My 68 convertible's original speedo worked well but the odometer did not. I bought a used speedometer (just the gauge). I removed the instrument panel (speedo & fuel gauge). Seemed pretty easy (except the ground was screwy the first time I put it back together so I had to do things twice).

I took it for a quick drive. Odometer worked but speedo was jumping all over the place and was making "whiz" sound from behind dash. Is it possible to hook the cable up incorrectly at the gauge? I didn't have time to take things apart again but hooking the cable to the back of the speedo was the easiest part of the whole swap.

What did I do?

Adam

I suspect that the spring "cable" inside the shaft is binding up due to corrosion and inactivity. You would have to pull that cable out (its basically a long wound spring so it can flex) and lubricate it. My father was a strong proponent of using only powdered graphite on those cables. Any kind of oil based lubricant will only attract dirt and lead you back to the same problem down the road.

x2

Sounds like a gauge problem, his speedo was originally working fine, and now the replacement speedo/Odo is wonky...with the original cable.

And of course I didn't test the new/used one before I put it in -- rookie mistake!

The cable was already greasy when I made the change. So maybe it got gummed up during the switchover?

These gauges can be rebuilt and repaired, I'm sure there are threads floating around here and the other interweb sites.

Put my old speedo back in dash and all is well. I might look into using parts from both to make a complete speedo/odometer

Thanks for help, again!