Now, I know what you are thinking, but I'm not looking to take miles away. Other way around actually.

Anyhow, I want to replace the speedometer in my '80 245 with 427K miles. I broke the speedometer needle a while back, and I wasn't able to get it to glue on straight. (The glue also undid it self during are freezing temps early in the year.)

Now, I can get a replacement Speedometer with out too much of a problem, except for the mileage on the odometer. I've found a couple of speedometers that were in the 300K's, but I would like my odometer to still read 427K.

Can I just physically roll the last number in the odometer a couple of notches and not have to worry about breaking anything?

Remember, I have NO intention of trying to misrepresent my car's mileage. I'm quite proud of it in fact.

Thanks, as always.
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If you listen to the radio in Portland, OR, you may know me as 'Portland's Favorite Soul Brother!'

If you want to increase the mileage, I would think you could attach a power drill to the speedo and rack up some miles.

If you want to save the wear and tear on the speedo, pull out the long pin that holds the small gears on the back of odometer (don't lose the gears!) and manually advance the mileage. I cut the end off the pin with a Dremel then used a dab of JB Weld to hold it in place after reassembly.
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don hodgdon '89 744ti, '81 242t, '71 D-35

Heh, most junk yard speedometers I find are at about 200K. I'd have to add about 230K more. That's a lot of drilling!

Thanks for the advice.
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If you listen to the radio in Portland, OR, you may know me as 'Portland's Favorite Soul Brother!'

Connected to my powerdrill... the speedo registered about 40 mph... that mean 5000 hours of drilling for just 200k :-D call me in october when you are done.

First off... start off with the LOWEST mileage speedo you can find. They break easily. then start from there. Email me at runabout4fun@yahoo.com and I will show you how to take one apart... I spun one down to 000000, and another really high to match the speedo in my car. Easy to do, and doesn't take much to get it apart well, without breaking it.

Kevin

The speedometer is also making noise these days...

I'd only be putting off the inevitable by replacing the needle. Anyway, I want to "upgrade" to a 130 mph speedometer from an earlier 245 also.
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If you listen to the radio in Portland, OR, you may know me as 'Portland's Favorite Soul Brother!'

I did this job recently. I switched the 85 mph speedo in my '81 to a 120 mph speedo, and had to reset the odometer forward. Dave Shannon's page has the pictures and instructions that gave me the confidence to do this.
http://www.homestead.com/volvo2/Odometer2.html
His instructions cover replacing a broken odo gear, but they are good instructions on speedo surgery. The top photo on this link shows the row of odo gears that need to be reset. You can't turn one single gear independent of the others because they are locked together. You need to remove the shaft that they rotate on, and then reset them one at a time. It takes some steady hands, tweezers, and patience! The shaft is swaged at both ends. I filed the swage away from one end and was then able to remove the shaft. After reseting the numbers, I epoxied the shaft back in place with JB Weld. You could take before and after photos of the two speedo units as documentation that you didn't change the odo reading.
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Jim Egelston - Seattle - '81 245DL, '85 244GL, '94 945T, '89 535i, '74 R90S

Did '81 still use this speedometer?

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If you listen to the radio in Portland, OR, you may know me as 'Portland's Favorite Soul Brother!'

As Kane pointed out, '80 was the last year for the cluster in your picture. The speedo units are quite different.
I did exactly what you're talking about to my car last summer (except I had to take about 100,000 miles off to match the original odometer reading. I was going to stick with the original speedometer/odometer but I was forced to use the one out of my '79 parts car. I don't recall exactly how but it was easy. I seem to recall a brass piece on the end of the shaft and I just pulled it off and after that it was easy to manipulate the individual wheels. You'll see how it works when you get in there.
One thing that needs to be done with care is the removal of the faceplate. I don't know if it will be necessary for just the odometer adjustment but I was doing the gear replacement at the same time and it required the faceplate to come off. That was how I ended up using the earlier unit. I could not loosen one of the small screws that held the damn thing in place. I decided to try and drill the head off and hoped there would be enough left to extract the shaft but of course I drilled to far into it. Even if they do come loose it's easy to tear up the heads on them. They have a black finish but they're some sort of soft metal. Use an extremely light touch if you have to remove them.
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'80 DL 2 dr

I thought so too, but I didn't know if the speedometer guts were the same or not.
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If you listen to the radio in Portland, OR, you may know me as 'Portland's Favorite Soul Brother!'

I have one somewhere that ought to work, though it needs to be rolled *back*. It has 549,xxx miles.

Also, did you need a B21 head to go with the block? A few years back, I pulled a fresh rebuilt from the JY, just as a spare part.

-- Kane
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Blossom II - '91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles - '74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup - '86 245GL/AW70 ... The Wayback Machine - '64 P220/M40

I'm hoping that the head on my '76 will be fine so I can use that. If not, I'll let you know.
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If you listen to the radio in Portland, OR, you may know me as 'Portland's Favorite Soul Brother!'

You should just replace the speedometer needle. I know you would be accurate in changing the replacement unit but it just wouldn't be the same.
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'80 DL 2 dr

Needle replacement is easy. 1st carefully lift the needle over the post it rests against at "0" Then carefully pry the needle off the post. You need to pry from 2 dirctions at the same time. I used 2 of my wifes spoons. Make sure you note where the needle rests when you lift it over the post in step 1. You will want to install the new one in the same position to maintain the correct "0" Then lift it back over the post. And remember. Gentle at all times.

Steve

Steve