SL500 R129 Speedometer

[vtwin]

Hi I'm looking to buy a 1991 R129 with 24, 800 miles on it. It's a japenese import therefore the speedo is in KMH. Does anyone know how difficult it would be to change the speedo for a UK model?

Also are there any major difficulties to be expected from this car

Many thanks in advance,

Adrian (vtwin)

 

[Sp!ke]

I'd be rather wary of a 20 year old car with only 25k miles on it, especially an import.

Are you 100% sure the mileage and history is genuine? Also, what is the service history like? Has it only had 4 services in 20 years?

Dont be drawn in by the low mileage unless it is absolutely "like new" and you intend to mothball it instead of driving it.

 

[jaymanek]

Low miles from Japan is very common and probably genuine.

As the actual mileage will be in miles, your easiest solution is to find a second hand cluster and simply swap the face plates over. It will still read correctly.

 

[kwakdonut]

I agree with Jay. Low mileage Japanese imports that are 10, 15, 20 years old are quite common. Their version of the MOT test is very strict and sees cars that would pass here in the UK, fail.

 

[vtwin]

The plan was to garage it and use it occasionally but to make it more salable in the future I thought about changing the speedo. Jay, the current speedo is showing 40000km so if i swappped the face plate how would it show miles? Would i not need to find a SH cluster and set the milage to 24800?

Does anyone know if the engine has coil packs or a single coil/distribtor?

Many thanks

 

[jaymanek]

well most of the cars we imported from japan read the mileage in miles not KM. Yes if you are bothered, you can have someone like John Ostick (search on web) recalibrate it... If it were my car I would leave it in KM and ensure that at MOT time, they know its in KM and make a note of it.