CHEVY Speedometers revisited

[Ribbedroof]

So, I've had a couple of the round speedos with broken needles for a while. Found a place that would overhaul and replace the needle, but would not sell the needle without their "service".

As you may have noticed, G bodies are not exactly flooding the yards like they were 10-15 years ago. No big surprise really. Had "0" luck trying to buy a speedo in MPH, including the local guys parting cars.

I decided to take a blind shot in the dark on some Chinese speedo needles. Bought a pair and they arrived in a little under 2 weeks. Right length, very close in appearance, color is a bit off, but I repainted mine and can live with it. However, the shaft hole was larger than the GM stuff. I debated using JB weld to bond the needle to the shaft, but knew I would be SOL if I ever needed to remove it. Finally settled on stripping the pointer remains from the OE needle, then cut the stem off the Chinese needle, and bonded it to the OE stem.

Looks pretty good. Have not run it yet, but I can't see anything that is going to be an issue. Time will tell (once the wagon is back on the road)

Total cost was under $9 delivered (already had the JB weld)

Because I get caught up in the doing, I never think about photos before/during, but here are some afters

The OE base

 

[Max Headroom]

Your patch job came out really well. If I tried that I would still be trying to unglue ALL my fingers.
REALLY COOL

 

[Ribbedroof]

Couple notes

The replacements had 2 pegs on the bottom of the pointer, like the OE, but not in the same place. I had thought about trying to remove just the pointer, but ultimately used it intact

I found that for me, removing the old base/stem and bonding it to the new one while inverted allowed me to visually assure correct perpendicularity in both axes

The OE stem is a metal piece with a TIGHT press fit. I used an upholstry tool to pull it off (Matco UT4)

Link to needles I used https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803428993886.html?ug_edm_item_id=3256803428993886&pdp_npi=3@dis!USD!$1.99!$1.99!!!!!@21016a4317085713744061700db432!12000026502983235!edm!!&edm_click_module=item_detail&tracelog=rowan&rowan_id1=aeug_edm_56672_1_en_US_2024-02-21&rowan_msg_id=9956biz_search_product:0:0_575042793$db4e0c027d0b4e859e2719b27e070a0a&ck=in_edm_other&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa