I was wanting to know if you can use a motorcycle speedometer in a car and could you get a cable to mate it to say a gm 4 speed. i have seen a lot of cool old speedos for motorcycles. thanks
my understanding is the 'cycle speedos used the standard 1000 revs per mile as the car speedos do....coming up with a cable shouldn't be too tough. It appears the ones I've seen use a similar attachment but if not, we have a place in town that will make any cable with any ends you need.....they sell Stewart Warner and Almite [greaseguns and related oil dispensing stuff] products...
Depending on the MC speedo make and what yr. some are a 1 to 1 ratio others 2 to 1.Some were made to run off the trans and others off the front wheel. Cables can be made with any ends you need and any length. Ratio variations can be compensated for by step-up or reduction drives in the car trans. I ran a old 1936 Knucklehead speedo in a bucket T, which was a 1 to 1 ratio, and I cant remember if I had to go up or down on the drive gear.
Brit bikes used odd ratios and had smaller than std American connections. Almost all American stuff is 1000 cable turns = 1 mile. And connection is normally 5/8ths male although oulder units may be 5/8ths female.
Or maybe it makes you a knuckelhead! Just kidding... A really good place to have a speedo cable made is a truck and industrial supply parts store. Every town in america has one. Just call the local diesel mechanic and ask him where he buys parts for big trucks and busses. Transmission shops can hook you up with gears that go inside the tranny case that spin the cable, incase you need a different ratio to make the bike speedo work properly.
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