Speedo in KPH. LH or RH?

[Garry]

I purchased a speedo some years ago thinking it was a RH.  Now that I look at it I am not so sure.  The connection for the cable goes to the right when looking from the face of the speedo.

Can any one confirm if it is a LH or a RH speedo???

[66andBlue]

Hi Garry,
I can't say whether it is a speedo for a RHD or LHD but I am pretty sure that the bracket is not placed correctly.
Look at this photo of a LHD speedo and see whether you could arrange the bracket correctly as shown:
http://www.sl113.org/wiki/uploads/Electrical/Speedometer_bracket.jpg
It should the become obvious whether it is a LHD or RHD speedo.
Or perhaps the bracket and the speedo are mismatched?

[drmb]

Disregard the bracket, when looking at the speedo face front on, the speedo cable connector should point to the left on a RH drive.

[Garry]

Alfred,

The bracket was just sitting over the case and not fitted. Here is the corrected fitting.  The photo in the Tech manual has the drive connection out to the left when looking from face on but it does not say if it was a LH or RH speedo. Thus according to Lloyds comment below it is a RH speedo shown in the Tech Manual and the one I have is definitely a LHD one then.

That will make Stan (Flyair) happy as he is interested in purchasing it and confirms what I thought and that was that I got the wrong one several years ago when I was planning on replacing my MPH speedo to a KPH one.

Garry

[drmb]

If you mount this speedo in the dash so you are looking at the face the drive will point toward the centre of the car so it will be RH drive.

[Yem]

A previous post/thread confirms that a RHD speedo cable entry is angled towards the centre of the car ie left as you are sitting as a driver (facing outside) on the right hand side of the vehicle (Australia, New Zealand, UK etc)

http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=17909.0

[Garry]

Lloyd when you say "this" speedo, I am assuming you are referring to the one photographed in the Tech Manual.

If I hold my speedo in front of me as though it was in the dash, the cable connection points to the right thus a LHD speedo.

This is confusing

[georgem]

Sorry Gary,

No confusion - its a LHD - sorry to say.

[Garry]

Thanks for all the clarification,

I am not that sad as I have come to like the idea that my speedo in the car aligns with my service books milage and services, albeit, MPH and I had made a decision to not follow up and find a correct KPH speedo for the new 230SL project.

As I said, Flyair will be happy.

Garry

[66andBlue]

.....  The photo in the Tech manual has the drive connection out to the left when looking from face on but it does not say if it was a LH or RH speedo. Thus according to Lloyds comment below it is a RH speedo shown in the Tech Manual ....

Garry,
I am not sure what Lloyd means but the speedo shown in the tech manual is for a LHD car - I know for sure since I took the photo and it is the one in my 280SL!

Furthermore, the cable connector in the speedo of my 230SL also points to the left. Then I have a kmh speedo here (220 kmh max) from a LHD car on which the connector also points to the left.  Yem writes that on RHD car the connector also points to the left - and all of this makes perfect sense!
Because when you look in the spare parts list starting with 230SL cars and continuing to 280SL cars the part numbers for the speedometer (or tachometer in German!) apply to LHD and RHD drive cars. Only the part number for the tachometer (or Drehzahlmesser in German) shows a difference between LHD and RHD cars.
What I would like to see is a speedometer with the cable connector pointing to the right - together with its face plate for verification that it goes to the correct max speed, that is, for a W113 and not some other model  - does such a thing exist?  

[drmb]

Garry that last photo you put up makes more sense as you can see the face and the drive,yes it is LH drive.

[66andBlue]

It may be a for a LHD but NOT for a W113!
drmb, can you elaborate why you think this is for a W113 car?

[drmb]

Alfred I haven't said it is for a 113 only if it is LH or RH drive, but looking at Garrys speedo it only reads up to 210K
113's read up to 220K maybe it is out of a 220SE 111 coupe or cabrio.

[Garry]

Oh the plot thickens.

Sso it is not a W113 as it only goes to 210 kph so it may not be for a LH car as it has the drive going out to the right.

So on all W113s the drive goes to the left? but the tacco has it both ways.

Now the question is, what speedo do I have??  Flyiers hopes rise and fall daily and he must be getting used to the fluctuating excitement and disappointment as the mystery is worked over.

Now I am hoping it is out of a very very rare Mercedes.

[66andBlue]

Garry,
I believe (but don't know for sure) the orientation of the cable connector has no relationship to whether it is for a RHD or LHD but rather for which model.  Perhaps drmb can shed some light on this.

Here is a photo of a mph speedo from the German web site where it was claimed to be from a LHD W111-3.5 (280SE-3.5). It goes up to 160 mph (whereas the corresponding kmh speedo for these cars goes up to 240 kmh) and the cable goes out in the back down and slightly to the right.
I wish somebody could post a table converting VDO p/n to Mercedes p/n, that would help for sure.

[drmb]

210 KPH speedo is fitted to 190SL

[stickandrudderman]

For RHD speedo the output shaft points to the left of the car and reads 220KMH (140MPH).

[66andBlue]

210 KPH speedo is fitted to 190SL

Correct.
But a real one does not have the red/white stripes below 60 kmh, the trip odometer knob is bright, and there should be a p/n at the bottom.
Garry, where did you acquire this part? Almost looks like it was put together from parts! See the p/n "0001" - what does that mean? 

[drmb]

Don't even go there,probably # 1 made out of bits !!

[Garry]

Purchased it a couple of years ago from another member thinking it was a RHD speedo for a Pagoda. Had not looked at it for a long time and at the time I purchased it I did not know the full details of the correct speedo so made the mistake.

I did notice that it had a 3.76 on the dust cover.

 Another lesson learnt on the journey.