Electric speedo/tach

[Zbradley1215]

I have an 83 450l and was thinking about putting a electric speedo on it since the stock cluster is all messed up. What kind of work would need to be done on it to make it work? I have seen some universal fit ones on the net.

[pete]

I put the base model Acewell 2853 on my 450E and I'm very happy with it. I made a little custom dash/bracket to mount it to so I could keep my gear position indicator and add a single LED voltage monitor as well.



I blanked off the tacho drive from the head with the blank off plate from a later model 1100:



You simply need to have a magnet on the front or rear wheel that passes within 8mm of the speed sensor:



And the tacho signal runs off the negative side of the coil with the provided 10K ohm resistor inline for a good steady RPM reading.

To set the speed, you measure the circumference of your tyre and program it in, then you should be all set.

I'd double check the speed with a GPS to make sure it's accurate before relying on it though.

[darkego]

I would love to do this to my 82 650. where did you get it and what did it cost?

[spyug]

If you want to go even cheaper, you can use a bicycle speedo which works the same way as the Acewell but are only around $50 or so (for a good one). They are not as large as the bike speedos but they are more accurate.

Just make sure they will record speeds above 55 mph or 100kmph as some of the cheaper ones don't. I used a Cat's Eye Strata and it showed over 120kmph which was plenty for around here.

Good luck with it.

Spyug

[pete]

I would love to do this to my 82 650. where did you get it and what did it cost?

I got mine locally here:

http://www.s3performance.com.au/

$179 for the meter plus $19 for the right sized magnetic bolt to suit.

If you're in the US pretty sure they have dealers around the place...

http://www.acewell-meter.com/

[surviverguy]

I've seen lots of used clusters for sale on ebay, reasonably priced. You might give that some thought also.

[nvr2old]

If you want to go even cheaper, you can use a bicycle speedo which works the same way as the Acewell but are only around $50 or so (for a good one). They are not as large as the bike speedos but they are more accurate.

Just make sure they will record speeds above 55 mph or 100kmph as some of the cheaper ones don't. I used a Cat's Eye Strata and it showed over 120kmph which was plenty for around here.

Good luck with it.

Spyug

I went the same route on my Honda 550. Bought a Cat's Eye, and it worked OK for awhile, but it just wouldn't record speeds over 60mph. It's like it was spinning too fast to pick up the sensor on the wheel or something. It worked great around town though, and it had a odometer/trip meter and a clock which was cool. I really wanted it to work for me. I tried 2 of them before I gave up, sadly.

It's next to the tach, on the left side.