914 speedometer cable replacement? PORSCHE OEM or other?

[Windisch]

G'day all. I am facing the usual 914 speedometer replacement problem and will be sending my unit out for a rebuild, due to the usual odometer gear-stripping difficulty. No problem with that...however, I was advised by my shop that the speedo cable also needs replacement and therein lies the rub!

Checking PELICAN and AUTO ATLANTA, there are several replacement cables listed that are 914 specific. PELICAN has a GEMO cable available for about US$46, but it also sells a genuine Porsche OEM cable for US$247. Some reviews of the GEMO cable suggest that it is NOT suitable, given problems buyers have noted with it after purchase. Of course, it's FAR cheaper than the Porsche OEM unit. That's a huge difference in the price between these two supposedly 914-specific cables, of course, so I'm undecided as to how to proceed on this. What I want is a cable that WILL work flawlessly and if it means forking over the extra bucks, I'm willing to do this...but need some peer-feedback on it first!

Any suggestions from others out there on this problem? Thanks.
_________________
1973 Standard Beetle, 1974 VW/Porsche 914-4, 1.8 liter
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Der Volkswagen ist ein Ausdruck der deutschen Kultur der Allrad Art ...

[The only irrefutable evidence we have that intelligent life truly exists elsewhere in the Universe is the fact that so far it has NOT contacted humanity...]

[raygreenwood]

[Windisch]

[[email protected]]

and the boot is on backwards! It was supposed to cover the entry to the firewall NOT the connection to the angle drive. Currently gemo is not avaialble, and the other german one has no boot at all! The factory ones we have are MUCH too expensive. The german ones are however inexpensive at about 38 dollars as of 4/6/2024

[Windisch]

[Windisch]

Hi gang. OK, got two of the 'German' speedo cables and a GEMO unit The connection on the GEMO (which appears to identify my existing cable as also a GEMO) is too #$#^&^%@! large to fit easily through the central (ventral) tunnel, so I used one of the 'German' cables, securing the 'head-to-end' connection (with wire and duct tape) as suggested before attempting to remove the old cable (thus pulling the new one through the tunnel). Surprise-surprise! It doesn't want to go through; I can only assume that, because I loosened all the wire clips holding wire bundles in place before starting all this kerfuffle, it is lodged on some obstruction in that %$#*&!@ narrow tunnel channel!

"Go ahead and do it...it should be simple!" they said. "Should pull through and problem solved," they said. "Should be relatively easy," they said!" NOT!

So there I am. Cable connection somehow wedged against something I can't see in the after section of the ventral channel near the firewall and not budging, with no idea what to do next (except pull the speedo cable out from the front again...and return to square one!). Grrr, grrr!

Any suggestions from anyone? I seem to be dead in the water at this point.

Given that that ventral tunnel is already so crowded with wire bundles, etc., I've half a mind to simply run the speedo cable under the carpets to the rear of the car. I readily admit that that's an extremely half-arsed and amateurish way of solving this problem, but it certainly would be a LOT less fraught with challenges that trying to squeeze that bulky connection (between the cables) through the tunnel's constricted confines pose! Anyone ever admitted to solving this problem that way?

I also have no buddies to work on this with me...strictly a solo affair...so the 'under the carpet' solution seems at least doable.

PS: Below are several shots of the verdammte scheiss ventral tunnel and one of the GEMO speedo cable ends (which, when joined, comprised a BEEEEG obstruction to have to fit through that verdammte tunnel!)

_________________
1973 Standard Beetle, 1974 VW/Porsche 914-4, 1.8 liter
----------------------
Der Volkswagen ist ein Ausdruck der deutschen Kultur der Allrad Art ...

[The only irrefutable evidence we have that intelligent life truly exists elsewhere in the Universe is the fact that so far it has NOT contacted humanity...]

[Windisch]

PROGRESS UPDATE: OK, just checked my email trash (all 250 of the entries probably from as many commercial companies), set my teeth and began tackling this speedometer cable problem again today. After checking the access as much as my rapidly fading LED shop-light would allow, it became painfully apparent that whomever had put the previous speedo cable in had surfaced it so that it was sandwiched between two metal fuel lines (how they ever got it in THAT position I'll never know).

It was at this point pretty obvious that this was the...as the Germans put it...Schwerpunkt ('focal point' or, in my case, "hard place"). No way I could further maneuver the speedo cable past that 'Y' juncture some idiot had cleverly wedged the speedo cable between. What to do?

Finally, I decided to get out my cable cutter and sacrificed the cable by cutting off its proximal connector, so that I could attach a heavy gauge wire to it and pull it out the rear of the ventral tunnel.

With that done, I now have that heavy gauge wire inside the tunnel, within the channel through the ventral channel. The next part of this odious problem involved connecting the proximal end of the cable (the Speedo end) to the proximal end of the heavy gauge wire and (hopefully, fingers crossed) pull the new Speedo cable through the ventral access tunnel into the cockpit.

I can truthfully say that I have earned my ventral tunnel complexities [i]chops and as a result hate that aspect of the 914 unlike anything else in recent memory! We'll see how it turns out, but to echo another plaintive seeker after advice herein, "I have an amazing talent at making simple things difficult." [/i]
_________________
1973 Standard Beetle, 1974 VW/Porsche 914-4, 1.8 liter
----------------------
Der Volkswagen ist ein Ausdruck der deutschen Kultur der Allrad Art ...

[The only irrefutable evidence we have that intelligent life truly exists elsewhere in the Universe is the fact that so far it has NOT contacted humanity...]

[Windisch]

OK: 'End result!'

Happy to say the cable replacement has been completed, but it was a Battle Royale from start to finish!

Here's the gen. I discovered that the previous owner, who installed a push-button starter switch on the central console, ran a heavy-duty pair of wires from the starter to that switch through the @^%$&*^! ventral tunnel intended for used by the speedometer cable! As such, the tunnel is not big enough to accept the replacement cable's proximal (Speedometer-end) connector if it has to share that tunnel with two 10/12 Ga wires!

No amount of pushing, pulling, and squeezing would coax that new cable through to the ventral tunnel near the shifter, unless...the circular threaded screw fitting that secures it to the speedometer is cut off! GAAK!

I vaguely recall some other forum member citing the same exact problem and resolving it the same way (by cutting that screw-threaded collar off).

And yes, the cable goes where it's supposed to rather easily (as so many have remarked) if you aren't sharing the speedo tunnel with other wires!

So, now I have to figure out how to securely attach the speedo-end to the appropriate speedo-fitting on its rear and once again, I am open to any suggestions (whether from the peanut gallery or members of our panel of 914 experts!). See the attached photo that shows the threaded collar that broke into 4 pieces when I tried to saw it off!

As always in problems like this one, "two-steps forward and one back" seems to always be the rule! But a word to the wise 914 shade-tree mechanics out there: DO NOT crowd the speedometer tunnel with other wires, etc., etc., if you want to pass the cable 'easily' through that narrow passageway...

_________________
1973 Standard Beetle, 1974 VW/Porsche 914-4, 1.8 liter
----------------------
Der Volkswagen ist ein Ausdruck der deutschen Kultur der Allrad Art ...

[The only irrefutable evidence we have that intelligent life truly exists elsewhere in the Universe is the fact that so far it has NOT contacted humanity...]

[Windisch]

THE LAST WORD: Well, the previous post ended on a discouraging note (that the necessary threaded securing collar had had to be cut off...so the cable went through the tunnel, as hoped, but w/o that bloody critical collar on the proximal (Speedo) end!

Since no one was forthcoming with any useful suggestions as to how to 'Rube Goldberg' a suitable securing collar back on the proximal cable end, I decided to have a Chinese dinner with wifie and her sister (who are Chinese) and afterwards retired to the rack, hopefully not having to wrestle with this thorny problem and thereby spend the night sleepless. It was a good ploy, as it turned out, since amidst several typically weird dreams, in one of them out of the soporific mists of somnolence stepped a strangely amorphous Shape that said something like "Why not try Duct Tape?" DUCT TAPE!?

Well, it was a bizarre brain-fart to be sure, but lacking any other reasonable ideas about how to jump this particular hurdle, after I got up I headed for my garage and pulled those four roughly equal-sized collar fragments out and cut myself a piece of extra strong yellow Duct Tape, which I then wrapped around the fragments arranged in their original circular configuration. The result was an INTACT threaded collar, despite seeming to be a sort of 'wing-and-a-prayer' resolution.

This taped collar I next slipped over the proximal cable end and secured the tape. Then I grasped the cable and pulled it through the instrument panel and VERY CAREFULLY screwed that taped collar back onto the speedometer's cable inlet orifice.

I fully expected it to sag and give way in the first few revolutions, but lo and behold! It remained intact and I finally screwed it successfully all the way onto the speedo cable orifice! Then, just to hedge my bets, I took a small plastic ZIP-tie and cinched it around the collar, over the tape.

At this point, it appeared to be holding firm and strongly, so I reinstalled the speedo in the car's instrument panel.

The next day, I took the car out for a spin and, miracle-of-miracles, the speedo was back on the job once more, working properly!

Now, if anyone has an urge to complain that all the forgoing is needlessly lengthy and unnecessarily detailed, unlax! My purpose here in sketching all this out is to demonstrate for anyone who might have a similar problem in future and who, in a fit of despair, stumbles across this account of how to resolve an otherwise apparently HOPELESS problem! In other words, the lesson to be gained is that "when all else fails, consider even the sublime and ridiculous-appearing possibililities before committing suicide"! Besides, that bit of yellow Duct tape holding things together is now safely tucked away behind the instrument panel, so who's to know the truth of the matter (unless it's the Concourse Judge at your next Amelia Island Show)?

PS: This one might be a good one for inclusion in Dr. 914's "You'll never-believe-this-one "trouble-shooting-techniques" index in his book! [If it works, arguments to the contrary are oxymoronic anyway, eh?] Happy Nine-Fourteening, all!
_________________
1973 Standard Beetle, 1974 VW/Porsche 914-4, 1.8 liter
----------------------
Der Volkswagen ist ein Ausdruck der deutschen Kultur der Allrad Art ...

[The only irrefutable evidence we have that intelligent life truly exists elsewhere in the Universe is the fact that so far it has NOT contacted humanity...]