R33 (nismo) Speedo Calibration

[some_cs_student]

Hi,

So since I've had the car I've always been doing under the limit, its actually pretty annoying to have everyone pass you because your always under the speed limit and unsure if everyone else is speeding or your just driving slow.

Anyway, I found this GTR UK article on speedo correction in an R33 by, and an SAU version here.

Someone there mentioned that you can adjust an R33 speedo by the "tabs" on the back, that you don't need to buy any electronic adjusters.

Does anyone know where these tabs on the back of the speedo are?

And what they do?

Ie. which one could be used to tweak the speedo to show say, ~6% faster?

Regards,

Gareth

[eeiko321]

Hi,

So since I've had the car I've always been doing under the limit, its actually pretty annoying to have everyone pass you because your always under the speed limit and unsure if everyone else is speeding or your just driving slow.

Anyway, I found this GTR UK article on speedo correction in an R33 by, and an SAU version here.

Someone there mentioned that you can adjust an R33 speedo by the "tabs" on the back, that you don't need to buy any electronic adjusters.

Does anyone know where these tabs on the back of the speedo are?

And what they do?

Ie. which one could be used to tweak the speedo to show say, ~6% faster?

Regards,

Gareth

im not 100% sure if the R33 has a calibration...

but didnt you say you have the Nismo ones?

i do know that the old R31's had the calibration

[some_cs_student]

im not 100% sure if the R33 has a calibration...

but didnt you say you have the Nismo ones?

i do know that the old R31's had the calibration

Oops, yes I should have said R33 Nismo Cluster Speedo Calibration, but I can't edit my first post now.

I've *read* on the UK forums that you can adjust it using "tabs" but I cannot work out how to, the person who posted the comment never told anyone how you can adjust it, just that you can...

If you know anything about the Nismo cluster adjustment that would be great, I read the article about using the jaycar electronic device but I'd rather not add further electronics there....

[eeiko321]

Oops, yes I should have said R33 Nismo Cluster Speedo Calibration, but I can't edit my first post now.

I've *read* on the UK forums that you can adjust it using "tabs" but I cannot work out how to, the person who posted the comment never told anyone how you can adjust it, just that you can...

If you know anything about the Nismo cluster adjustment that would be great, I read the article about using the jaycar electronic device but I'd rather not add further electronics there....

The TABS u mention...... are you referring to the bridging pins?

[some_cs_student]

eeiko321, I was actually reading something I read on the UK forums, quoting "lynchy"

You don't need any extra electronics to calibrate your speedo. There are a set of tabs on the rear of the R33 speedo that can increase or decrease or increase the displayed speed. You can even modify a kph speedo to correctly display the speed in mph without altering the signal to attessa etc. This is confirmed by monitoring my PFC. You can even adjust the odometer so that it also clocks up in miles rather than kms. AFAIK the nismo, UK and standard GTR/GTS speedo, PCB all use identical PCBs and it is just a matter of setting the links up correctly and maybe adjusting a resistor (just for the odometer reading).

He clearly says tabs, maybe he actually meant bridging pins, can you provide more information on them?

I found little bits and pieces of information by searching, just random facts like de-soldering #6 and it made a 10km/h difference, but nothing clear that I could safely follow...

[eeiko321]

eeiko321, I was actually reading something I read on the UK forums, quoting "lynchy"

He clearly says tabs, maybe he actually meant bridging pins, can you provide more information on them?

I found little bits and pieces of information by searching, just random facts like de-soldering #6 and it made a 10km/h difference, but nothing clear that I could safely follow...

as mentioned, I remember R31 Speedo adjustment was common througout the years...

heres one link http://users.tpg.com.au/cobra30/R31.htm

is your cluster a WHITE face 300km/h one?

if so..... i spoken to a mate of mine and he seems to beleive that this particular one has a "Needle adjustment" internally

[some_cs_student]

as mentioned, I remember R31 Speedo adjustment was common througout the years...

heres one link http://users.tpg.com.au/cobra30/R31.htm

is your cluster a WHITE face 300km/h one?

if so..... i spoken to a mate of mine and he seems to beleive that this particular one has a "Needle adjustment" internally

Its a 320km/h cluster, I finally found this article about how people convert from km/h to mp/h on there speedo (registration required) some people tweaked the pads on the back by joining/de-joining certain pads, probably what is also referred to as "tabs", the small numbered solder joints.

As per my post on the UK thread, I still am not 100% clear on what to do, I think I understand it.

[eeiko321]

Its a 320km/h cluster, I finally found this article about how people convert from km/h to mp/h on there speedo (registration required) some people tweaked the pads on the back by joining/de-joining certain pads, probably what is also referred to as "tabs", the small numbered solder joints.

As per my post on the UK thread, I still am not 100% clear on what to do, I think I understand it.

yeah i had a read through that too

like i mean, is it really necessary? if its slightly out...it personally wouldnt bother me. i usually know all the speed cameras around main roads of sydney. And if i dont, my TOMTOM warns me to slow down when i come to one.

pretty much all of the GPS units have Sensor speedos built in...

if its not totally off... im sure you could get used to it?

try using your GPS or borrow one and it will give you a better idea of the sync.

otherwise if you really picky... there are alot of places whom calibrate, Repair and service speedos

i did a search on yellow pages for VIC, have a look through this and give them a call.... im sure people in the industry could steer you in the right direction

http://www.yellowpages.com.au/search/postS...amp;x=0&y=0

[some_cs_student]

Did the mod today, it was interesting, with km/h I'm getting very different results to what was advised in the tutorial.

Here's what I did.

At first there were:

2,3,5,6,7, so no. 2 was removed, and it was ~6km/h under around 60 km/h, 70km/h showed a similar difference.

So I removed the connection (the solder) between no.3 and no.5, tested again, consistently 10km/h under (worse!), so 60km/h was 50km/h, 70km/h was closer to 60km/h.

At this point I thought maybe the numbers were similar to km/h, so put 6 and 4 in, they were connected with solder again, 3km/h under at 60km/h, 5km/h under at 80km/h, still not happy.

4,5,6,7,8 are now joined, so joined no 9. Appeared to make little difference, 3km/h under at 70km/h

I added 3 and 1, soldered them back in, now about 2km/h under at 80km/h (roughly) and 99km/h or 100km/h at 100km/h compared with the GPS, it appears to be more accurate at higher speed, at this point I decided close enough.

I've attached pics of what the back of the speedo looked like before I started. Not sure why I got the opposite of what the UK group advised, maybe when they add an extra link elsewhere it changes things....

Not sure if other people want to try this, I did my comparisons with a GPS, its not that hard to do.....its just time consuming as I didn't have testing equipment, in other word I kept putting it in and taking it out again for quite a long time

[eeiko321]

Did the mod today, it was interesting, with km/h I'm getting very different results to what was advised in the tutorial.

Here's what I did.

At first there were:

2,3,5,6,7, so no. 2 was removed, and it was ~6km/h under around 60 km/h, 70km/h showed a similar difference.

So I removed the connection (the solder) between no.3 and no.5, tested again, consistently 10km/h under (worse!), so 60km/h was 50km/h, 70km/h was closer to 60km/h.

At this point I thought maybe the numbers were similar to km/h, so put 6 and 4 in, they were connected with solder again, 3km/h under at 60km/h, 5km/h under at 80km/h, still not happy.

4,5,6,7,8 are now joined, so joined no 9. Appeared to make little difference, 3km/h under at 70km/h

I added 3 and 1, soldered them back in, now about 2km/h under at 80km/h (roughly) and 99km/h or 100km/h at 100km/h compared with the GPS, it appears to be more accurate at higher speed, at this point I decided close enough.

I've attached pics of what the back of the speedo looked like before I started. Not sure why I got the opposite of what the UK group advised, maybe when they add an extra link elsewhere it changes things....

Not sure if other people want to try this, I did my comparisons with a GPS, its not that hard to do.....its just time consuming as I didn't have testing equipment, in other word I kept putting it in and taking it out again for quite a long time

well done!!!

shoud post this up on the DIY section

[some_cs_student]

well done!!!

shoud post this up on the DIY section

Thanks, I was planning to write a tutorial, but then I decided to be lazy and just link off the existing tutorial about using the Jaycar device.

Do you think its worth writing a tutorial on this?

Not sure if anyone else is as fussy as me when it comes to running 7km/h under the speed limit, I always thought everyone else was speeding until I got the GPS. lol

I might try writing some kind of tutorial later today when I get time....

[eeiko321]

Do you think its worth writing a tutorial on this?

yeah i think it is

i feel that anything technical that someones makes the effort to writting a DIY on to help others definately deserves credibility and to be displayed.

the UK GT-R forum article definately help you didnt it?

but the problem is, dunno how many people have the same Speedometer as yours..

and if they do, im not sure if they would be picky with it.

[some_cs_student]

yeah i think it is

i feel that anything technical that someones makes the effort to writting a DIY on to help others definately deserves credibility and to be displayed.

the UK GT-R forum article definately help you didnt it?

but the problem is, dunno how many people have the same Speedometer as yours..

and if they do, im not sure if they would be picky with it.

Well, the UK article *is* based around non-Nismo clusters, I *happened* to use it for my Nismo speedo as its the same sort of PCB.

I've posted it in the tutorial sections twice but nothing happens, do the moderators have some special control on that section of the website?

And I'm sure its mentioned somewhere in the white-faced dials group buy about the same adjustment, it just wasn't clear.

I'll re-post tomorrow but here's the tutorial, have a quick read and tell me what you think (it includes the 4 images from the previous post):

This tutorial is partially based off the information from Propper speedometer to MP/h conversion by andy42uk-2 on SkylineOwners.com (registration required).

Problem

The speedo reads incorrectly, in my case I was under by 7km/h at 100km/h, for some owners this is perfectly fine, for me I found this quite annoying as I always see people passing me in 60, 70 and 100km/h zones because I am under the speed limit, but I don't know by how much because I don't have a GPS in the car.

Solutions

Besides the obvious, accept that your speedo is inaccurate and guess, you may wish to install an electronic device that will allow you to tweak your speedo reading, as per Blk33's Speedo Corrector, Speedo Corrector Installed on a R33 GTR

One alternative I found, as mentioned at the very top of this tutorial, is that the European skyline owners commonly modify there speedo's from km/h to mp/h without any electronic converters, and this works great for them.

The cluster I was working with

In theory, its the same for R32, R33, and I believe even R34, but I have only tried this on a Nismo 320km/h speedo, as pictured in the attached images.

Removing the cluster

Removing the dash is quite straight forward its described in detail in the stereo howto's, once you have that off the R33 has 2 screws at the top of the cover for the cluster, and two at the bottom.

Once you remove the front cover, there are a further 3 screws holding in the cluster.

When you remove the cluster, there are 3 large connectors on the back, each connection requires you to press the top and bottom at the same time to remove any of the 3 large plugs.

There is also a little hook that holds the cables in, you simply remove the cables from its path...

I was unable to remove the power connector from the side of the cluster, I worked with the cluster in the car which was annoying.

Removing the big black plastic thing from the cluster

There are small black plastic things that hold the cluster together, they are very strong and I didn't find a simple way to push the pins down to release it, once you get a few of them down the cluster will come apart.

Once done, you need to remove the unscrew the 4 small screws on the back of the speedo itself.

Once done you will have the speedo out by itself...

The adjustment solder pads

On the speedo (pictured) there are small pads numbered 0 to 9, right next to the "ADJ" (adjustment).

Some of them will have a piece of solder on them joining the two sides together, others will have nothing.

According to the tutorial I referenced, removing a link increases the speed of the speedometer, I found the opposite.

Testing

If you have the correct equipment you could test the speedo on a bench, I had no such equipment so all testing was done manually, this was quite frustrating as it involved connecting things back up again each time to drive the car with a GPS in it and test it, but I think its worth it .

My results

These results are for an R33 GTR with a Nismo 320km/h cluster, here's what I found, the picture is *before* any modifications were made, there are always some of the "ADJ' already joined when you start.

At first there were:

2,3,5,6,7 all joined together by neat little solders, I was roughly 7km/h under at 100km/h when last tested but I didn't test this time (in retrospect it would have made a good baseline)

Removed the connection (the solder) for no 2, ~6km/h under around 60 km/h, 70km/h showed a similar difference.

Then, decided it needed more, so we removed: no.3 and no.5, consistently 10km/h under (worse!), so 60km/h was 50km/h, 70km/h was closer to 60km/h.

I decided at this point that maybe its backwards and I need to "add" new ones, so 6 and 4 were soldered in 3km/h under at 60km/h, 5km/h under at 80km/h.

To summarise, 4,5,6,7,8 are now joined, so joined no 9. Appeared to make little difference, 3km/h under at 70km/h, not 100% sure that the join worked there.

Decided to keep tweaking, added 3 and 1, now about 2km/h under at 80km/h (roughly) and 99km/h or 100km/h at 100km/h compared with the GPS, I also did further testing with a PowerFC, and its close to 58km/h at 60km/h, which is great.

The only thing I remembered afterward is I'm running 235/45/17 and I should be running 245/45/17 which will make it really damn close to perfect.

The other important note is the speedo itself is not perfect, the bottom of the 60km/h mark is 57km/h, but the top is 60km/h or 61km/h.

Should you do it?

It worked for me, I'm not guaranteeing it will work for you, its not that hard but its time consuming, I recommend you try it on a weekend where you have spare time if you are going to attempt this.

According to the UK forums no. 9 is the largest movement and no.1 is the smallest I am not sure if this applies to km/h, as the UK forums also mentioned something above adding links to reduce speedo reading, I found the opposite...

If you try it PLEASE post your results in this thread, I'm sure it varies for everyone...

[R31Nismoid]

testing

[some_cs_student]

Finally posted my tutorial here hopefully someone finds it useful

Thanks for the help

[smok74]

Hey guys,

Just wondering, I was given a brand new Nismo 300km/hr speedo module for my R33 which is a wicked score, but there is one catch - its for an automatic vehicle. Automatics have a different final drive ratio compared to a manual vehicle, I think it would be out by a small margain.

Now, Im wondering if anybody would know how to fix this problem ?

Thanks in advance.