Expert: Skip Bollinger - 5/25/2008

Question
I have purchased a 1970 Volkswagon trike with a 1600cc motor and a 67 transaxle for my dad.  I need to put a speedometer it because in PA you need to have one to pass inspection.  I have no clue how to even try and figure this out.  Can you offer any advice?

Answer
Chrissy,
  FINALLY a Parts Question,,,, THANK YOU!!! Not the easiest question but I have an answer for you.
  ALL VW Beetles from 1955 through 1970 took the same speedo cable. The transaxle takes a 11/16" x 16 nut. I had to look through AC Delco, Champ Service, Pioneer, United and the list goes on. Most of them showed a cable but only Motormite showed dimensions and nut size.
 So now we have a nut size for the cable company. Now you need to decide where you are going to mount the speedometer itself. THEN you are going to need to tell the cable company what brand of speedometer you plan on purchasing to they can build a cable that will adapt the VW transaxle to whatever brand of speedo you decide to purchase.
 Now to the cable company. If you live in a large city such as Pittsburgh or Philly, just look in the yellow pages under speedometer. If you live in Intercourse, get on the net and type in speedometer. We have a company here in K.C. that will custom build a cable. Not cheap but it works.
 One last thought. I'm an old drag racer. One car I built for a class, the rule book stated the car had to have hood hinges installed. It didn't state they had to work. My car had the hood hinges but the springs were removed. It is a weight thing. Drag racers are insane when it comes to removing weight. My question to you is this, Exactly how does the law read? Does it just say "a trike has to have a speedometer" or does it state "the trike has to have a WORKING speedometer"? If it doesn't specify, I'd just buy a cheap speedometer, make a bracket and mount it. In racing, you can't break the rules but you can bend the hell out of them..  
  If you need more help, just write to CarPartMan@aol.com....
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