Greg Bell

I'll soon be exporting my car from the UK to Australia and in preparation I have managed to get my hands on a speedo in KMH to replace the MPH unit.

I spoke to my OPC about getting them to change the odometer to read in klicks what I now have in miles - if you follow me, and they can't or won't do it.

I've managed to get the speedo apart but am not sure where to go from here, and my question is has anyone done this before?

I'm not trying to con anyone as I will be increasing the mileage or kilometerage and getting the OPC to swap them and record it in my log book.

I know I could leave it as is but would prefer if possible for the speedo to be correct.

ian c - u.k

not sure how "the clockers" do it these days , you could try one of the "experts" that advertise in auto-trader

DavidI

Greg, like most analogue odometers I suspect as soon as you start to tamper with the wheels you will find it very difficult to get them to line up perfectly again. I think it would be far better to record the swap from MPH speedo to KPH speedo with a picture or two - if you come to sell the car I think prospective purchasers would accept your reasons for making the change without a question. If I was looking at a car with wonky dials I would take a lot more convincing that everything was above board.

Please let me know if you still have the MPH speedo to sell - I need to make the change the other way!

Cheers,

eddychan

David,

I am thinking about doing it the other way round, I have been told that i only need a new calibration meter background to indicate speed in mph when I come to UK. As far as I understand, there is no such requirement that you must change the speedo completely, ie you are only required to have a new display showing the speed in the unit they want, you can still keep your meter as it is.
If you look at an US magazine called " Excellence", they have loads of adverts selling the stuff for you to put in your meter. Check it out, it may save you a lot of trouble.

Eddie

Andy Roe

Eddie,

I've been using a KPH speedo in the UK fro the past 2 years. I believe that the law only states that you need to have a method of reading your spead, be it KPH or MPH, so you won't need to change it for legal reasons!

Andy

DavidI

Thanks Eddie, that's interesting. I assumed I would just convert as I was driving along but it does my head in and a solution is called for! Good to know that it's not a legal requirement too. I find it just takes a little longer than I would like when a 50 zone becomes a 40 and there are camera's about

Andy Roe

Get a camera detector!! My Roadangel tells me the speed in MPH!

Greg Bell

Thanks Guys,

Perhaps this one touches on the border of 'illegal' and those in the know don't want to let on they know - at least not in public.

If you know how to do this and and are willing to help out a fellow Porsheaphile please drop me a line at gregandmaureen@figh.fsnet.co.uk

TIA

DavidI

> My Roadangel tells me the speed in MPH!

That's a good idea - I've got an iPaq with a GPS unit, there must be a way of getting it to show my speed in something larger than a 10-point font!

Cupcar#12

Contact Palo Alto Speedometer - they can convert your existing Speedo to Kph -
I would keep the receipts and have them roll it forward to the correct milliage in KpH
their web site is http://www.paspeedo.com/

eddychan

Thanks Rob, I agree to David that we do need to know the current speed in the unit of the country.

May be my infor is now out of date but I can clearly recall that when I enquired the DOT in England about importing a vehicle from Hong Kong last year, one of the main thing I was asked to have was the display of speed in mph. I suppose it would be alright if you just drive a LHD Porsche from Europe, thw law is not the same when importing from Far-east.
I would suggest Greg to get one of these conversion plate to put in his speedo, those companies in US sold plenty of them as many Porsche were imported from Europe every year.
My only concern here is to try to help by pointing out that their is a easier solution than clocking the speedo.
Happy motoring and in fact Greg should find that there are more parts and kits for his Porsche in US ( if that is where he is moving to !)

Cheers!

Eddie
91 C-2

eddychan

Sorry Greg, hope everything works out alright for your trip to Austrilia.

Cheers!

Eddie

botoo

Amazing that a name like Porsche wouldn't make the speedo and OBC to easily change from one to another with a button like the American cars are equipped.

Rob McConnell

Hi

You can buy converters that attach behind the speedo for motorbikes, i presume they would work for a car speedo also. Check out some of the magazines or M&P website uk based.

Cheers
Rob

Michael Gibney

Greg,

Ok you have a KPH speedo but from an Oz perspective it's not a bid deal because our speeds are simple to follow usually 60 kph and 100 kph so 35 mph and 60 mph. If you were to seel an imported car here the speedo being in MPH would not be an issue. There are plenty og imported prosches on the local market and they have usually been converted by a replacement speedo face and being "clocked". The usual method of clocking is to lift the assembly of "little wheels" away from their driving gear and then use a fine stream of compressed air to drive th wheels to the desired reading. This is usually how the wrongdoers do the trick because it does not disturb the relationship of the little wheels and so they stay spot on straight. As said - any local auto instrument shop in australia will do the job for you in an hour if you book ahead so it may be easier to do it here and the repeirer shoud give you a workshop docket that shows the before and after reading and that should give reassurance to a future buyer.

Also, imports - being cars that do not come in as new cars from Porsche - are usualluy devalued on the local market by about 10%. There is no shortage of used porsches in Oz but as could be expected the good ones get snapped up so a local car with a good history is the premium car. The best way to get the highest return on an imported car - when you sell it her if that's what you will do - is to have it serviced by a well known independent who over a little time will come to know the car and will vouch for it's condition. And take care because we do have some overpriced underskilled "experts" who will take your cash. My c4 is a prime example - the best known independent in Melbourne had been servicing it with bills to about 1/3rd the cars total value between 140 and 158 kms including replacement of every immaginable component in the fuel and ignition system - all to get it to idle smoothy when the fault and when I purchased it it still had the same problem and it was no more than the little tab on the throttle body mechanism not contacting the microswitch - just near the cable that runs the cruise control. Sorry I got carried away and wrote too much, bye

Michael Gibney