1956 Cadillac Speedometer

[jaxops]

This is a victory note, not to anyone in particular.......

  I spent the last 3 weekends replacing my speedometer which stopped working after the 1st restoration shop left it opened to the shop debris for 8 months.  I bought an NOS speedometer.....now how to get it in there??

  Of course I took the dash top off, but removing the back of the speedometer housing was difficult as there is zero room to shift it around and wedge it out.  I did find that removing the upper vent hose and vent diffuser housing aided no further cuts to my hand as I worked the housing out.  It moved back 2 inches easily but not up.  It took a lot of careful moving, centimeters at a time until it came out. Of course all of that shifting around and I broke my working temperature gauge.  Yes- they stick out forward several inches from the housing so going up basically snaps them off.   The new speedometer went in a little easier but now I had to get the 2 gauges in.  I replaced the temp gauge and had an NOS fuel gauge.  I invented a screwdriver with a screwdriver (taped 2 together) to give me length so I could reach the screws for the back of the speedometer housing and the 2 gauges.  The best tool when working from the top was a small rachet Phillips head that I got at Sears.  It is very thin, unlike a regular rachet. 

  Now that the housing was back together, I was all done, right?  Well make sure that you read up and test the lights, not like I did, re-assembling it thinking that I had them all in the right places....yep, had to take the dash apart again and do it right his time.  My clue was when I turned on the parking lights, my GEN and OIL lights came on....Dooaaahhhh!

  Now for the cable.  I jacked the car up and found that my expensive but 5" too short cable from USAPARTS had the spinner snapped because the old speedometer was frozen up.  I replaced the cable (not so easy under a car that sits 5-6" off of the ground.  I am always very careful to use jack stands, but always kind of uneasy under such a huge car.  I had few thoughts of success because the blasted screw-on connection was hard to get started and seemed to go only a few turns....so i figured it would pop out.  Strangely enough it worked and for the first time I have a speedometer that is reliable.

  Note to other speedometer self-helpers: save yourselves and don't do this procedure!!!!!!!  Professionals probably can do these quite easily but it takes a lot of time and you have to be able to leave it apart until ready to really really re-assemble.  There's not much I don't know about this car now.

See you on the weekend road!