Thought I share my recent experience with tach and speedometer repair options.
First, thanks to Kendall and CoolTech for taking on this interesting challenge, but I'm afraid that, for me, it misses the mark. I'll explain in a moment.
First, when I bought my 05 white / blue stripe in 2010, my second GT, it already had a full set of SpeedHut gauges installed. That speedometer failed after about 3 months of my ownership. "Failed" means that it began reading quite erratically, most often much slower than I was actually traveling. This actually happened on a very long road trip and I had several occasions to check the odometer - over 100 miles (as measured by highway mile markers) odometer is 99.7% accurate.
I was not a big fan of the SpeedHut gauges - I always preferred the look of the factory parts. And I really didn't like the obvious cutting / customization required to make the SpeedHut tach fit.
I bought a supposedly "known good" set of used factory gauges from a Forum member. Sadly, neither the tach or speedometer worked. In this case neither registered any movement at all. Lesson - know, 1000% - who you are buying from... 'nough said...
I ended up with replacement Autometer small gauges with used tach and speedometer from a dealer who made a big market in GT sales. All worked great for about 10,000 miles.
Coming back from the Petite Le Mans this year, the speedometer failed. In this case, "failed" means it began to register speeds not consistent with how fast I was actually traveling, typically 15 - 20 mph low when I was clipping along at much closer to 70 - 90 mph according to Garmin and traffic. (Battery is fresh, fully charged and ground strap is clean / sanded metal-to-metal contact.)
On advice, this time I've tried Kendall's repair options. Since I had spare non-functioning tach and speedo AND tach's are also know to occasionally fail, I opted to get repaired versions of both. Both work but each has issues we've not - to date - been able to resolve. The tach works but is quite slow to respond. Blip the throttle and the engine will return to idle before the tach responds (Kendall says he's now seen this in another car in his shop). Perhaps not critical in day-to-day driving but annoying all the same AND if I were ever to sell the car, there would be some 'splainin' to do... The repaired speedometer works but is about 10% fast - when it reads 90, Garmin reports 81 - at least this direction might save me a ticket, but again, annoying all the same. I've shared this with Kendall and he's in discussions with his supplier about potential solutions.
As I'm not the first person to use these repaired gauges, can anyone who also has the CoolTech repaired gauges chime in with their experience please?
I found a new Ford, in-the-box speedometer on eBay - turns out it was Scott Northwood - so I bought it.
New speedometer and my used tach both going back in the car as soon as the speedo arrives. If / when the tach ever goes out, it will only be a new gauge for me.
First, thanks to Kendall and CoolTech for taking on this interesting challenge, but I'm afraid that, for me, it misses the mark. I'll explain in a moment.
First, when I bought my 05 white / blue stripe in 2010, my second GT, it already had a full set of SpeedHut gauges installed. That speedometer failed after about 3 months of my ownership. "Failed" means that it began reading quite erratically, most often much slower than I was actually traveling. This actually happened on a very long road trip and I had several occasions to check the odometer - over 100 miles (as measured by highway mile markers) odometer is 99.7% accurate.
I was not a big fan of the SpeedHut gauges - I always preferred the look of the factory parts. And I really didn't like the obvious cutting / customization required to make the SpeedHut tach fit.
I bought a supposedly "known good" set of used factory gauges from a Forum member. Sadly, neither the tach or speedometer worked. In this case neither registered any movement at all. Lesson - know, 1000% - who you are buying from... 'nough said...
I ended up with replacement Autometer small gauges with used tach and speedometer from a dealer who made a big market in GT sales. All worked great for about 10,000 miles.
Coming back from the Petite Le Mans this year, the speedometer failed. In this case, "failed" means it began to register speeds not consistent with how fast I was actually traveling, typically 15 - 20 mph low when I was clipping along at much closer to 70 - 90 mph according to Garmin and traffic. (Battery is fresh, fully charged and ground strap is clean / sanded metal-to-metal contact.)
On advice, this time I've tried Kendall's repair options. Since I had spare non-functioning tach and speedo AND tach's are also know to occasionally fail, I opted to get repaired versions of both. Both work but each has issues we've not - to date - been able to resolve. The tach works but is quite slow to respond. Blip the throttle and the engine will return to idle before the tach responds (Kendall says he's now seen this in another car in his shop). Perhaps not critical in day-to-day driving but annoying all the same AND if I were ever to sell the car, there would be some 'splainin' to do... The repaired speedometer works but is about 10% fast - when it reads 90, Garmin reports 81 - at least this direction might save me a ticket, but again, annoying all the same. I've shared this with Kendall and he's in discussions with his supplier about potential solutions.
As I'm not the first person to use these repaired gauges, can anyone who also has the CoolTech repaired gauges chime in with their experience please?
I found a new Ford, in-the-box speedometer on eBay - turns out it was Scott Northwood - so I bought it.
New speedometer and my used tach both going back in the car as soon as the speedo arrives. If / when the tach ever goes out, it will only be a new gauge for me.
