mph / miles / km ? ? ?

After reading some old threads I'm a bit confused, so can somebody tell me

When a jap spec car has a speedo conversion to mph, should the odometer then read miles not km? How does it work?

It depends how the conversion has been done... units like the Thor DSC will make the speedo read in MPH, so where it's marked 70kmh on the old dial face, you will be travelling at 70mph.

There are various cheepo ways of doing the conversion, mainly slapping another dial face over the top of the old one (which will then top out at about 112mph which was the old 180kmh).

The mileometer will still show KM as it's main display, but be counting up in miles since it was converted - but you can fiddle about with the back of it so it shows "xxxxxxxx miles" instead.

How was your car converted?

It depends how the conversion has been done... units like the Thor DSC will make the speedo read in MPH, so where it's marked 70kmh on the old dial face, you will be travelling at 70mph.

 

There are various cheepo ways of doing the conversion, mainly slapping another dial face over the top of the old one (which will then top out at about 112mph which was the old 180kmh).

 

The mileometer will still show KM as it's main display, but be counting up in miles since it was converted - but you can fiddle about with the back of it so it shows "xxxxxxxx miles" instead.

 

How was your car converted?

Not sure, only picked up the car tonight. Will find out though as it does over-read by upto 15mph!!! Is it linked through to the ecu?

Not sure, only picked up the car tonight. Will find out though as it does over-read by upto 15mph!!! Is it linked through to the ecu?

If it's a proper electronic conversion it should be behind the dash (not as scary as it sounds to get too, quite easy actually). If it's a Thor one (the only one I've got experience of), it'll take feeds from the ECU (I think) and forward them on to the power steering, active spoiler and speedo. The speedo signal it scales down to make the conversion between kmh and mph, the other two it leaves alone so your power steering remains speed sensitive and your active spoiler activates / retracts at the right speeds.

My speedo is in mph and my odo is still counting in km - dunno what make my converter is though.

My speedo is in mph and my odo is still counting in km - dunno what make my converter is though.

ditto

my speedo is mph and the odo is now going up in miles but has started at the old kmh which was 71000 - so I have done 4000 miles in 7 months.

Hmmm you have got mr thinking now my speedo has been convered to mph but my odo reads in kph. i was assuming it was going up in kph but now im not sure maybe this could acount for my poor mpg or would that work the other way (im being thick lol)

If your odo is going up in KM where 1 is equal to .62 miles then you would seem to be getting more mpg as you think you are covering a mile but its a km. I think I am right, correct me if I'm wrong someone.

hmmmm im reading what you say but not taking it in do you have pretty pictures to descrive it!!!

this is what i belive at the mo! my speedo is going up in kph i am doing about 220km on £40. now if it is going up in mph i would be getting 220 miles to £40 which is more like it. am i right??

LOL, I'll see what I can do. If you get 300 from a full tank then its likely to be miles as 300 km would equal 186 miles which sounds poor (unless your car is running rough). If you are getting around 500 from a tank then its probably or definately in km.

Say you do 100 units on your odo, you think you've spent 5 gallons of fuel. You assume it's in km (100km) and calculate your mpg from this, but if in actual fact it is miles (160 km) you've used a hell of a lot LESS fuel than you calculated for the distance!!

220 miles to 40 quid of fuel would sound about right. Depends on how you drive.

this is what i belive at the mo! my speedo is going up in kph i am doing about 220km on £40. now if it is going up in mph i would be getting 220 miles to £40 which is more like it. am i right??

If it's in km you're on about 13mpg!!!!!

In miles it'd be more like 22mpg - much better.

this is putting a smile on my face now! i thought i was doing 15mpg. it could be more like 25 though!!!! only thing now is this. how do i go on with my odometer? when i bought it i was told it was 107000 km not miles, so how do i know? can i get it changed is this legal etc etc

What is it reading now? How long have you had the car? Are you going up in miles. Personally it wouldnt bother me that it had the old KM reading and going up in miles as long as its all documented.

i aint had it long 2 months or so when i got it it said 106222km now its 107980km. i only have the last mot that says 103482km and some service stuff from 100000km to 104000km but this says mileometer reading

It sounds about right, average 1000 miles per month or 12,000 a year. If the odo bothers you you could source one that has the equivalent in miles and swap. What worries you about the reading? Its still lower than most uk cars of that age.

it dont worry me i would just like to know either way, also i bought the car beliving it was about 65000 miles

Sounds about right m8, 106000kms about 65000miles.

yeh but makes me wonder how long ago the conversion was done beacuse it could be a lot more miles if ya know what i mean

Did you buy from a uk user or straight from import? Sounds like you bought privately. You can see what the mot says for the reading and most people that I know tend to have them converted on import.

it reads km on the mot

What is the mot saying and did you buy privately?