ODOMETER NUMBER REPAIR

for Corvairs or other Chevys

After over 40 years of service most odometer numbers are pretty much used up. They start flaking off and make a nice clean speedometer look bad. The one shown at the right is from a '65 Corsa and as you can see it look pretty sad. Upon asking around, it was discovered that good used odometer cylinders aren't too easy to come by. But there is an easy repair that can be done.

. Eckler's Classic Chevy International ( http://www.classicchevy.com) sells odometer restoration decals for '56 to '72 Chevys for $6.99 a set (Item Number 37-33). Well, as luck would have it the Corvair is a Chevy. The set includes six black and two white numbered vinyl strips with adhesive on the back that can be placed on each individual wheel of the odometer. That gives you one black strip and one white strip to mess up as you do your installation. Two sets must be purchased to do both the main odometer and the trip odometer on a Corsa.

The first step, of course is to remove the speedometer from the instrument cluster. That hardest part of the process is removing the speedometer needle. A small trim removal tool can be used but care must be taken not to mess up the needle – it's pretty tender. Once the needle is off, remove the two screws holding the black face place on. From there the odometer cylinders can be removed.
Next, remove the flakey numbers from the cylinders. A fingernail and a little compressed air worked fine in this case.
Once clean you can wrap the adhesive number strips around the cylinders one by one being careful that the zero on the strip lines up perfectly with the zero on the cylinder. Care must also be taken to make sure the strips are exactly in the center of the cylinders.

Once all the new numbers are in place the cylinders can be returned to their home in the speedometer head. Make sure the slotted tabs wind up on the retaining bar as shown in the pictures.

 

The finished product is very nice and so much better than the old faded flakey number from years of yore. You can also take this opportunity to reset the odometer to zero, if you wish. It's easy to do and doesn't require any further disassembly of the cylinders.

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