Hi all, just today the speedometer stopped working on my 68 Olds DELMONT 88 convertible - 455 engine. Is there anything I can do to check and is this a difficult repair?

Thanks
Matt

 

Check the cable.

 

Good point. I think the cable is in the drivers side wheel hub

Hopefully this will be easy for a mechanic not sure if this part is hard to come by

 

I am not CERTAIN about the fitment for your 68 Olds DELMONT 88 but generally, it's nearly a plug & play type deal. They sell a standard length of speedometer cable, you cut it to length to fit. The packaging will generally contain the two end pieces which you simply attach to one of each to each end of the speedometer cable. Rather simply honestly (if this is the style for your vehicle).

 

Again, not positive if this is your application speedometer cable for your 68 Olds DELMONT 88 but this is the general Dorman speedometer cable w/ crimping tool and both end pieces.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/tools/in...ter+cable,1440

 

The 1963-70 Olds full size cars drive the speedo cable from the left front wheel. I doubt there are any mechanics around who even know this anymore. If the brakes or front wheels have been serviced recently, there is a good chance that the plastic drive fitting inside the left front dust cap has been damaged. The parts for this setup are NOT readily available, so you have to be extremely careful with it. The square flex drive cable can be replaced with a generic, cut-to-length cable, but nothing else is available. If the sheath is damaged or the dust cap broken, good used or hard to find NOS parts are the only option. Note the design of the end of the cable that goes into the spindle on this NOS cable.

 

If you hav cruise speedo drive is driverside of tranz tailshaft
if not then divers front wheel
Just pulled dash from my 68 del conv & top end was in decent cond as th car retired early in life b4 i got it
No cruise front wheel driven
Th 68 - 98 next to it has Cruise option so has good possibility I got you covered on that either way

 

Joe P, any idea what size square is on the cable end at the wheel ? .212" square drive just popped into my mind.

 

Any more info on these cables, dust caps and parts availability?

I have a 68 Delmont with a problematic speedo cable too.
My mechanic sent me pics of the cable removed. I'm waiting to confirm with him where he thinks the issue is, he hinted the cable may have sheared off inside the pickup fitting but hasn't investigated yet. I have a feeling it's the dust cap after seeing that it's pickup fitting is made of plastic that's now 50yrs old....yay for plastic gears, just like inside my broken turn signal switch!

Anyways, I found one of these NOS dust caps made of unobtanium over at OldsObsolete for a mere $185.

Any other sources known?

 

I'll point out the sometimes obvious & the sometimes not so obvious route which might be an option - depending on your familiarity w/ your nearby salvage yards. As Joe pointed out in Post #5, the 1963-70 Olds full size cars drive the speedo cable from the left front wheel & the plastic drive fitting inside the left front dust cap. You might venture calling about to see if any salvage yards have any full size Oldsmobiles lurking about. You might not suggest what you need, since often times that's a dead give-away which equates to big $$ for the salvage yard. Instead, cleverly communicate you have a non-running big Oldsmobile you're considering restoring and would like to see if any parts cars are available. While Joe did state "1963-70" (and, he's generally correct), I wonder if any other GM vehicles during this time-frame employed the same setup. GL

 

Your other option is to post a WTB in the Parts Wanted forum on this site. You might get lucky. Sometimes the several individuals who regularly sell parts on CO don't generally have time to read all posts looking for what folks need/want. They will however, quickly review regularly any WTB posts in the Parts Wanted section.

 

Thought I let ya know ...anyway probably hav all that speedo parts you need & turn signal switch....hav 3 ' 68 B bodie parts cars
let me know if you would like parts from mine to fix yours
You can call or txt 989 721 9432

 

Oh nice! I may contact you- Great to have a rocket scientist around! lol

Talked with my mechanic - problem on mine turned out to not be the dust cover, the actual speedo cable end sheared off inside it!

So I guess now I need to source a new speedo cable. Do you guys think that Dorman cable kit linked above on RockAuto would work?

 

Not to hijack this thread, but I've always been curious as to why Olds did this for these cars and not just drive the speedo off the transmission? Was Olds the only GM division (or manufacturer for that matter) to do this? I'm just struggling to see any practical advantage of driving the speedo off the LF wheel instead of the driveshaft. I remember back in HS a friend's dad's '70 98 had this "feature", which is where my curiosity began.

 

Can the OE speedometer be converted to be driven off of the transmission? This would undoubtedly be easier for the 65-70 B/C bodies with a TH 400.

 

Nos AC cable cassing assembly # CC70 1588258.... In th cardboard that was a box...

 

Premature phantom sending of post
cable is metal sheethed 59" tip to tip typical mount at wheel w retainer & screw on speedo mount at other...we got it from man that cleanedbout a dealership
Its realy wierd th stuff i find that Im not even lookin for.....this was in bottombof box of 67 A items n I was huntin a horn cap.....it proly should hav a new home....
YOU HAV VERY SPECIAL PARTS WANTED AD
its th parts i wamted to post pix of here but site refused so th parts you wanted to replace your two piece , or however many pcs it is , speedo cable May be at your wanted listing...nos...uncertain of its exact app but came from olds dealership cleanout back when general mismotors MURDERD OLDSMOBILE .check AC # CC 70 1588258 IF incorrect or unwanted plz lemme know

 

You know, if the only hard to source part is the plastic interior piece, that looks like a prime candidate for a 3D printer job. Granted there is a metal bracket holding it in place, and the cap itself, but that doesn't seem like a deal breaker. It's probably not a gold mine part, but something that a number of people would appreciate...

 

QUITE RITE YES INDEED how uncouth of me to hav overlooked that detail as th one is utterly useless without the other...chances of nos items as such to compliment th cable assembly are slim , but not to be discounted from tealm of possabilities .however at least half dozzen donner parts cars may produce them on an on demand bassis as current wind chill is obscene anyone in need or wise enough to accumulate an extra one just in case can call or txt me at 9897219432
cable assembly offered to ol boy yet a yea or nay has not been forthcoming as of yet leads me to ponder its fair market value should a for sale listing be required to locate its new owner...if anyone can tell me who its new owner should be I'd almost certainly hav to discount any item they may hav stored here for years unknowingly

 

x2

Hopefully someone with 3D printing skills chimes in and can say whether or not it would be a realistic project.

 

I thought of the 3D printer for several simple plastic parts on this car. They’re not that hard to produce for someone who knows what they’re doing, heck it can even get 3D scanned to save most of the work. Probably not worth it right now since I did find multiple NOS dust caps for sale across the web, for various prices some as low as under $30. Perhaps in another decades time when these are consumed maybe they’ll have to be reproduced.

I also found new speedo cables available through SpeedometerCablesUSA for $65

 

Hi all, my apologies for the late reply. I was traveling and didn't notice any notifications. Thank you so much for the replies and useful information! For an update, the Delmont does not have cruise control. The brakes were redone with rebuilt calipers in 2012 and the speedometer just stopped working a couple weeks ago with no sudden flutter.

I do have a spare dust cap like in Joe's picture that I bought several years ago as just-in-case. As far as the speedometer cable, is the speedometer in Joe's picture the correct cable for the 68 Delmont and would anyone happen to know the GM part number? The one male end looks like the correct square configuration that would fit the dust cap. Rocket Scientist may have one and also I have seen some on eBay but don't know the correct number.
It is really important that I get this fixed because the fuel gauge is stuck and the only way for me to know when the gas is low is to count the miles driven.

By the way, is this easy to check the dust cap/speedometer cable by removing the tire?

Sincerely,
Matt

 

The factory P/N for a 1968 full size speedo cable without cruise is 6476922. You don't even need to pull the tire off to check the dust cap. Simply remove the hubcap and carefully pry off the dust cap.

 

Thank you Joe! So far I cannot find anything with that part number, but will continue to look. By the way Joe, you attached a picture of speedometer cable - was that just any cable or what that of a 68 Olds 88 Delmont 88 without cruises? Just wandering if you attached that picture to give me an idea of what it would look like or is that the actual correct one. This helps so I don't buy the wrong one.

I should be able to pull the hubcap in remove the dust cap in a couple of weeks when I am near the car around New Years.

The speedometer one that Rocket Scientist proposed does not look like Joe's different connect one the side that goes to the dust cap. On Joe's picture, the side that goes to the dust cap has a screw thread.

 

This is the one that Rocket Scientist proposed - I think this was for American Motors cars even though it is made in GM box. Not sure if GM supplied American motors parts if correct.

 

As you can see Joe's cable has a screw-thread adapter (dust cap side). The other one looks like it just fits into the wheel hub with no screw (again dust cap side).

 

Also Joe, would you happen to know if the cable for the 1967 Olds Delmont is the same as the 1968 Olds Delmont (no cruise). I found one for the 1967 but not sure if it would fit. They changed a lot from 67 to 68,.

 

By the way, would anyone happen to have a picture of what it looks like with the dust cap removed? I am not near the car now. I was wondering if it is supposed to have a clip to keep the cable outside the dust cap like what I saw on a 68 Volkwagon online.

 

By the way, I don't know if this makes a difference, but the few other Delmonts I encountered had 14" inch wheels with Drum brakes. My Delmont came has disc brakes in the front with 15 in wheels with the dog-dish hub caps all around which I have never seen on another car.

According to hubcaps.com, these hubcaps were an option for the Tornado. So my hunch is this was special ordered on this Oldsmobile - the original owner was a multimillionaire I believe CEO of a rubber glove company. Just thought I would mention if the speed cable has a different attachment for this type of wheel.

 

The whole point of posting that photo was to show you what the correct one looks like. It would have been pointless to post a photo of just any cable. Note also the length of the part that goes into the spindle.

 

65-67 are the same, 68 has a different part number in the parts book. I do not know what the difference is, as my Delta is a 67. I do know that the 69-70 cables snap into the speedo as opposed to having the threaded retainer ring.

 

Disc brakes were a rare option on the 67-68 cars, but this has nothing to do with the speedo cable. The part number I listed is the part number. The disc brake cars did come with unique 15" wheels.

 

The disc brake option is weird to me in regards to which cars got it. My red “lower trim” 350 equipped 68 Delmont came with front discs and 15” wheels (that are 5x5 lug pattern, not sure I’d this was after mechanic converted things to 4wheel disc or if it always had this lug pattern - I thought I read they were supposed to be 5x4.75 pattern) whereas my 68 parts car I consider “higher trim” w/455 power windows and AC has drum brakes up front on 15” wheels (perhaps not original wheels) so strange lol.

like mentioned, new cable available from Speedometer Cables USA. They have both cruise and non-cruise control versions.

These are what are on mine, the tip of the cable sheared off in the dust cap. I got the Dorman cable for now just to see if it works since it was under $10

 

There is nothing strange about it. RPO JL2 disc brakes were an option on any Delmont/Delta in 1968. They were unrelated to the trim level or anything else. The 1960s were not like today when you can only order specific option packages. In the 60s it was totally a la carte. Here's the Delmont page from the SPECS booklet that shows all the available options that year. Also, every single Olds full size built in 1968 came with 5 x 5" wheel bolt circle.




The entire cable and sheath or just the inner cable? I looked through their catalog and didn't see anything.

 

Joe- thanks Joe! I had to ask because RocketScientist had a cable and thought it was the right one but did not match your picture. But he was not sure. By the way, is that speedometer cable for sale from a website or is it just for reference?

Perkolator - did you order and received the full replacement and sheath (with connectors) from Speedometer USA or just the cable? I looked at their catalog and did not see anything. I did email the company just in case though. Thank you - great replies!

 

Joe - wow thanks for the options list. I thought my Dad's car came loaded. It did have a lot for that time, but it also did not have a lot of stuff either. Wow they offered a lot of stuff. I wonder if they made any Oldsmosbile with EVERY option. lol It would have cost a fortune.

 

Perkolator - dumb question. To take the speedometer cable off, you just turn the wheel and with a wrench loosen that golden nut and your pull the speedometer cable backward toward the direction of the engine and it just pulls away from the dust cap? Wow, I really would have thought that the dust cap would have cracked and not the steel cable!

Joe - If Speedometer USA just sells the cable, how would you get the cable into the sheath? Just fish it through like a needle and thread? Obviously the cable is not enough, you need it with the sheath/connectors.

 

I wish I could go back in time and order some of these options. The 365 hp V8 was only $100 and disc brakes just $21. Air conditioning was VERY expensive back in the day. The A/C option was over $500 and the car was only around $3000 - 4000 new probably.