Here is a nice little mod anyone can do during a long cold winter. How's a 160 MPH speedo look. I got this one from a Firebird floor shift car. The Firebird and LeMans clusters are very much intechangeable from 1970 to 1981 Firebirds and 1973 to 77 LeMans. Anyway, a bit of dremel tooling here and there and we made up a shift quadrant decal by scanning the original. I'm pretty sure I have the only Canadian LeMans with a 160 speedo.

I'll get a better picture once the 3 feet of snow in front of my garage door melts.

Cool mod! Thanks for the tip! Todd

hey TODD?   If a cop pulls him over, can't he be charged with racing, because of his 160 MPH speedo?

I hate to gloat on the eve of a long weekend but what does snow look like again?

Wouldn't surprise me!

LeeRoy wrote:

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I hate to gloat on the eve of a long weekend but what does snow look like again?

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This is a sample....


-- Edited by 73SC at 22:45, 2008-03-20

Todd!   I thought ALL members had to be covered in SNOW to be a real Poncho?

I'd have to check the rule book but I think it's still buried in a snowbank...

When I think about it!   WE will have the last laugh, when the Southern boys are cooking in the heat!   and we are blowing cool air, off our snow piles, in June 

i think i have my trans am speedo still and if i do anyone can have it, i will check in the morning

Ha, that is SO cool, I love that 160 speedo!

Carl Stevenson wrote:

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Ha, that is SO cool, I love that 160 speedo!

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You know it is -11 here in Toronto this morning so I used photoshop to crop and enlarge the photo I have, it works out pretty well. I may never see the LeMans until May!

Glad my little mod is such a hit. It really looks factory installed and is fun to play it up at cruises with on lookers who have never seen such an animal in any car let alone a LeMans. We set the odometer to match the original one we removed and tagged and dated the cluster body.




-- Edited by 73SC at 12:02, 2008-03-21

59poncho wrote:

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i think i have my trans am speedo still and if i do anyone can have it, i will check in the morning

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59poncho, I'd love to have it, not one to be greedy and hoard parts but always nice to have one in reserve. PM me and Let me know what you find.

I put a 160 MPH speedo in my 55 GMC last year. do you think they can get me for racing? the only way this thing will hit 160 is in freefall, its got the air dynamics of a brick. i figured i can post it on this site, its one of those darn canadian GMC with a chev drivetrain

Stephenzone wrote:

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I put a 160 MPH speedo in my 55 GMC last year. i figured i can post it on this site, its one of those darn canadian GMC with a chev drivetrain

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First - Where does one get a 160 speedo for a 55 GMC ?

Second - I always figure a GMC is a "Pontiac" truck, I mean they are sold in Pontiac dealerships here. HQ for GMC is in Pontiac Michigan too and US GMC's used Pontiac V8's in the 50's.

Closing the thread with a good picture of the speedo and cluster.

73SC wrote:

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First - Where does one get a 160 speedo for a 55 GMC ?

Second - I always figure a GMC is a "Pontiac" truck, I mean they are sold in Pontiac dealerships here. HQ for GMC is in Pontiac Michigan too and US GMC's used Pontiac V8's in the 50's.

 

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nice thing about my dash is that the gauges are standard aftermarket size. so i ordered the stewart warner nostalgic wings series.

 

Talking about  160  mph  speedo's ;  back in 1963  I spotted a new Parisienne 2 door hardtop at the local GM dealer (Trapp Motors)  that had a 160  mph speedo.  I opened the hood  expecting to find a 409 inside.  Instead there was a 2 barrel 283   .
All of the other  new Pontiacs on the lot and in the showroom had the usual 120  mph speedometers.  Seems like somebody at the factory slipped in the wrong speedo for that  particular car.


This type of factory  mismatching also  happened   later on in the mid 60's.
for example  a friend of mine bought a brand new 1966 Chev Caprice  that had the 396  badges on the front fenders  plus the 396 stickers on the engine.  Years later he was rebuilding the motor  and discovered that  it was really a 427 cu in motor.

This stuff was happening due to labour problems at the auto factories in those years.

I'm not sure a 160 mph speedo is what I need. Like riding around with a double-dog-dare staring me in the face all the time. Speeding ticket in the making!

Drove a '73 GMC (or it might have been a Chev) half ton with a 454 a long time ago. Speedo was wrapped all the way around and back to 30 mph. No idea what that translates to.  Coulda used the 160 speedo then. 

That 160 conversion has to be one of the cooler, subtle mods I've seen in a while. I like it.

73SC wrote:

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Closing the thread with a good picture of the speedo and cluster.

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Very nice job.   I've always been a fan of that cluster layout. 

Sure you've tried it out on that pay-as-you-go hwy.  

 

A couple of comments on recent post.

I will agree with 66 Beau. Back in 74 when I was a mere 17 our neighbour at our family cottage had a 73 Chevy one ton Cheyene 454. He was an old timer with money but he took a shine to me. My dad had a pile of junk to take to the dump so our neighbour handed me the keys to this puppy. Of course I knew what was under that hood and the way home from the dump was a bit more roundabout than going.  I 'm not sure I have ever driven a vehicle with a more powerful engine.

1wheelpeel, As far as testing the 160 speedo in the LeMans, I have to admit to not having enough guts or having too much brains to not have tried it, probably a combination of both.

-- Edited by 73SC on Monday 10th of May 2010 11:31:26 PM

Let your boy take it out maybe he will tell you what it will do.