Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Thanks for the picture I seen the screw holes. I could see me taking off the dash, it is kina like the guy who needs a screwdriver so he turns his hammer into one, and then he needs a hammer to attach the handle.

The speedometer is off and I won't tell you exactly how long it took (in my head I kept hearing "Eric removed the entire dash in less than ten minutes"), so to make me feel better it took me the equivalent of .0000022 hours for Pluto to make one orbit of the sun.

The spring holding the needle is gone and twisted. The only thing I can think of is that as the needle rests against the back of the glass, perhaps it was too tight or needed some lubricant for it to twist that way. Time to look for a new speedo or one to cannibalize. Attached is a photo

I'd say that one is beyond hope. Guess it's too late to tell what broke first to let it happen.

The spinning magnet inside and "pole pieces" outside coupled to the shaft normally do not touch the aluminum cup, & has a clearance of a few thousandths inside & out. An eddy current is generated so the cup tries to spin along also but is opposed by the spring.

To do the damage seen, something either broke and let the cup drop and get caught or some debris got into the gap and the two locked together. Haven't seen one with that damage before & would be curious now about Brandons with his needle also missing.

Don't think you can repair because the spring tension is what is calibrated to provide the accurate reading. Unless you have the specs of how much force or what speed it should read at how many RPMs and a way to precisely generate those revs and the precision tools to work with, either send to an instrument repair shop or find another unit.

HH It's a mess, didn't even bother to look for the needle. Maybe the shaking of the needle indicated some sort of drag until it heated up and closed the gap. The ticking sound was definitely the spinning cup. Note to others 120mph on the speedo means just that, take her any faster of this is what you get.

I don't think my 38 would do over 120 even going over a cliff.

Actually I was going 30mph but it sounds better bending the needle on the end pin. Now I am looking for a replacement for the speedo. Last month passed up a full instrument cluster on Ebay, what could go wrong, just a waste of money, spend it on something she (the car) needs. Any suggestions as to sources?

Found a matching speedometer on ebay, they say the speedo works by moving it by hand but the odometer does not. My guess is that the lube on the worm screw has turned to cement or something else is wrong or they could not be turning it enough... Any suggestion on the lube to use, including the shaft. If the odometer is broken is there a way to remove the face and dial assembly (the screws are behind the face #$%^&**) to get at the retainers for the gears?

Yes, I've done that several times on '56 speedos to build one that worked for my '56 Patty. All you have to do is carefully bend the tabs back that hold on the dial, and you're in. You can then take the entire guts out to clean and rework if needed. I had a good working speedo that had most of the odometer numbers literally falling off the odometer, and replaced the odometer after "rolling back" the odometer to make the mileage match the original speedo.

Misplaced my notes.. Reattaching the wiring on the back of the speedo I have two wires and an instrument voltage regulator. If I remember correctly the power wire from the instrument block goes to the right and the black wire from the voltage regulator attaches to the same point and the second wire going to the oil pressure to water temp to fuel attached to the left or.... does the voltage wire attach to the right and the black wire from the voltage regulator attach directly to the second wire going to the oil gauge etc.

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The round item in your first photo is an interference suppression capacitor for the radio. Instrument regulator is a rectangular box with 2 terminals. Look carefully & think one closest to middle has IGN stamped on metal just off to side of brown insulator material. The pink wire from fuses and the black wire from capacitor you show in your first photo goes there. The wire from gauges goes on the other terminal, then capacitor and regulator are screwed to back of speedo to complete the circuit..