im putting a brand new engine in my 84 z28.. i was wondering if theres any way to zero out my odometer so i know the mileage with out having to do the math every time..???

 

I've seen this question come up before on this forum and I think the answer was no. You have to add a sticker to the door (not sure if it is required in all 50 states) to document that the odo has been changed.

 

I think the Feds might have something to say about that

How often do you need to work out the mileage; cells have calculators on them
If you are doing it for running in purposes, do it in advance and write it down
current mileage + 500 miles = oil change @ XXXXX miles

 

Yes you can. Is it legal? Not sure.

 

It's extremely illegal.

 

Only if you try to pass it off as original. Disclose that the Odometer was rest & the Feds won't care. After a certain age, mileage is not even reported on vehicle titles or registration anyways.

 

After 10 years a vehicle is sold TMU.. True miles unknown, So i dont see why it would be illegal?

 

You might get away with that in the only state left that hasn't started issuing titles; not so much anywhere else.

Most states you have to put on the TITLE when you sell it, if the odo has been changed; and what it read before, and what it read when the new one was installed. Which would apply to hacking on one I suppose. Atleast, if you want not to go to jail.

But it's EXTREMELY difficult to change it without breaking it, by design I would assume. Not exactly sure how because I've never tried it, but I do know once somebody tries, they basically don't work any more.

 

I guess so.My 95 and my 92 titles both say exempt.But we dont smog test vehicles eather.I guess were behind on times.

 

I built my Harley back in 1995 and put a new speedometer in it. When the odometer failed a few years later, I replaced the speedo with a new one and started back at zero.

The odometer indicates the mileage of the vehicle, not the engine. As shown above, after a certain number of years, there is no accuracy required.

 

So after 26 years my car really doesn't have 90,000 miles on it? Sweet.

 

i also did a motor and trans swop and was wondering about it myself

 

As far as the DOT is concerned, it can be whatever mileage you want but it's still illegal to falsify a mileage when sold.

 

It is very easy to change the odometer numbers - you just have to be careful. Carefully remove the numbers/gears from the housing.

Once removed you can slowly change the mileage. It will take a while to figure it all out, but you will get the hang of it. Carefully reinstall w/o changing the numbers.

I've done this to 2 speedometers now (replacements) with perfect results.

 

I recall if the odometer numbers were tampered with, there was usually 1 digit that did not align perfectly. It was something we checked back in the 80’s, prior to buying a used GM car.

 

weird if that is true. i dont see why they wouldnt align fine.

 

Mine worked out just fine. I was able to get my 145 mph speedo in my 84 Z28 down the the 1/10s digit

 

Just an FYI. The mileage on my title is blank too (Kansas). I wish mileage didn't really matter in terms of engine components =) Still, she's good for another 100k

 

I know this is an old posting. But I though I might chime in. In the State of Indiana after 10 years or 100,000 miles you can check a box that indicates 'vehicle beyond mechanical limits' and mileage isn't even considered after that. Indiana has one of the easiest titles compared to my neighboring state Kentucky, Kentucky has have an BMV inspection of the lights, horn wipers and tires. Then the title has to be notorized then fully filled out by both parties. In Indiana the seller just has to sign his or her name. That's it.

 

If you break it down this far you can do any thing you want. However I seriously do not not advise it.

 

do it the easy way- hook the cable up to a drill and spin it until it reaches zero again.. might take a while, tho, depending on how fast your drill is... a 1000 rpm drill will knock off a mile a minute, so if you start out at 80,000 miles it will take 20,000 minutes- just under 14 days- to reach zero on an old 100,000 mile odometer.

 

Legally after a car is a certain age they are odometer exempt or they are in Arkansas. On camaros 89 and older it is easy to rollback an odometer but I would like for someone to show me how to do the 90-92.

 

best idea i've seen so far lol, why not just take it out of the housing and roll it forward with your fingers, would take forever but hey it'd work yeah?

 

I miss living in Indiana. It made things so much easier.

 

If it takes 2 weeks with a drill to go 20k miles why on earth wuold you spend the years necessary to do it by hand in your free time?



Anyway, changing the mileage just because you put a new engine in it is just stupid. The mileage is mileage on the car, not the engine. The engine is irrelevant. It's misleading and stupid.

 

years ago I spun mine and it took nowhere NEAR that long. My case was a little different in that I was actually adding miles to my newly purchased 145mph speedo in order to make the miles on the ODO match my actual miles. I don't remember how many miles I added, but it was a bunch, and I think it took me under an hour.

 

Zero'ing out an 82-89 camaro Speedo takes less than 1/2 hour and doesn't require the use of a drill. I've also Zero'd out the 85+ Firebird Speedo's, but needed to use a drill for that type of Speedo head.

The 90-92 Camaro Speedo was harder to manipulate. I was able to adjust the odometer - pretty sure I used a drill on that too, but I was never able to verify if the Speedo head was still accurate once I was done. IIRC I think it was because the needle has to be pulled off and unlike the 82-89 Speedo head,..... there's no way to retain the original position of the speed needle before pulling it off it's post. Meaning once re-assembled the Speedo would need to be pressed back on it's post without KNOWING where "0" MPH is. Once the Speedo was rebuilt it would need to be tested for accuracy & the needle would most likely need to be manually adjusted on it's post.


Changing the odometer reading or swapping clusters is not illegal - failing to disclose IS !

 

i'm thinking your drill is seriously slow if it really takes that long, i've never tried it but damn that sounds like somethings wrong. i've see threads where guys take the numbers out and just turn them all around like a rubix cube to whatever they want, doesnt take them years, what i'm more interested in is making my trip stay zero'd on mycar, i have some slight ocd and it just bugs me to have it not look pristine and perfect with all zeros idk why i cant make it turn off, but i've been looking at how to stop it from counting the miles up it'll be awhile before i can take the time to pull the speedo out of the cluster and take it apart though

 

The roll can be swapped without removing the needle or speedo face, at least on 89- cars. Check post #10 of the following link:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/faq-...-fix-pics.html

JamesC