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140mph speedo on a 83?

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Old Jan 28, 2002 | 09:07 PM
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140mph speedo on a 83?

can anyone tell me if a 140 mph speedo was a factory option with a 83 z28?

thanks
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Old Jan 28, 2002 | 11:52 PM
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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.
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Old Jan 31, 2002 | 12:48 AM
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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!
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Old Jan 31, 2002 | 01:36 AM
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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.
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Old Jan 31, 2002 | 09:51 PM
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thats weird i have a 83 z28 cfi it has a 140 speedo . do they sell aftermarket gauge packages?
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Old Feb 1, 2002 | 12:10 AM
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Originally posted by ds83z28
thats weird i have a 83 z28 cfi it has a 140 speedo . do they sell aftermarket gauge packages?
Have a pic?
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Old Feb 1, 2002 | 08:06 AM
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Re: 140mph speedo on a 83?

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.
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Old Feb 1, 2002 | 09:02 AM
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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.
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Old Feb 1, 2002 | 09:20 AM
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Scott,

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

Last edited by Willie; Feb 1, 2002 at 09:22 AM.
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Old Feb 1, 2002 | 06:57 PM
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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!
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Old Feb 1, 2002 | 09:06 PM
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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.
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Old Feb 1, 2002 | 09:52 PM
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My bone stock '83 Firebird S/E has the 140 speedo! But that's cause I live I live in Canada and it's km/h. Had ya there for a minute didn't I eh?!
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Old Feb 1, 2002 | 11:38 PM
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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
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Old Feb 2, 2002 | 04:01 PM
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Re: Re: 140mph speedo on a 83?

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.
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Old Feb 5, 2002 | 12:41 PM
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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.
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Old Feb 14, 2002 | 08:12 PM
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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
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Old Feb 14, 2002 | 08:40 PM
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How hard is it and what does it take to switch to a different speedo? Mine has the 85 mph
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Old Feb 14, 2002 | 10:33 PM
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Take out the old one, put in the new one. Pretty simple.
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Old Feb 17, 2002 | 01:05 AM
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140 MPH Speedo... again the Firebird gets shafted.

End Line
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Old Apr 12, 2015 | 09:29 PM
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Re: 140mph speedo on a 83?

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
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Old Apr 13, 2015 | 09:47 AM
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Re: 140mph speedo on a 83?

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.




Then there was this Gail Banks 200MPH version.


Last edited by rarebmx; Apr 13, 2015 at 10:26 PM.
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