Originally intended to document my experience of DeLorean ownership, focus is often radical and strange, boring and obtuse.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

DeLorean Speedo Cable - Oh Snap!

My snapped DeLorean speedo cable dangling.

When a police officer stops you and rhetorically asks how fast you were going, "No" isn't the best answer. Neither is "less than 88 miles per hour, DUH!"

My speedometer cable broke in the fall, putting me in the stressful situation of constantly scanning bridges, bushes and side streets for sneaky speed traps. Wow, say that 5 times fast! Sneaky speed traps! Sneaky speed traps! Sneaky steed taps! Sneaky sneed maps! Bah! It's more difficult than it looks.

I ordered a new cable from Dave & Julee at DeLorean Motor Company Midwest. It's the lower cable that runs from the bottom of the Lambda counter to the angle drive on the driver's front wheel.

Replacing this cable is another of those very easy jobs that took me considerably longer. I estimate this to be a 10 minute job however, due to my nerve damage it took me about half an hour. I tried to make it easier for myself by jacking up the front of the car to give me more room to access the cable.

DeLorean LambdaMy next step was to undo the cable from the bottom of the Lambda and push it through the firewall. However, when I did this I noticed something unusual. There was a small electrical wire piggybacking it through the rubber gasket/plug. "This is a problem!" I thought, as it would mean I'd have to slice the gasket/plug to slide the wire through, and slice my new gasket/plug as well. I followed the wire past my pedals and behind the radio and discovered it was not attached to anything. Although I thought this was a stroke of luck at the time I have now found myself wondering, "Crap. What doesn't work?"

One thing I noticed during this job is that my old cable housing was considerably stiffer than my new cable housing. The speedo cable is prone to snapping and requires periodic lubrication. But I now think age is a factor too. As the cable housing stiffens up with age, it puts more pressure on the inner cable, which binds.

I slid the new cable through the hole in the firewall and screwed it into the Lambda. The most difficult part for me was forcing the new gasket/plug back into the firewall hole. Once it was done I simply screwed the other end of the cable into the angle drive on the front wheel. Easy! And here it is completed.

The only downside to all of this work is that it's -16 Celsius out and I'll have to wait for spring to test it out.

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4 Comments:

Blogger awildermode said...

A 10 minute job that takes you a half an hour? That means it would take me just shy of two hours to complete this.

11:51:00 AM

 
Blogger Martini said...

You're slower than me? We should team up. No wait, I think that would make us even slower.

11:33:00 PM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

Martini: With the knowledge and experience you've accumulated over the years, I'm sure you have some great ideas for improving the DMC. Just the same, age is certainly a factor with any part. I agree. The new repair looks great!

9:40:00 PM

 
Blogger Martini said...

Luckily, the few DeLorean companies out there are VERY proactive in manufacturing higher quality reproduction parts. Items I thought of, but weren't available 10 years ago are actually being made today! It's exciting.

7:52:00 PM

 

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