1979 top speed

[lm48]

There is a 79 for sale on eBay and the speedo is 80 , so I believe in 79 at some point was made the switch from 80 to 140

[JEEPER]

There is a 79 for sale on eBay and the speedo is 80 , so I believe in 79 at some point was made the switch from 80 to 140

Ya I have a 79 Manufactured in Oct 78 that I bought new and it has 140 MPH speedometer.

[FiatBen]

Not normally one to revive an older thread, but this one caught my interest since I'm working on a '79.
Build code 11/78 and pretty sure everything is original.

[RRoller123]

My 80FI has the 80mph speedo, original for sure. If you are interested, I will go get the month of manufacture from the door plate?

[donm]

I wish my '80 had the 140mph speedo. On a lonely stretch of 128 I had my speedo pinned at 80. I'd love to pin it at 140 and see what that's like!

[SWhiteley]

I hope there aren't people here who were complaining about their 140 speedo...if it's too much for you, I'm sure someone will do a swap for their their 80 unit.

[fiat218]

They don't go 140. I guess it just for looks

[phaetn]

Yes. Plus they're so fast they never stand still: they're always going 5mph indicated even when parked.

My '74 has a 140mph speedo. I've had it up to 90mph once. Probably won't do that again until I've had the steering/bearings checked. Most of the time I'm tooling around somewhere between 40 and 60mph.

So what's faster? Doing 90mph on a 140mph speedo, or overclocking an 80mph gauge to get to 90? After all, perception is reality.

Cheers,
phaetn

[azruss]

My 80Fi had an 80mph speedo. I replaced the entire cluster with deep dish gages from a 70. Wanted to go retro. my deep dish speedo read about 10% high when I first installed. Within a month, it started going haywire reading up to double the actual speed. It was also making noises. I pulled out 2 other deep dish gages i had and plugged them in and they both read fine. I picked the best one and now my speedo reads accurately according to the electronic speed monitors in my neighborhood. ( I suspect they read a hair low) as I see how they match with my 2 modern cars. Still using the same cable.

[paintdudeluke]

I've had my 81 at 5600 in 5th. The speedo was already pegged about 1/2 way through 4th. It felt like about 105-110 maybe. I just ordered a 140 for it thats supposed to be from a 79-83. Well see how well it reads. I though about just doing the 220KPH speedo just because I hate the 85r anyway.

[bradartigue]

The 85 MPH speedometers aren't so bad, every time you look down it's 3/4 to 4/4 through rotation. Always going fast.

Pininfarinas (I recall) have 120 MPH speedometers. 850 Spiders have 120 MPH speedometers that work in the 124...at least in a 124 you can get close. In an 850 at 60 MPH you've exceeded the engineering limits of the chassis.

[RRoller123]

Yes, and it will be a cool day in hell before I go over 85 in this 34 year old car.

[michaelj]

Hey we have a couple spider owners in Bonita and Naples. Are you up for a cruise in sometime? Mike

[paintdudeluke]

With my 140 speedo it says I'm at about 100 at 5k in 5th. Seems about right, I spent a lot of time between 100 and 160 on my ZX11 Ninja so I have a pretty comfortable "feel" of 3 digit speeds. It does feel like about 100 at 5k in 5th gear and they're isn't much left either, that's about tops unless I really drag it out on an endless straight, then I might tip 5600 Rs.

[v6spider]

With my 140 speedo it says I'm at about 100 at 5k in 5th. Seems about right, I spent a lot of time between 100 and 160 on my ZX11 Ninja so I have a pretty comfortable "feel" of 3 digit speeds. It does feel like about 100 at 5k in 5th gear and they're isn't much left either, that's about tops unless I really drag it out on an endless straight, then I might tip 5600 Rs.

Speed freak!
Cheers!
Rob