get home look at the backside pic and you'll see two groups of four small Philips headed screws towards the center bottom of the cluster right above the DIC screen cover. Those are mounting screws that hold the actual Speedo and Tach gauges to the cluster. The faceplate supports are also held in place by small Philips screws accessed from the front only after the gauge faces are peeled off.
Reply
Old Feb 7, 2007 | 08:08 PM
  #17  
RunRiot's Avatar
RunRiot
Heel & Toe
20 Year Member
All Eyes On Me
 
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
From: Sterling VA
Default

Don't do it half-assed, get a 15k tach to go with it.
Reply

Get notified of new replies

To Speedometer swap: 200 vs. 300 MPH

Old Feb 7, 2007 | 08:58 PM
  #18  
cruisemon's Avatar
cruisemon
Melting Slicks
25 Year Member
Conversation Starter
All Eyes On Me
 
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 2,498
Likes: 4
From: Brentwood TN
Default

I'm missing something I guess. My speedo goes to 300. It may be true that it doesn't go past 187 mph or 183 (300 kph) because limitations but two things occur to me:
1. Only a goober is going to believe the car can go to 300 mph regardless of what the speedo shows and what it means.
2. Anyone who is smart enough to think the speedo is bogus is also going to be smart enough to not to get in the car with you to find out.

Put some NOS stickers on the car to reinforce the speedo indicaton.

Charlie
Reply
Old Feb 8, 2007 | 06:06 AM
  #19  
KamEviL's Avatar
KamEviL
Advanced
 
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 86
Likes: 0
From: New York NY
Default

Originally Posted by RunRiot
Don't do it half-assed, get a 15k tach to go with it.
ROFL
Reply
Old Feb 8, 2007 | 08:13 AM
  #20  
EHS's Avatar
EHS
Race Director
10 Year Member
 
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 14,542
Likes: 5
Default

Originally Posted by RunRiot
Don't do it half-assed, get a 15k tach to go with it.


As a rule of thumb, use any instrument calibrated to measure the range you will be using it in.

I guarantee you will never need even the full 200 mph on your Corvette. Not you, anyway.
Reply




All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:27 PM.

story-0
10 Ugly Corvettes That We Still Kinda Love

Slideshow: 10 ugly Corvettes that we still kinda love.

By Joe Kucinski | 2026-06-03 10:34:17


VIEW MORE
story-1
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer

A lot of money has changed hands at the online auction house over the years.

By Brett Foote | 2026-06-03 10:21:50


VIEW MORE
story-2
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)

Slideshow: 10 great gifts Corvette enthusiasts actually want for Father's Day!

By Michael S. Palmer | 2026-06-03 15:43:40


VIEW MORE
story-3
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems

Slideshow: These are the quirks, annoyances, and oddly lovable problems that every Corvette owner eventually learns to live with.

By Pouria Savadkouei | 2026-05-28 09:31:39


VIEW MORE
story-4
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years

Slideshow: 10 reasons why the C6 Z06 is still a performance benchmark after 20 years.

By Joe Kucinski | 2026-05-27 17:20:09


VIEW MORE
story-5
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972

Slideshow: How much horsepower every Corvette engine lost in 1972.

By Joe Kucinski | 2026-05-27 16:54:53


VIEW MORE
story-6
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!

Slideshow: How to Protect A Convertible Top: 10 DOs & DON'Ts

By Michael S. Palmer | 2026-04-03 00:00:00


VIEW MORE
story-7
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!

Slideshow: The 10 most explosive Corvettes ever built based on power-to-weight ratio.

By Joe Kucinski | 2026-05-20 07:23:03


VIEW MORE
story-8
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter

Slideshow: From C1 to C8 we compare every Corvette generation by the numbers.

By Joe Kucinski | 2026-05-12 16:54:12


VIEW MORE
story-9
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time

Slideshow: Some Corvette pace cars became collectible legends, while others perfectly captured the look and attitude of their era.

By Verdad Gallardo | 2026-05-11 09:50:51


VIEW MORE