No it wasn't. The 140 (145) mph speedometer wasn't available until late in the '86 model year. This had to do with a federal law which mandated speedometers not read higher than 85 mph in order to help conserve fuel. The 145 mph speedo became available only after the law was lifted.
Blue502, the only exception to that was the 1982 Indy pace car replicas. I have seen a few different cars with the same 140 speedo in it and they were stock. I have one!
Yeah, I kind of remember hearing something about that. I wonder how they got around the feds? Export vehicles may also have been an exception, but I'd think most exports would be primarily in kilometers.
can anyone tell me if a 140 mph speedo was a factory option with a 83 z28?
No. There are no optional speedos for any third gen Camaro. The 1983 Camaros originally came equipped with a dual-pointer 85-mph speedo. However, GM did manufacter a 140-mph speedo that was used in the two 1982 pace cars used at Indy. This speedo has a GM part number and was available over the counter at any GM parts department (I bought one years ago). It is a single-pointer unit that reads to 140-mph with a "Z28" logo embossed on it. The trip odometer reset button is located at approximately 9 o'clock on the face and has a screw-in ****.
The existence of this speedo is virtually unknown by the consumer. If your car has it, it was bought and replaced by a previous owner.
Willie,
I disagree. I have seen a few Indy Pace Cars with the same 140 speedo and they were all low mileaged. Mine had 18k miles on it when I got it and those were documented miles. I have seen others with the same speedo. I have spoken with the original owner of the car and he said the speedo was in the car when he bought it new.
Back in 1983, I checked out a used pace car for sale at a local dealership. It had less than 10,000 miles on it. It had a 1982 gauge cluster (unique to this year -- the font was different) with a dual-pointer 85-mph speedo.
One more note: The two pace cars that were produced to actually pace the Indy 500 (one was a backup and never used) that have the 140-mph speedo do NOT have the Z28 logo on it. I have a pic of it. The over-the-counter unit does. Otherwise, they are identical.
It would be nice to hear from others who own or have seen a pace car to take an informal survey.
Willie, I shot an email to Scott Settlemire asking if he can shed some light on this. He usually gets back to me quickly. I'll let you know. I checked the Assembly Manual and it says that there were so many festival cars made that were different from the rest because they had the 85 mph speedo instead of the 140. Mention of the 140 speedo is mentioned in the assembly manual as being available. I guess the only way to resolve this is to hear from Scott S.
By the way, I had an 82 Z28 with the dual needle, a 83 Z28 with the dual needle and now an 82 Pace with the 140. I will keep researching this so we can put it to rest!
i have seen one of those 82 pace cars. i work at a garage and we towed it out of a persons yard right in my town. it had the 500 decale on the door and everything. i didnt know much about camaros then so i didnt ask about it. i was a idiot not to.
i dont have a pic but my car is what willie described single pointer 140 speedo with z28 logo on the bottom with the screw on trip odometer **** it was probably replaced by the previous owner
Quote: Originally posted by Willie This speedo has a GM part number and was available over the counter at any GM parts department (I bought one years ago). It is a single-pointer unit that reads to 140-mph with a "Z28" logo embossed on it. The trip odometer reset button is located at approximately 9 o'clock on the face and has a screw-in ****.
The existence of this speedo is virtually unknown by the consumer. If your car has it, it was bought and replaced by a previous owner.
Yes, I bought one for my '83 as well, sometime in 1984....the P/N was 25052189, and the price was something like $108 at the Chevy dealership.
I have a mid 80s chevy heavy duty parts manual that has that same speedo.I would think that it didnt come from gm with the 140 speedo, i think they are dealer instaled until late pruduction 86 145 came out. Also the characters on the 140 speedo matches the 83 modal yr not 82 not 84 so i would think they became available sometime during the 83 model yr.
I guess I'll conceed and say the 140 must not have been available. I have yet to locate an original 82 Pace Car owner with the 140 speedo. I also did not believe they came from the factory, but I have seen 3 or 4 cars with the same speedo, so I thought that maybe some Pace Cars came that way. Scott Settlemire ran the question by some others at Chevrolet and they have not yet been able to give me a definite "yes" or "no". The only answer I got was that the different speedos were tied to the different tires and they are still researching if it was actually "factory installed". Since there is so much debate over this, I will agree and say that until it is proven, the 140 speedo was not factory installed until later years! Thanks
I have an 83, so, if I want to change the cluster with idiot lights to gauges (same position in the cluster, a couple years newer) do I have to change the sending units for the oil pressure, water temp and volts?
marshalljt
Here is the over the counter 140 speedo I have. * note reset buttom at 9 o'clock, odometer, trip are reversed plus at the 40 MPH they didn't bump out for the screw like OEM ones. This one has Z28 logo. I'd like to see a non logo 140 speedo in this style & also looking for a 160 speedo if anyone has one
There was ALSO a Classic Industries Version that had a MILLION MILE odometer. From what I've read there was also a Z28 logo version of this speedo that I have not acquired a picture of yet
There was another SPEEDO that was a 160 MPH version. With a million mile odometer. What I've researched over just a couple days is there isn't a thread that covers all these.
My bone stock '83 Firebird S/E has the 140 speedo!
