I have 86 continental and i just wanted to see if that mod to make speedometer go past 85 is same in my car or if not if anyone knows where that spot to use jumper wire is for my car?
Hmm I don't know what the speedo looks like in a 86 Conti. Can you post a pic of it and the back of it as well? Perhaps some of the electrical people will chime in :D
Here are images of speedometer
(http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/Stratfellow3/MVC-194F.jpg)
(http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f370/Stratfellow3/MVC-192F.jpg)
what is this mod and how do you do it. i hate that my speedo ends at 85
well it works for cougars and t-birds, but my car too has digital that normally stops at 85 so i am asking if anyone knows for sure if its same location to solder jumper wire
Here is the link in pic it shows place to solder jumper wire for unlocking speedo!
http://www.coolcats.net/tech/advanced/199speedo.html
just hopes it can work on my car too!
About the easiest way to tell would be to pop out the dash and see if the internals are similar.
:iagree:
I can pretty much guarantee that the internals will be completely different. The 84 and older models use a vacuum flourescent display (emits its own light, no backlight required) while the 85 and newer use LCD (requires backlight). VFD operates at a high voltage so there'll be an inverter of some sort in the pre-84 dash as well, while LCD uses a very low voltage. The display driver IC would be totally different.
the mod says 85-88 t-birds and cougars? so wouldnt this be for LCD style display, or did cougars and t-birds still not use newer style til past 88?
I love this disclaimer on coolcats page.
Does the speedo actually have a 3rd digit?
Does it have Metric mode, and if so can you exceed 136 km/hr?
If the answer to one/both is yes, I bet there is somewhere hidden in there a configuration set point that could be changed.
You misunderstood, young feller me lad ;) The speedo in your Conti is VFD, like the older T-Bird/Cougars. I think the Linkin's (even the Mark VII's and Town Cars) used VFD displays right up until they were discontinued. The W2 mod will only work in 85-88 LCD displays, and even then, likely only in T-Bird/Cougars (and not, for example, Probes). Like Bondocougar says, there is probably something on the circuit board that allows for the modification. They key is finding that "something" without shorting out and destroying your display.
could it be possible theres a spot in there labeled W2?
yes it does have the third digit 1, and not sure on the exceed 136, i have switched so that it is 100something in km/hr to scare a gullible friend
well if 136 is about 85mph then i have gone past 85mph and thats obviously where it stops reading and car keeps going
If your display stops at 136km/hr it's likely it is not modifiable at all. The key with the 85-88 clusters is that while Americans were stuck with an 85 MPH limit, Canadians got 199km/hr (aprox. 120 MPH). They're all the same cluster, though - even though all 85-88 clusters only read up to 85 MPH they are also
all capable of reading up to 199km/hr, whether the car was sold in USA or Canada - it's just a matter of pressing the english/metric button. What Bondocougar figured out is that if the cluster is capable of displaying speeds higher than 85 by simply pressing a button then the 85 max was not a limitation of the cluster - Ford purposely dumbed it down to 85. Bondocougar figured out how to "un-dumb" it :D. Before the W2 mod the only way to find out how fast you were travelling over 85 was to switch to metric and convert the reading into MPH.
The 85 max was something the big three came up with in the 70's as a fuel economy measure (smart, huh?) and in the case of Fords, stayed in effect into the late 80's. They only did it in the US, though - in addition to the 199km/hr limit we Canadians got with the digital speedo, even our buttstuffogue speedos (as installed in Turbo Coupes, XR7's and 88 Sports) were calibrated to 200 km/hr (120MPH).
ohhh i see, okay well next time im that fast ill pop over to km/hr and see if that reading still increases