TOPIC:

Bucko:

At the Dremel's highest speed, the odometers numbers 'whizzed by' however, perhaps not surprisingly, the entire odometer mechanism eventually blew up.

This is exactly what I'd be afraid of. I am not rushing in until I am totally committed to doing it and nothing else. So, for now the speedo is open and sitting on the shelf.
I think Kawboy mentioned something about busting a speed, also from a personal experience.

Hopefully I will be able to strip it without damage, and just turn the dial to where it should be.

Now that I know who sells the gauge faces, has anyone installed them before ? How difficult what it opening up the gauges ?

The speedometer cable drive hub on the front wheel part # 41078-1008 is common across all years of the KZ1300 (79-82) so the speed of the cable in rpm is the same regardless of which speedometer head is installed. The 3 available speedometer heads, an 85 mph, a 160 mph and a 160 kilometer/hour head are all different. So how could a 85 mph head just get a face change and now able to read 160 mph at full needle? Not possible without changing either the spring tension in the speedometer head and re-calibrating?
The 85 mph face clocks out at about 136 kph
The 160 kph face clocks out at 100 mph so even changing out the 85 mph and the 160 kph speedometer faces won't work without re-calibrating the internals of the speedometer head.

The Z1300 European model has a 240 kph speedometer head and 240 kph crosses over to 149 mph so it won't directly change out with the 160 mph speedometer face either without calibration.

Bottom line- If you want to change out a speedometer face for a new one of the same range - fine. Go for it. Changing out to get a wider range will require mechanical changes to the internals of the speedometer head and it can be done but is costly. You would be better off to find the right speedometer head for what you want.

Also note- Changing out the speedometer needles is not as simple as pulling off the old needle and pushing on a new needle. There is a certain amount of preload on the clock spring in the speedometer head and the pin that the needle rests against at 0 mph holds that preload until the speed of the rotating magnet overcomes the preload tension and allows the needle to move. Just "pulling off the old needle and pushing on the new needle" could have your speedometer reading off ( and I'm guessing here) 5- 10 mph?
To do this job right, you need to mark the cup on the needle shaft when the needle is sitting at 0 mph and against the stop pin. Then remove the old needle and replace with the new needle, then check your marking on the your speedometer needle cup. By doing it this way the speedometer will be as accurate as it was before changing out the needle.

Kawboy wrote: So how could a 85 mph head just get a face change and now able to read 160 mph at full needle? Not possible without changing either the spring tension in the speedometer head and re-calibrating?

Sorry, I meant to say in my earlier post that there is no issue in changing the speedometer assembly to a 160mph one. Changing just the face will never work. I had assumed that would be obvious to all. Sorry for any confusion.

zed_thirteen:

Kawboy wrote: So how could a 85 mph head just get a face change and now able to read 160 mph at full needle? Not possible without changing either the spring tension in the speedometer head and re-calibrating?


Sorry, I meant to say in my earlier post that there is no issue in changing the speedometer assembly to a 160mph one. Changing just the face will never work. I had assumed that would be obvious to all. Sorry for any confusion

No worries, that's what I understood, no confusion here

z1300.de/
Here's the face of the meter.