Scott Meredith

Hello, I am new to the sight. I am a professional mechanic, but have just ran into a problem I have no experience with. I just picked up a 62 Dynamic 2dr with a 394 and auto. I got the car with a non working speedometer that was just unhooked ( or so I thought). When I went to hook the speedometer back up I found that there was no place on the trans to hook it to. I am told that it has a later model trans in it that came from a car with a spindle speedometer hook up. What are my options here to get a working speedo again? Am I in the bag for an impossible to find 1962" Slim Jim" tranny? Can I change over the front LT spindle? How about replacing the tail shaft on the trans to get me where I need to be? I realy don't want to drop big dollars on this car, its just going to be a nice cruiser when I am done. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

D. Yaros

I would say you have an interesting problem. Alas, I have no solutions to offer, but would be interested in learning the final resolution if/when you hit upon it.

Oldsfan

I think I recall a buddy of mine installing a rebuilt newer Slim Jim in he '62 Starfire, and having to swap tail housings in order to get a working speedometer. Let me check on that.

Paul

StarfireElvis

Thanks for alerting me to this Paul. Yes, if you have a Slim-Jim in there that was for a 1963-64 Starfire, the tail housing is indeed different, because at that point, they changed the speedometer to run off of the driver's side front wheel, if I am not mistaken. The 1961-62 Slim-Jims had a speedometer gear that fit into some sort of opening in the rear of the unit, but other than that, the transmissions should be the same.

I had obtained a Slim-Jim for my 1962 Starfire, but it was indeed from a '63-'64 car; however, the old-time transmission repair man that my mechanic knew, was able to take the proper tail housing and speedometer gear from my old unit, and put it on the new tranny unit, and it runs like a charm, perfectly accurate according to my GPS.

One other consideration that you may need to be aware of is that there are different speedometer gears for these '61-'62 Slim-Jims, which from what I am told, are to accommodate the different differentials that the full-size '62 Olds models came in. The Starfire has a 3.42 rear end, while I believe my Dynamic 88 wagon has a 3.08 if i am not mistaken. At one point I had my wagon transmission in my Starfire, forgot to change the speedo gear, and my "safety spectrum" was deep in the red zone, reading about 90 when my GPS told me I was between 65 and 70!

Only other lesson to provide here. Was told by someone very trustworthy that he knew a transmission guy who was in business for 40 years. However, by the time I was through with him, he had my Starfire transmission, my wagon transmission, and a third Slim-Jim he had found, completely torn apart in eight separate boxes. Luckily, the aforementioned old-time repair guy who was familiar with Slim-Jims not only took the proper housing and speedo gear from the pile, and put it on the Starfire tranny as mentioned, but within 10 days, had put together from the flotsam and jetsam two other completely rebuilt Slim-Jims running and looking as if brand-new. One is in the wagon, the other I sold to a friend for one of his '63 Oldsmobiles.

If the answer to the question "Have you ever rebuilt a Slim-Jim?" is "No", then run for the hills and don't even let the guy touch it, or you'll end up with what I did.

Reached my Forrest Gump moment, and that's all I have to say about that!

Yellowstatue

How about trying the new style magnetic pickup. Run it from the flywheel! Or the driveshaft.

Oldsfan

That's right! I'm now remembering - you can't just change the tail housing because the newer trans has no gear in there. A gear can be installed, but it is one of the last things out/first things in. Kinda of a pain, unless you're re-doing the trans.

Paul

joe_padavano

Sounds like time for either a TH400 conversion or an aftermarket GPS-based speedo.

Scott Meredith

As I suspected, it looks like I can swap tailshafts (first I have to find a new tailshaft and gear). But all of the trans guys I know quickly admit thay know nothing about these slim jims. However, I have been in contact with someone that is an oldschool trans guy and he is researching it, but he isn't sure of the resolution yet. I am doing a retro-mod, so I am curious about the speedo conversion. That may be the best answer for me, if it will work with my speedo. The only information I have found is converting from a newer transmission with an electronic pickup in it. I haven't found anything on changing the source of information for the speedo( flywheel, driveshaft, ect). Does anyone have a link to information on it? Thanks for all of the help and information.