67-72 Electric speedo

[Steve Cole]

Question for Eric, (or anyone else who knows) - when I push down the reset knob for the trip meter, the locking bar pulls away from the numbers but they do not roll back to zero. I can manually turn them to zero while holding down the rest knob but they don't spin on their own. Is this broken or does the cluster need to have power applied for this to work? I wouldn't think that is the case, but I see no reason for this not working.

Thanks!

[ls1nova71]

Originally Posted by Steve Cole

Question for Eric, (or anyone else who knows) - when I push down the reset knob for the trip meter, the locking bar pulls away from the numbers but they do not roll back to zero. I can manually turn them to zero while holding down the rest knob but they don't spin on their own. Is this broken or does the cluster need to have power applied for this to work? I wouldn't think that is the case, but I see no reason for this not working.

Thanks!

They're spring loaded, so that when you push the button down, they roll back to zero, no power needed. It sounds like the spring may be broken or something is binding them. Is this with everything installed, or not?

[ls1nova71]

Originally Posted by cjohnson6772

What is the purpose of sticking the new decal to the old (S10) gauge face? Why not stick the new decal directly to the clear plastic?

I'm still working on this, but just real busy, so it's hard to find time to do the work, photograph it and post it on here. But it will get done in time.

To answer your question, you can't put it straight on the clear plastic part because it's not flat, and the openings for the odometer and trip odometer are way too big. Using the S-10 face gives you something to work with.

It may seem like some of the pics are out of sequence, but I'm taking them as I go. The face has been put on and taken off several times, so that's why it looks that way.

[ls1nova71]

I just have a few pics for today.

Put the lens back in the bezel, and drill straight down with a drill bit the same size as the trip reset button. This hole may have to be enlarged later if you don't get it exactly in the right sopt, so it's best to use a small bit to start.



Moving back to the face. Drill the holes for the 2 needle stops (knife pointing to hole). Make sure that the hole isn't too big, the needle stop needs to fit snug in the face, NOT the clear plastic part behind it. Also drilled the hole for the high beam indicator, and the 2 little screws that held the original speedo face on.



Needle stop installed at 0 mph, I also put one at 120 mph.



Now comes a part that can be tricky. When you put the face on the clear plastic part, it needs to be shifted slightly 'up' from center like in this pic. This is important or it won't look right. The reason is because of the angle that the s-10 dash was at versus the straight up angle of the 67-72. Trial fit it and hold the cluster straight up at the angle you will veiw it when it's in the truck and you'll see what I mean. You'll be looking slightly down at it, and if the face is up, you'll be able to see the odometer completely.



Once you have it where you want it (after you've double and triple checked whare the face is going to be) Mark the needle stop holes and the screw holes.



Then take the face back off and drill out the holes where the needle stops and screws go. You want them to be bigger than the stops and screws, since they will just push into the face, the holes are just to allow for the part sticking out the back of the face to have somewhere to go. If you look at where they were originally on the S-10 you will see what i mean



This is all for now. I'll post more in a few days.

[ChevyCruizer]

Plus looking clooser I see that the S10 clear plastic has mold marks that would definately show through the decal especially since specks of dirt show up.

Sorry to double post, i tried to edit it into my last comment but too much time elapsed.

Originally Posted by cjohnson6772

What is the purpose of sticking the new decal to the old (S10) gauge face? Why not stick the new decal directly to the clear plastic?

[67c10rustbuket]

I just noticed my speedo has a sheetmetal mounting bracket while yours (as seen in post 114, pic 8) the mounting holes are part of the plastic casting. The hole pattern is the same but it may have a little influence on the depth of the gauge once installed. Have you seen or used one like I have? it is from a 97 S10.

[ChevyCruizer]

hard to tell from a face on photo, but they look to be the same depth. I am looking at the small grey gear (between two gold screws) on the right side at it appear to be at the same height as the holes that are used to mount the homemade sheetmetal plate.

Originally Posted by 67c10rustbuket

I just noticed my speedo has a sheetmetal mounting bracket while yours (as seen in post 114, pic 8) the mounting holes are part of the plastic casting. The hole pattern is the same but it may have a little influence on the depth of the gauge once installed. Have you seen or used one like I have? it is from a 97 S10.

[ls1nova71]

Originally Posted by 67c10rustbuket

I just noticed my speedo has a sheetmetal mounting bracket while yours (as seen in post 114, pic 8) the mounting holes are part of the plastic casting. The hole pattern is the same but it may have a little influence on the depth of the gauge once installed. Have you seen or used one like I have? it is from a 97 S10.

The first one I did had the metal mounting bracket, but I mounted it differently. The way I do it now works much better. The only difference is going to be the difference in the thickness of the metal versus the plastic. It probably won't be noticable, but if it is, all you would have to do is put some thin washers between the mounting plate and the speedo bracket. The electronics are the same. BTW, it's good to see someone actually doing one of these, and yours looks really nice! What did you use to cut it out?

[ChevyCruizer]

I went to the junk yard this weekend and looked at several S10 speedos. I found several 95-97 that had the metal bracket like pictured above. The last truck (I think it had a 10 of 97 build date) finally had the all plastic mounting bracket. Looking at them side by side they seemed the same but I cant say for sure if all of the electronics were the same.

[67c10rustbuket]

Originally Posted by ChevyCruizer

hard to tell from a face on photo, but they look to be the same depth. I am looking at the small grey gear (between two gold screws) on the right side at it appear to be at the same height as the holes that are used to mount the homemade sheetmetal plate.

Originally Posted by ChevyCruizer

I went to the junk yard this weekend and looked at several S10 speedos. I found several 95-97 that had the metal bracket like pictured above. The last truck (I think it had a 10 of 97 build date) finally had the all plastic mounting bracket. Looking at them side by side they seemed the same but I cant say for sure if all of the electronics were the same.

Thanks for checking that out, great info to share! I checked the ebay auction it said 96 S blazer and had all the cross reference compatability models. If you look from the end (pic) it looks as though the green plastic is at what would be the same height above the plate so I guess it was just a different version. I was suspecting a replacement part due to the low mileage??

Originally Posted by ls1nova71

The first one I did had the metal mounting bracket, but I mounted it differently. The way I do it now works much better. The only difference is going to be the difference in the thickness of the metal versus the plastic. It probably won't be noticable, but if it is, all you would have to do is put some thin washers between the mounting plate and the speedo bracket. The electronics are the same. BTW, it's good to see someone actually doing one of these, and yours looks really nice! What did you use to cut it out?

Thanks I used a Whitney punch press, just nibbled it out with a .5 square punch. That is just a rough model. I actually located the centerline of the needle on the OE gauge and the centerline of the S10 speedo and combined the hole patterns. Notice the 3 extra holes? they line up to the factory back tin. screw it in and bam, perfect alignment. Now for the pretty work and designing a gauge face plate out of sheetmetal. Once I get it all worked out I am going to have another guy in the shop model it in ProE and write CNC programs for our turret press and then I will form the face and rear cover box on our press brake.

[67c10rustbuket]

Some pics of my progress... just alignment and rough first model stuff.

[67c10rustbuket]

My first attempt at centering the S10 needle. got it half a hole off, about .040" now it is dead on.

[ls1nova71]

Wow Dan, that really looks good, but you're going to have to stop, you're making me look bad!

I also thought of making the face out of metal, but didn't have a way to cut out the odometer opening neatly enough. The up side to doing it is you could eliminate the trip odometer and ot would make things a little easier. One tip ill give you though, if you do it, the metal will need to be really thin. If its too thick, the odometer will be too far from the face of the speedo and won't look right. When I first started trying things I tried to use the original face, but since it kind of tapers in around the odometer opening, it just didn't look right.

Keep up the good work, and later this week I should have some more progress and some more pics of the process to post.

[chevytrucking]

Are you still shipping out your kits? I'd really like to try this. Is the signal from the transmission the same on all GM trannys? Is there a need/way to calibrate the S10 speedo to match a particular type of trans? I did a NV4500 swap and haven't had a speedo since.

[chevytrucking]

Originally Posted by chevytrucking

Are you still shipping out your kits? I'd really like to try this. Is the signal from the transmission the same on all GM trannys? Is there a need/way to calibrate the S10 speedo to match a particular type of trans? I did a NV4500 swap and haven't had a speedo since.

As I was re-reading the old posts, are you saying this will only work with a signal from an ecm? I had hoped the signal from the trans was all that was needed, but..... My swap was just a NV4500 behind the 454 I already had in the truck. Electrically, my truck is pretty much stock. Will this mod work without an ecm?

[ls1nova71]

Originally Posted by chevytrucking

As I was re-reading the old posts, are you saying this will only work with a signal from an ecm? I had hoped the signal from the trans was all that was needed, but..... My swap was just a NV4500 behind the 454 I already had in the truck. Electrically, my truck is pretty much stock. Will this mod work without an ecm?

Pretty sure it won't work with out the PCM. It needs a 4000ppm signal, and with out the PCM I don't know how you would wire it or calibrate it. THe PCM has a single wire coming out of it for the speedo to hook to, where as the VSS has two.

[67c10rustbuket]

Originally Posted by ls1nova71

Wow Dan, that really looks good, but you're going to have to stop, you're making me look bad!

I also thought of making the face out of metal, but didn't have a way to cut out the odometer opening neatly enough. The up side to doing it is you could eliminate the trip odometer and ot would make things a little easier. One tip ill give you though, if you do it, the metal will need to be really thin. If its too thick, the odometer will be too far from the face of the speedo and won't look right. When I first started trying things I tried to use the original face, but since it kind of tapers in around the odometer opening, it just didn't look right.

Keep up the good work, and later this week I should have some more progress and some more pics of the process to post.

I was thinking I could make a steel face to attach the decal to but now that I look at it it would be a PITA. I was thinking of eliminating the clear plastic and the black face but it would not be very easy due to the thickness of the clear plastic. The depth would be out of place as you said. arrrrrgh well for now I will go forward with the S10 clear plastic and black face. How do you re-attach the face with the decal? glue??

[ChevyCruizer]

Originally Posted by 67c10rustbuket

How do you re-attach the face with the decal? glue??

I think he is reusing the two tiny screws from the C10 speedo.

If you do end up making some of those plates please add me to the list. I picked up the S10 cluster/parts but am on the next list to get the "kit" from ls1nova71

[ls1nova71]

Originally Posted by ChevyCruizer

I think he is reusing the two tiny screws from the C10 speedo.

I only put the 2 screws back in the face for cosmetic reasons. I think it looks better, and there are two white dots on the face where they go. I just drilled the holes small enough so that the screws screw into the face, but are not actually holding anything.

[ls1nova71]

Originally Posted by chevytrucking

I've been trying to figure out exactly what type signal is coming directly off the VSS on the tailshaft and I came across this:

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.c...roduct_id=126/

Looks to me like this device would make this swap work without a pcm/ecm and it's only $89. Is so, it should work with any electronic trans with no computer. Anybody have any first hand experience with this?

I'm really trying to find a way to make this work!

I don't know if that will work or not. I actually have a Dakota Digital SGI-5, but it's a B and not a C, which I think is the older version and doesn't have a place for the sensor ground wire, but I could check it out sometime and let you know what happens.

Originally Posted by 67c10rustbuket

I was thinking I could make a steel face to attach the decal to but now that I look at it it would be a PITA. I was thinking of eliminating the clear plastic and the black face but it would not be very easy due to the thickness of the clear plastic. The depth would be out of place as you said. arrrrrgh well for now I will go forward with the S10 clear plastic and black face. How do you re-attach the face with the decal? glue??

I like the idea of the metal face and eliminating the clear plastic part since you could do away with the trip odometer. I do see how it would be hard to attach though. THe spacing could be achieved by putting some small spacers behind the face and then use two small screws to hold it to the speedo part. It could work, but not sure if the two dots where the original screws go would line up with them, but I think they would be pretty close.

As for how I put the S-10 face back on the clear plastic, if you don't touch the back side alot, it will be sticky enough to just stick back on. At least the ones I've done have worked out that way. You could put some glue on it or a few pieces of good quality tape on the edges since you can't see them once it's assembled. The tape I use for such things is the aluminum tape for sealing HVAC duct work in houses, which I'm sure you're familiar with!

Also, don't worry about the "hijack", this thread is just information and your additions I think people will find helpful.

[ls1nova71]

Here's the problem with the trip odometer. The re-set knob is just a touch too short. It's about 1-15/16" long, and needs to be close to 2-1/4". To remedy this I cut the knob and lengthened it with a small screw. You probably don't need a screw to do it, since you'll never really be putting much pressure on it, you could probably just drill it, put a short piece of a nail or something in it and glue it back together, but I had the stuff lying around and it's what I used.

These are the part's I used. A small drill bit, a 4-40 tap, and screw. Then I cut the knob off and sanded the end where I was going to be drilling the hole in it.



Drilled the hole in the end about 3/8" deep. I used a drill, but you could also put the bit in an X-Acto knife. Drilling plastic is really pretty easy, just make sure it's centered the best you can.



This is what it looks like drilled.



Then I put the tap in a pair of Vice Grips and tapped the hole.



Then the screw will screw into it.



Drill and tap the other end, cut the head of the screw off and thread each end in.





Later, after I've adjusted it to the length I want, I'll put some glue in them so it won't thread out, but odds are it wouldn't move anyway. You can also see that I didn't get the bottom part exactly centered, it's not a big deal, since you can just thread it in or out a bit to get it where you want it.

[67c10rustbuket]

Originally Posted by ls1nova71

As for how I put the S-10 face back on the clear plastic, if you don't touch the back side alot, it will be sticky enough to just stick back on. At least the ones I've done have worked out that way. You could put some glue on it or a few pieces of good quality tape on the edges since you can't see them once it's assembled. The tape I use for such things is the aluminum tape for sealing HVAC duct work in houses, which I'm sure you're familiar with!

Also, don't worry about the "hijack", this thread is just information and your additions I think people will find helpful.

Okay thanks I see, it should stick back on just fine then. That foil tape will cut you up

Q: does the needle have to sit up higher that the stock needle? Just wondering if I couldnt just bore out the stock needle hole to fit or would it be too short?

I am almost done with the mounting plate but have a bit to go on the rear cover box. Those pesky light bulbs make it difficult. I may make another one and just use LEDs to backlight it like the one you used for the high beam indicator. I think that would give me a bit more wiggle room for the rear cover box.

Here are some pics of the almost finished plate and my progress.

[ChevyCruizer]

Just in case anyone was wondering why you cant use a speedo from a tach S10...

There is not an odometer attached to the speedo, it is in the tach.

The one you want is in the top of the picture.

[kikkegek]

Originally Posted by ChevyCruizer

Just in case anyone was wondering why you cant use a speedo from a tach S10...

There is not an odometer attached to the speedo, it is in the tach.

The one you want is in the top of the picture.

I'd like to know this too...would be cool to also swap that tach

[Curtb1971]

Just wanted to give a shout out to LS1nova71, Captianfab, TBone and everyone else on this thread Finally got a chance to get in some work on the speedo swap and made some good progress in a timely matter thanks to everyones input/parts in on the forum. Next round is wiring this thing.