Anyone know of the easy button to get speedo data that is not phone GPS app?
The only thing I have found so far is a Dakota Digital DC motor that takes the VSS signal from the ECM and spins the speedo cable. Mucho dineros and no love for Dakota Digital.
What year Miata?
Based on the comment about spinning the speedo cable, it has to be an NA of some sort.
The Dakota Digital "gerbil box" works but it's not a great solution.
You could install an NB cluster, they're almost a bolt-in physically. Then drive it using pulses from the transmission. We used a Dakota Digital speedo adapter that basically shifted the frequency. No failures that I know of.
If you want an electronics project, I can help you drive an NB speedo using an Adafruit CAN feather and a motor hat.
A friend is working (very slowly in the background) on a project to install a certain electronic Honda speedo into an NA cluster. I can poke him on that.
There are multiple companies that make speedometers that can run off the VSS pulse going into the ECM as well as speedometers that run off the OBD2 output if your Miata has one. To find the first look for Electronic Programmable Speedometer and for the second look for OBD2 speeeometer.
Keith was messing around with a fancy programmable tach for a while that fit an early Miata gauge cluster. I can't remember where that project ended up but the same approach could be used to build a speedometer.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Yeah, it is an NA. Kinda, since it is the Molvo we speak of.
I have looked at the "Gerbil Box" but was not sold on it for what they charge. There used to be something like it for Brit cars but they were not long lasting. My thoughts on Dakota Digital is that their products are very "Heathkit" quality. ( if anyone remembers those).
The Plan B of an NB cluster might be worth looking into if I can stumble into one at a reasonable price this side of the border. Will do a look into the Dakota translator while I am at it since I have not heard of it. It seems like the most elegant solution. Thanks.
The arduino project is a bit above my digital ambitions. Anything with coding gives me digital narcolepsy.
I was hoping that there might be a kit to splice a GPS motivated stepper motor in the original cluster?
NOHOME said:In reply to Keith Tanner :
I was hoping that there might be a kit to splice a GPS motivated stepper motor in the original cluster?
Ha, no. It might make for an interesting project.
I did build a setup that drove an air core gauge and managed to mount it in the stock cluster driven by a CAN signal from the GM PCM, but it was far from a kit and it was not friendly for backlighting.
The NB cluster is by far the easiest option because that'll give you an odometer/trip meter at the same time and it plays well with the rest of the sensors. Last time I was in Ottawa, I bought a cluster for $20 :) Make sure you get the connectors as well, there is some light rewiring in your future.
I think this is the current version of the thing we used, but ours used DIP switches instead of Bluetooth: https://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=1192/category_id=287/mode=prod/prd1192.htm
When I think about it, you may be able to pull speed from the GM PCM. With a pull-up, it might drive the speedo. HP Tuners can probably calibrate it. That may be what we were doing eventually, it's been a decade.
Just a week ago a digital to speedo drive was all over my feed and now I cannot find who did it.
amazson search
GPS Digital Speedometer for Car MPH, Universal HUD Speed Meter with LED Large Font Head Up Display Car Accessories with USB Cable, Plug Play for Car Truck Motor SUV Golf Cart All Vehicles
Connect a speedometer cable to the transmission by splicing the two cable housings together with some hose and hose clamps. Or can the Miata cable not be routed to the left side of the vehicle?
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
The 4l60 gearbox has no mechanical output that can be connected to a cable.
I THINK Speedhut has a "gerbil box" as Keith calls it that can take data from the 4l60 gearbox VSS signal and use GPS to do a one time calibration. That might be a possibility albeit $$$. The thing is, I have a Ford speedo cable and I THINK the "gerbil box" wants to plug into a GM cable or who knows? Not there yet.
Ahhh... the 4L60 is a purely mechanical/hydraulic trans (just a renamed 700R4 more or less), the 4L60E is the electronic one.
I think, but need to do some digging, that 4L60Es in some early applications used a speedometer drive that had a output speed sensor built in for the computer, so the chassis could keep its mechanical speedometer. Like to say it was B bodies. Need to dig. If this is the case you could swap tailhousings and replace the reluctor with a speedo drive gear and use that setup.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS)
Yes it is the 4l60e. It is bolted in the car for what I hope is a long time so I am stuck with a VSS signal to the ECM and no mechanical gear driven output. I am not buying another gearbox or ever going to tear apart an automatic transmission. NOPE that is not a thing for me. Automatic gerboxes work on juju and magic. Their fluid even looks like bood. Not to be touched by mortals.
Leftover from the 302 drivetrain, I DO have a ford speedo cable dangling under the car that is plugged into the NA speedometer. Odd that a Ford speedo cable simply pluged into the Miata gauge cluster, but I was happy about it at the time. Even if the transmission has a gear driven output, what are the odds that the GM cable would fit the Miata speedometer?
I'm thinking of Ford, I think. I can't find the device I'm imagining.
I do wonder if the VSS that the Miata speedo head generates is 4000 pulses/mile though...
If I'm remembering correctly, there was a company in Arkansas that sold me a tailhousing for a 4l60e that let me connect it to my 72 Chevy speedo.
Lmk if you want me to search for the name.
Also, were you looking for an inexpensive dune buggy body?
In reply to low_n_slow :
NOPE on the dune buggy and I will walk before I pull the engine and transmission out for the 59th time. Goona make do with a Vss signal converted to something somehow, or a gerbil cage to drive a cable that already exist.
Thanks anyways.
Drill a hole through a spindle and drive the speedo by the hub's dust cap like a 944?
Yes I know Beetles did this, it's more palatable to say you are taking the Porsche solution 
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