SneakySonBeach Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 So i have a 97 GT with a t45 trans and going from 3.27 to 3.73. i was told by american muscle that my bama tuner can correct my speedometer just by using a tune. i saw on lmr that the 96-98 years can't use a plastic gear to fix the issue. so my question is can i use a handheld tuner to correct for the gear change or do i have to buy a speedcal? don't really wanna spend the $130+ on a part if i dont have to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prokiller Posted March 21, 2016 Report Share Posted March 21, 2016 those speedcal's are not very good. a real pain to get correct. i'd say the tuner is the better method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SneakySonBeach Posted March 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 On 3/21/2016 at 9:54 AM, Prokiller said: those speedcal's are not very good. a real pain to get correct. i'd say the tuner is the better method. do you still work at am? i requested a new tune and the guy who wrote the tunes told me for my year i couldn't use the tuner to do it. even though another am rep told me i could lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prokiller Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 no, they changed the employee discount last year and it made it not worth it for me to continue. i couldn't remember if they could change the speedo on the 96-98s for sure but i was leaning towards they could. if the tuner says they can't then it's not possible. the regular reps don't always know all the finer points of the tunes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SneakySonBeach Posted March 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 sorry to hear that man. would the speed cal be my only option then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh@RideTech Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 When we did my brother's gears in his '96, we went with the speed cal deal (^^He's right, it didn't work that well lol). He added a handheld tuner later but I can't remember if we had the ability to change gear ratio or not. I know my Diablosport tuner worked great on my '02 but I can't remember everything about the earlier cars.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTwilight Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 (edited) If I remember correctly I don't think the 96-98 speedometers can be changed with a tune. They aren't computer controlled gauges like the 99-up are. Speed Cal and trans gear are the only options. Don't quote me as I haven't yet looked into this for myself to be 100% sure. Edited March 23, 2016 by RedTwilight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator SN95Source Admin Posted March 23, 2016 Administrator Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 On 3/20/2016 at 2:47 PM, SneakySonBeach said: So i have a 97 GT with a t45 trans and going from 3.27 to 3.73. i was told by american muscle that my bama tuner can correct my speedometer just by using a tune. i saw on lmr that the 96-98 years can't use a plastic gear to fix the issue. so my question is can i use a handheld tuner to correct for the gear change or do i have to buy a speedcal? don't really wanna spend the $130+ on a part if i dont have to For the love of all things holy get a tuner, even if it's only for tuning the gears. I have had a box on mine since I did them back in 09 and it's been nothing but a headache since. Cruise control doesn't work properly and my speedo works when it want and only has gotten worse as time goes on. The money saved isn't worth it in the long wrong, plus you'll use the tuner for some much more down the line if you keep modding your car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SneakySonBeach Posted March 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 @Admin i have a tuner lol i just think im gonna have to do a speedcal bc the fella who wrote the tune said it can't be corrected in a tune and i've heard the gear in the trans won't work for my year as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator SN95Source Admin Posted March 23, 2016 Administrator Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 4 minutes ago, SneakySonBeach said: @Admin i have a tuner lol i just think im gonna have to do a speedcal bc the fella who wrote the tune said it can't be corrected in a tune and i've heard the gear in the trans won't work for my year as well You CAN use a gear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackmage Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 i did the plastic gears for a while and had to replace them twice. then went to the speedcal. i went from 3.27's to 4.10's. the speedcal failed after about 4 years and had to buy a new one, otherwise its been fine for me. I shoulda asked my tuner if my X3 could have fixed the speedo instead of running the speedcal. anywho, thats what ive done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prokiller Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 i would use the gear method before i'd go speedcal. you can use them on a t45. the only problem depends on how steep of a gear you went with. since you only went to 3.73 you should be fine. EDIT: just checked. 3.55 is the easy cut off. you can still do it but you need to switch out both gears not just the speedo gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SneakySonBeach Posted March 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 @Prokiller gotcha thanks. knew it wouldn't be as easy as a tune haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
droptoppony Posted March 25, 2016 Report Share Posted March 25, 2016 The speedo gear swap isn't that bad as long as you go 3.73. They get chewed up quickly when you go 4.10 or 4.33 etc. I did a white speedo gear when I swapped in my 3.73's and picked up a Dallas Mustang Speedcal for when the gear took a crap. The speedo gear never took that crap and has over 80k on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SneakySonBeach Posted March 25, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2016 @droptoppony really? Which speedo gear did you go with if you can recall? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
droptoppony Posted March 26, 2016 Report Share Posted March 26, 2016 I bought the 23 tooth white one from Steeda or LMR, can't remember. It was cheap and I had it thrown in when I had the 3.73's swapped in back in like 1997. I did not think it would last as long as it did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedTwilight Posted March 27, 2016 Report Share Posted March 27, 2016 I put in a white speedo gear in my notch when I went to the 4:10's. Easy install. The white gear doesn't correct the speedo 100%, but it is close. They do have a reputation for getting chewed up. When I last pulled mine out and looked at it, the lower half of the splines were twisted a little. I stuck it back in and have yet to have it go out on me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SneakySonBeach Posted March 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2016 alright so the guys that did the work stuck a 18 tooth gear in (all they had at the time i guess) speedo was off by about 15mph. just got the 23 tooth gear in today and its now off by about 2mph! Which is about what it was before. (Phone GPS) I'll update this if it breaks but so far so good! thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
