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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - New Speedometer technical page

Check it out and let me know what you think
http://www.spridgetguru.com/Smiths_Speedometer.html
S.A. Jones

Very nice,Seth!

How hard is it really to change the mileage on the odometer?

I've got a new speedometer that I would like to match mileage to the old. This looks like trouble.
Lee Fox

lee,

can you hook the speedo up to a drill??

Prop
Prop

<<How hard is it really to change the mileage on the odometer? >>

Do you know any dodgy secondhand car salesmen? ;o)
Dave O'Neill 2

it is very easy to do

you remove the "e" clip at the end of the odometer wheels, and then pull them each out far enough so that their "dogs" disengage from each other and rotate them to wherever you like.

disclaimer: blah, blah, blah. Legal mumbo jumbo, etc.


Norm


Norm Kerr

you could do like most ebayers do, roll the car over the 99,999 mile mark and say loook low milage car, almost never driven.

Prop
Prop

Yeah, it's amazing how many more 20k mile midgets there are around these days, compared with 30 years ago!
Dave O'Neill 2

with any car more than 30 years old, the condition of the car should be far more important than the miles on the odometer, for setting value.

Any car that is advertised with low miles must have the documentation to support it, otherwise the claim is largely meaningless.

An extremely good condition car, with now miles on the odo, especially if there were only one, or two owners for its whole life, that is more easy to take at face value. But then, those kind of cars usually do have the paper trail to support the claim as well!

But our little cars were so cheap to buy, and so often purchased by folks with more enthusiasm than funds, or mechanical ability, they were often treated poorly and changed hands frequently. Those cars are the ones I mainly refer to.

It is unfortunate that it is far easier to look at a number, than it is to inspect a car from top to bottom and make a fully informed decision.


Oh, and in answer to the question, "can you use a drill?" No, you can not go backwards with a drill, the odometers I have looked at only go forwards. And, it would take a super long time (maybe your drill would wear out first), even if you went forwards at "100mph" (do the math).


Norm
Norm Kerr

"the odometers I have looked at only go forwards"

Thats absolutely right. The one I have in my car simply disengages from the odemeter when it goes backwads automatically. I can only guess what they did to the smiths gages in ferris bueller's day off (it was an MGB btw)
S.A. Jones

PS. Its pretty easy. You can even take it all apart and reassemble the numbers to be anything you like but you do have to make sure it all advances right. I tried it once and it went from 5 to 16 miles instantly! Its all a matter of making sure that the little yellow gears between the numberwheels are aligned right.
S.A. Jones

This thread was discussed between 31/07/2010 and 06/08/2010

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG Midget and Sprite Technical BBS is active now.