LocostUSA.com

In this case, the larger (standard-size) bottle was over $500, filled. Considering that a large bottle of argon/CO2 lasts me for Months, and aluminum welding will only be maybe 10% of my welding, I decided to stick to the small one. The fill is priced by the pound, so the smaller bottle will be cheaper to fill (about $36, vs. $70 for the bigger one).

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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/

holy crap!

an 80 CF bottle here goes for ~$200, where as the 20 CF bottles are $80-90. When I ran a shop, we used to use 120 CF bottles. They cost $80 to fill, and were $250 to purchase new.

If you take some of your Canadian air back, I'll figure out how to swindle one across the border for you

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Tucker

The local racketeers' pricing for refills is within a few dollars no matter what size the bottle is. That makes the small bottles very expensive for the amount of gas you get. Unfortunately I'm not able to wrestle the big bottles around any more.

Great! I'll fire up the ice-cold air magnet, and you can send me up a bucketful of argon!

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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/

I'm normally not one to complain about the cold from the great white north.. but it was 68*F here on Christmas eve, and 10 days later it was 2*, with a high of 14F for the day.. too fast of a swing for me.

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Tucker

Well, for those of you following my build, you'll know I'm using a Ford T-5 trans (World Class, out of a 2.3 liter 87 Mustang) and Smiths ('72-'74 MGB) gauges.

I've sorted out most of the getting-21st-century-stuff-to-talk-to-60's- gauges issues, but the speedo is driving me nuts. I know, I know, it's a short trip!

There are two main issues: my MGB speedo reads based on 1280 turns per mile (the TPM rate is printed on the face of the speedo on all Smiths gauges, on mine just to the right of "MPH"), vs. the T-5, which is optimized for 1000 TPM.

There are various gear-reduction devices available, but the cost is At this point, it looks like the best method will be to: 1) scrap my existing Smiths speedo & try to locate one of the rare MG Midget ones that look like it, but are geared for 1000 TPM; 2) get another Smiths speedo, regardless of style, and swap the guts into my housing, or; 3) get such a speedo and swap my faceplate & needle onto it.

Here's my existing speedo (pardon the dust & crappy cell phone pics) -





The other main issue is the speedo cable - North American speedos (at least, those with knurled, threaded attachments) use 5/8"X18 thread. The Smiths gauges, of course, use "British Cycle Thread", which is approximately 12mmX1.0 metric Go ahead, find one of those!

Thankfully (hopefully?) http://www.aluminumV8.com makes, apparently, a cable (complete with driven gear) designed to connect a Ford T-5 with an MG speedometer. That would seem to be the best option, even at the cost of $65USD. Unfortunately, there's no "contact us", email address, or anything for them - just a non-toll-free number. I may have to just bite the bullet & order one.

What remains to be seen is whether I'd still need a right-angle drive at the transmission end of the cable, as it looks like it sticks out a looooong way, and my trans tunnel is very tight...

Anybody else using a T-5, who can give me an idea how far the cable sticks out from the trans before a 90* bend can be accomplished (without bending the cable too much)?

_________________
Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/

Do you care if the odometer is correct? If not, the speedo portion of the MGB gauge can be adjusted to get the speed correct. The speedo needle and slip ring are tensioned with a clock spring, all you need to do is either increase the tension or decrease the tension on the needle.

I might have a midget gauge somewhere in my stash, I'll try to dig it out and see if its a 1000 tpm type.

Rod

Cool, thanks! The odometer accuracy isn't make-or-break (it would be nice if it works, but...). IF I could find a 1000 TPM unit, the odometer would work, too.

I did look at a site about adjusting Smiths speedos, but it looks like the later style (like mine) are pinned internally, making it difficult or impossible without possibly destroying it (apparently, you have to remove the spring from the baseplate, and re-solder it into a different position, or something like that). I haven't tried it myself, and I'm nervous about doing it, not having a spare unit in case I mess it up (a virtual certainty, without a spare on hand - "Murphy is my copilot").

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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/

Call APT Instruments in Bloomington MN. They are very knowledgeable and may ba able to put together something to help. I used them to change the ratio on my Locost using metric threads (not listed on their website). My adapter ran $95 a few years back.

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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

Here are some photos of the stock, '94 Mustang W.C. T5 and the Mustang sending unit from my donor. This is not a mechanical cable, but a sending unit type. There are a number of these available with different ratios in the aftermarket. It should give you a worst case idea. A mechanical unit with cable should be smaller don't you think?


I used the measurements to lay out my tunnel and here they are:


The photo is fuzzy, but the first number visible beyond the sending unit is 5 inches. The 4 is obscured, but just below it.


There is a wiring harness plug that goes in the end of this sender, so I had to allow for that too. I don't think a mechanical unit would extend out that far and the cable should curve to some extent also. I had to have a minimum of 4-3/4", but I'm guessing you should take less, maybe to 3"-4" or so from centerline?


I hope this helps.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Thanks!, Lonnie-s, that does help!

I was lucky enough to find an MG Midget speedo on Ebay that is cosmetically a perfect match to my MGB one, and is calibrated at 1000 TPM. It wasn't cheap ($145USD), but it's the same cost as a reduction gear drive to try to match TPM to my existing speedo, and removes one layer of complexity. Now I just need to buy a custom cable that will connect the T-5 to the Smiths speedo, and I'll be all set.

I visited all the local auto wreckers looking for a stock T-5 Ford speedo cable and, strangely, couldn't find a single one. I was contemplating seeing if I could make an adapter on my lathe to fit the larger, North American (5/8"X18) speedo-end of the cable onto the smaller Smiths speedo fitting (apparently, 11mmX1.0). Theoretically, it should be possible (basically, a thin aluminum barrel, threaded to 5/8" on the inside & 11mm on the inside), but I'm loathe to spend another $35 to order one locally if this turns out to be a silly idea.

On the plus side, I suppose I can sell my existing MGB speedo on Ebay, and probably recoup my gauge investment.

It's amazing how long these little details can take. Progress when building the frame, installing the engine, etc. was really, really fast, with visible change every day. Now, it seems weeks go by with little noticeable change while working out the tiny kinks!

Oh well, it's still progress. All these little things should culminate in everything being ready for, basically, a bolt-together final assembly when the time comes, with all the minor issues already sorted. Well, that's the theory, anyway

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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/

You might want to look into a Smiths angle drive, it would mean that you would have to turn up an adapter to fit the T5, but it would mean you could run an off the shelf smiths cable (they come in lengths from 42" up to 96"). I've turned up an adapter for my Renault gearbox, but I haven't tested it yet due to the car being nowhere near finished.

Too bad you got the Ebay speedo, I haven't checked yet but I think I have a 1000 TPM speedo, it would have been yours for the cost of postage from Vancouver.

Rod

More news on the speedometer front.

I finally received the one I bought on Ebay...with a note included in the box, saying "I found another one with lower mileage, so I sent it instead".

Of course, as soon as I saw it, I knew it was the wrong one - the same as the one I already have, gearing 28% out from what I could work with, and missing some parts to boot.

Emailed the guy back, and he got snippy about it - wanted me to return the "wrong" one (at my cost), and he'd see about finding another one. He also wouldn't say what happened to the one I'd paid for. Long story short, we went back and forth for a couple of weeks, emails getting more & more irate, and it wasn't until I threatened legal action (and found another, similar one on HIS website with the gearing I needed) that he finally agreed to exchange it & refund my return shipping.

When he finally sent a replacement, it was missing ALL of its external parts (no electrical parts, no brackets, no trip odometer reset cable assembly, etc. etc.) & was in generally about a "C-" in condition. AGAIN, with the emails. Him saying "you get what you agreed to - if you looked at all the pictures of the one I sent, it didn't have any stuff on it", with me responding "I paid for an "A+" condition one, with ALL its parts attached, so at least send me the missing parts so I can assemble a complete one". Again, I had to threaten legal action, negative feedback, etc.

He finally agreed to that. Now that I finally have the replacement (I have to work on it - move the needle & it doesn't return to zero), he's no longer responding to emails etc., so it looks like I won't be getting the rest of the parts (which he said he'll take off the one I sent back, as he doesn't have any other parts in his warehouse of Smiths gauges... )

He finally did admit that, after selling the original one to me, he turned around and sold it again, to someone else. I might have mentioned that that's fraud, and a Class III felony in Florida, where he's located...

The only good news is that the one I have now is geared for 1000 turns/mile, which should talk to my T-5 trans.

Once I have the rest of the parts, I have to order a cable that will join the Smiths speedo at one end with the T-5 at the other (supposedly available for $65USD). Oh, and probably a 90* angle drive for the speedo end, as there just won't be clearance for a cable between the T5 & tunnel without making an extremely tight bend (another $150USD...)

By the time I'm done, this will be the most expensive cheap speedo in history...

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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/

I don't want to rain on your parade, But have you considered that 1000TPM gearing on any given transmission is only works with a) the diff gear ratio, and 2) the tire size of the vehicle it came from. if you are changing either of these, 1000TPM will not get you accurate MPH or miles on the odometer.

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Chuck.

“Any suspension will work if you don’t let it.” - Colin Chapman

Visit my ongoing MGB Rustoration log: over HERE

Or my Wankel powered Locost log : over HERE

And don't forget my Cushman Truckster resto Locostusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=17766

I know it's a looong way from plug-n'-play. I've spent a couple of weeks trying to figure this out, playing with ratios, available gears, speedometers, etc., but I think I finally have it sorted.

I've used the online calculators to see what T-5 driven gears I would need to go with my trans & its drive gear. With the 1000 TPM speedo (and my rear axle ratio/rear tire diameter) it gets me well inside the range of adjustment via the driven gears available.

My axle ratio (3.08) and my rear tire diameter (22.5") calculates out to a T-5 driven gear of 19 teeth for accurate speed on a 1000 TPM speedo, given my T-5's standard 7-tooth internal drive gear.

These calculators all assume the use of a 1000 TPM speedometer - the old one that's 28% out doesn't work with the calculators at all. I did try to adjust the formula to accommodate the difference (I think, correctly), but the calculated driven gear was a size that simply doesn't exist.

The T-5 driven gears are cheap, so my plan is to get the gear that calculates to be correct, plus one size - and one size +. That should allow me to get it right on the money.

At least, that's the theory!

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Scratch building, at continental-drift speed, a custom McSoreley-design framed, dual-Weber 45DCOE carburated, Zetec-engined, ridiculously fast money pit.

http://zetec7.webs.com/