[Shotimes] Some Aftermarket Parts No Good?....was: Speedometer Cable Lengths

[George Fourchy]

On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 08:52:35 -0800, George Fourchy wrote:

>Does anyone have any idea why we have a two piece cable rather than one single one
>like SLOs?  I know SHOs came that way, and I have replaced prior ones with a factory
>two piece.  

>The single RockAuto upper cable is the same length as one I got from an LX wagon at the
>PnP.

No one answered the first post, which means there haven't been that many speedo
cable changes yet.  Well...I have some information for you.

I could have named this post "Aftermarket Speedo Cables and Speed Sensors, or Why I
Took My Dash Apart Three Times In 15 Hours.....!!"  ...but there wasn't room on the
subject line.

The original problem was that the EGR tube had burned through most of the housing
for the upper cable, just above the connection to the lower cable.  The theoretical
solution was to order aftermarket cables from Rock Auto, where someone on BaySHO
suggested I go.  The problem with those cables was/is twofold....   First, the upper
cable is WAY too long, long enough to go all the way to the speed sensor by itself. 
This is how I installed it....Second, and more important, though they are well made,
the critical dimensions of the inner cable and connector to the speedo are wrong. 
The cable is too long...plus it is sealed at the ends with solder so that it won't
come unraveled...the solder beads are too big, and so it binds inside the speedo
head, and also the connector will not snap onto the head housing.  The nylon pin
inside the connector is too long adn won't ride over the end of the housing, to get
to the slot.  Bottom line....no good.  I called them up and am sending them back.  
DON'T GET Rock Auto Speedo Cables....!!!  They're very accomodating, but the parts
just don't work.

It's amazing when one thinks about it....how much engineering goes into the creation
of all these small parts....how just the tiniest difference in a dimension will stop
the part from working properly.  Another example of this is the EATC head.....check
out all the little plastic parts inside the buttons!!!   Sheesh...no wonder it cost
$500 new, back when.

So....what to do?  I had a spare speedo cable for the wagon that I got from the PnP
LX wagon last spring.  I compared that one to the original SHO upper one, and guess
what???!!!  It is not (as I incorrectly said in the original post) the same size as
the long RA cable...it's the same size as the original Ford version SHO MTX upper
cable.  It has, along with the bad original burned cable, a nylon end at the top of
the inner cable to make the connection to the speedo yoke less harsh, and the clip,
being made for Ford, fits the housing just fine.  So it's installed.  Speedo
works.....sorta.  

Ooops....it just quit, about 500 feet from the house on a test drive.  Well...what
the heck could it be now....??  Well....thinking the speed sensor had been hurt by
my original attempts to patch the bad cable in the car...pushing and pulling on it a
bunch of times...I had swapped out the speed sensor.  It was a NAPA Echlin
part....should have worked.  I tested the cruise when it first went on, and it
worked.  Yesterday after the first installation of the RA cable, the cruise did not
work.  Grrrrrrrrr!!  I GOTTA have my cruise.

So I swapped back in the original speed sensor, and everything works.  I can't tell
you why....the sensors are the same, the lengths of the inner spinning parts are the
same, but the new sensor won't work the cruise any more, and mostly won't turn the
speedo.

Who knows......???  My guys will give me a refund.

So...bottom line.....speedo cables from '90-'91 3.8 equipped ATX SLOs (at
least....maybe 3.0s too) will work as the upper cable in Gen 1 SHOs, when installed
as the upper cable.

Start hitting the PnPs......!!  I will be!!

Greasy George