Driving with the tach and speedo out

[dakman29]

Hi. I’ve sent my speedo off for recalibration after the rear end swap. Any reason that it’s not recommended to drive the car with the gauges out while awaiting their return?

[66andBlue]

Gauges, plural?! 
Personally I would not drive without the center cluster instruments, but with only the speedo removed, yes.
You can always use an app on your cell phone that displays the speed.

[Pawel66]

Thinking loud...

You would have to secure the shafts - they will be turning.

You would have to secure electric connectors.

If it is without central instrument cluster - you would not have charging of the battery, you would need to put bulb in-line. What do you with oil and temp gauges?

I understand you just have to move the car from place to place as I would find no fun with these empty holes in the dash staring at you...

[FGN59]

Unless I am mistaken, with the instrument cluster out and the engine running, the oil pressure tube would have to be plugged somehow too

[dakman29]

Sorry to be less than clear. The enter gauges are in the car just the tach angst speedo

[lpeterssen]

As Wallace said, without speedo or tachometer in place the flexible drive shaft which use two instrument will be mov8ng around and there are many cables that can be detached from its place.

[Benz Dr.]

As Wallace said, without speedo or tachometer in place the flexible drive shaft which uses two instruments will be mov8ng around and there are many cables that can be detached from its place.

It will work without the tack or speedo. The cables will turn inside their sheaths but they won't whip around. Not sure why you would want to do the tack too but that's not an important answer.

[Desertpagoda]

Curious how your reclaibration went? When I changed to a v8 diff, of course the speedo was off. My buddy TJ the local speedo guy said he could easily do the speedo recal, but couldnt do the odo recal as he didnt have the gears. So, I contacted Hartmut at PA and sent it in for a redo. After a $400  overhaul, I was told "well of course we couldnt do the odo, just the speedo!"

[dakman29]

It went fine, as far as I know.  After getting the instruments back, I tried to reinstall myself and believe I may have damaged the speedo.  Unfortunately, I only learned of this after I paid a local shop to reinstall following my botched attempt.  The speedo was working properly until the speed reached 60 mph at which point the needle was sticking.  I had to remove the instruments again and send the speedo back to the shop that did the recal.  I'm expecting it back any day.  I don't believe that the odometer was touched.

[Rothko]

When I drive, I always wear my speedo. 

[ja17]

These cars can actually be driven with all the gauges removed except for the critical  temperature gauge which can be liberated from the center gauge and left operational in the opening. I temporarily use an old sedan oil pressure gauge in place of the original oil pressure gauge. Be sure to insulate any loose instrument lights which will be freely moving around so you will not have an electrical short.

[dakman29]

Gauges are back in the car. I haven’t been able to test the calibration of the speedometer yet but my sense from driving it back from the shop is that it is still registering slower than the car is traveling. I can live with some variation but I have determined that neither the odometer or the trip odometer are functioning. They both worked fine before the recalibration. The problem I have is that the shop that did the recalibration is not the same shop to do the reinstallation. They are a three hour drive apart. It costs nearly $300 for the gauges to be reinstalled. I think at this point I’ll live with what I have but I am disappointed with the shop that did the recalibration.