33 replies to this topic

[S pack]

Mike 73 purports the odometer in the LJ dual scale speedometers (original manufacture type, not one with a conversion decal) records the distance travelled in miles and I believe it to be km's.

Question to all members with an original LJ or HQ dual scale speedo. Does your odometer accord with miles or km?

Cheers
Dave.

[S pack]

What needs to happen here is for everyone to go for a squirt in ya torrie over a 5 klm measured distance or there abouts and post the results ??? and dont forget the build date to i spose,and i know some will have replacement speedo/odometers too

Thanks Dane and Phillip.

The info in Danes Owners Handbook is 100% correct. All LJ and HQ dual scale speedometers have odometers that record the distance travelled in KM not miles.

The dual scale speedometer is a full metric instrument which has the primary scale graduated in kilometers with a secondary scale graduated in mph.

GMH also released full metric warning light and combined instrument clusters which had single scale KM speedos. These metric instrument panels were optional equipment in LC & LJ Torana however I doubt very many, if any, new LCTorana owners would have optioned the metric only instruments.

Two GMH documents, one dated April 1973 and one dated August 1973 confirm the odometer reading is in KM.
I'll put up some pics soon.

Cheers
Dave.

Edited by S pack, 02 December 2012 - 08:03 AM.

[S pack]

In the 'XU1 Replacement and HQ Block Changes' thread in the 'Engine' forum, Mike 73 made this wild claim about LJ dual scale speedometers. Being the anal type of person that I am I just couldn't let this go unanswered.

Mike 73 wrote.

The odometer has only 6 windows and one of those was in parts of a mile, it would have taken a total redesign of the odometer and a change of the gearing to be able to read more than 99999 Km, no such redesign occurred. The Monaro would have been in the same boat as was the HJ model as I recall?
I have owned LC, LJ and TA of these models for 35 years cocsesecutively now and have wrecked many more from years 1969 to 1975 and none of these had a metric odometer, it was not possible to fit an extra numeral window in the odometer.

I believe the speedometer facia did change slightly in the later 70's as a spare part, and there were also vinal stickers available but these were not produced past 1977, though they are being produced again now. These stickers are marked with miles at the bottom.
The speedo came in both 100 mph and 120 mph versions, which changed to a dual reading ( miles inside and Kms on the outside ) for the speedo 100mph about July 1973 and a dual reading ( miles inside and Kms on the outside ) for the XU-1 about August 73 neither of these were metric odometers and none manufactured after these dates had metric odometers.
No good looking at a parts book because these were not even printed until 1975 when several changes had occurred to spare parts anyway.

There were several versions of the instrument pannel too ( none with double handbrake lights )

Mike
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Now here is the proof.

On the left is a dual scale 160 kph speedo and on the right is a 100mph speedo.


Note the different odometer drive transfer shaft gears.
On the left is the 160kph speedo gear (12 teeth) and on the right is the 100mph gear (10 teeth)


A practical test of both odometers (number of drive cable turns to move the 10th of a km/mile digit from 0 to 1) gave the following results:-
160km/100mph speedo = 66 turns.
100mph spedo = 105 turns

One kilometre is equal to 5/8 of one mile.
105 turns divided by 8 =13.125 x 5 = 65.625 (66) turns.
Conclusion: The dual scale speedo has an odometer that records distance travelled in KM.

This is the 200kmh full metric speedo Part No. VS11190. This speedo was available in a full metric instrument panel as an option in the LC Torana.

[Kockum]

Just checked my cars P/N 9933220 LJ guardian maintenance owner booklet dated 6/73 .

For 20 dealer service boxes to be filled in at time of service there is both MILES or KM to be recorded .

My cars dual scale speedo is dated 7/73 .

[S pack]

BTW Mike, there was not set introduction date for the metric system in Australia, it happened gradually over a long period of time.
Road speed signs were changed nationally to metric over a one month period in July 1974 however no ADR's regarding speedometers and odometers existed until 1988. Vehicle manufacturers were free to use whichever type (km or MPH) up until 1988.

As I said to you in another post: I recommend you do more research.

[S pack]

Just checked my cars P/N 9933220 LJ guardian maintenance owner booklet dated 6/73 .

For 20 dealer service boxes to be filled in at time of service there is both MILES or KM to be recorded .

My cars dual scale speedo is dated 7/73 .

That would be correct, the dual scale speedo was introduced into production for LJ & HQ in July 1973.
The original introduction date was slated for March 1973 but for whatever reason it was postponed until July.

[meanmachine72]

another mike llub tihs story put to bed...that new book must bad if he had any thing to do with it, and well done dave for showing the goose up again... he got no idea and makes things up tp suit his own twisted agenda...put some pics of ya rust out shell mike. been told you moved the shell without the jig and car split in half..pics of that would be great..pity i turn your tag details to red = dead

[Kockum]

Holden knew metric speedometers were on the way in December 1972 - possibly earlier .

From the above dated owners manual -

Normal instrument cluster ..... SPEEDOMETER 0 - 100 MPH or 0 - 160 KM/H .

Sports instrument cluster ..... SPEEDOMETER 0 - 120 MPH or 0 - 200 KM/H .

[S pack]

I read that a major Australian car manufacturer made a commitment back in 1968 to change over to metric instruments, apparently this was before the Aust Govt had made a decision about officially adopting the metric system.
Might have been GMH or could have been Ford.

Edited by S pack, 02 December 2012 - 01:15 PM.

[Bazza]

Holden knew metric speedometers were on the way in December 1972 - possibly earlier .

From the above dated owners manual -

Normal instrument cluster ..... SPEEDOMETER 0 - 100 MPH or 0 - 160 KM/H .

Sports instrument cluster ..... SPEEDOMETER 0 - 120 MPH or 0 - 200 KM/H .

Hi

Not to mention that Holden were making Metric instruments for their cars sold in the export market from at least the LC.

Cheers

Bazza

Edited by Bazza, 02 December 2012 - 04:17 PM.

[S pack]

Yeah Mike, whatever you reckon. Confused? I'm not confused about this issue.
BTW i'm not in any way referring to any stick on conversion decals that can be put onto a MPH speedo or even converting an existing odometer to KM. Oh, and I don't need to refer to a Parts Catalogue for the dual scale instrument panel part numbers, this info is contained in the two GMH documents released in 1973. Just so you know, these 1973 vintage part numbers are listed in the 1975 LJ parts catalogue.

I learn something new almost every day, if not every day.
You can learn something too if you want to or you can have a closed mind and learn nothing.

Cheers
Dave.

Edited by S pack, 02 December 2012 - 07:08 PM.

[Kockum]

Hi

Not to mention that Holden were making Metric instruments for their cars sold in the export market from at least the LC.

Cheers

Bazza

It's true , you do learn something new every day .

[Dr Terry]

I've got a few things to add here.

1. Metric speedos have been available for Holdens since FB days. I believe they were all used for export prior to 1973. I'm not sure if it was possible to option a km speedo in an Australian delivered car before that date. I stand to be correct here, but I've never seen it as an option in Australian Holden dealership paperwork

2. Just because an odometer 'window' is only wide enough for 6 digits, doesn't mean it has to read only miles. Early HJ speedos which were purely metric had only 6 digits (5 plus a decimal) and caused problems because fleet cars (taxis etc.) quickly reached 99,999 km before resetting to zero. Most manufacturers caught on early in the piece & soon all odometers had 7 digits.

3. I saw this comment about LJs having only miles in the odometer & thought it wasn't correct, but remained silent until I checked my own low km LJ. It is a 73 LJ S which has only travelled around 60,000 km & has never had the instruments touched since new. Trust me, I checked & its odometer reads kms NOT miles. BTW Mike73 it still has its original unique to late LJ engine mounts intact.

Dr Terry

[S pack]

The suggestion to me above, that some Holdens had mph right through to 1988 seems rather unbelievable too, perhaps this would only apply to export Holdens, as I have never seen it on any Australian model after HQ.

Mike

Mike, I never said some Holdens had MPH speedometers up until 1988. If you read and understand what I stated you will see I was just making a point that no ADR for speedometers existed until 1988. Manufacturers changing over to full metric speedometers and odometers that register up to 999,999.9 km appears to have been a voluntary change not a requirement of an ADR.

While we're at it can you answer this: For what reason was the brake warning light relocated to the top of the fascia in the 1973 LJ?

Edited by S pack, 03 December 2012 - 01:05 PM.

[S pack]

3. I saw this comment about LJs having only miles in the odometer & thought it wasn't correct, but remained silent until I checked my own low km LJ. It is a 73 LJ S which has only travelled around 60,000 km & has never had the instruments touched since new. Trust me, I checked & its odometer reads kms NOT miles. BTW Mike73 it still has its original unique to late LJ engine mounts intact.

Dr Terry

Dr Terry

Thank you for checking your LJ's odometer, it confirms what I already knew to be correct.

Cheers
Dave