Euro conversion speedo questions

I've searched and found various posts that glance off this topic, but haven't found the direct answer yet, so I appologize if is rehashed...

I've seen various euro cars for sale and many appear to have a "US" speedo with MPH prodominently displayed (and KMs in a smaller, sub-font) as it does any just about all modern US vehicles. This makes me ask:

when federalizing the car, do they "require" a new speedo or not? I've seen this answered NO before, but many of the cars appear to have a new one installed. Futhermore, if you swap this out, do they "preprogram" the miles somehow to reflect the vehicle's current hours? If not, then if someone claims their car has, say 10k, it really could have 50k, correct?

 

If it has kms and mph on the speedo I cannot see why it would need to be changed.

In the UK we have many cars with km speedos and NO mph markings, which I am surprised is not a mandatory change as my old Spider from Hong Kong had a new mph speedo fitted ... that may have been because it was still in the main dealer network though.

If you get a new speedo fitted DO NOT try and change the mileage to match the old ... simply keep the old speedo in the new box as proof and have the change done and stamped by a respected source.

 

having a few of my cars converted in the early 80's from Euro to US specs, the general method was to either silk screen the MPH on the original Face, or put a clear decal over the face. I don't ever remember anyone changing the odometer on ferrari ( way to complicated and expensive to change the gearing) only on benzes and porsche was the odometer changed. So a 100,000 euro car odometer may only have around 60,000 miles on it.

 

eh??? You're only changing the numbers and increment size on the dial, like changing the same word from English to French ... the actual speed and gearing have no bearing and do not alter.

 

Are you saying MPH on the face clock(Speed), but the car kicks up (records) in KMS ?

 

Having imported a BMW from Canada in 2003 I can tell you the actual laws/requirements. The DOT requires the following:

1) Speedo must read in mph...either in upper case or lower case, doesn't matter. If the original speedo only reads in kph, then it must be either replaced with a USA spec one, or silk screened with the appropriate markings.

2) Odometer can read in kms if the car is being imported by the end user. If the car is being imported by a dealer, or is subsequently sold by the end user, the odo must be converted to read miles. (of course most end users never convert to miles when they sell the car, as who is checking at that point and what buyer would know this rule/law?)

3) If the speedo is replaced, then the appropriate kms are converted to miles, and this will be noted on the work order. My Canadian BMW only read in khp, so I had it replaced with a USA one at the Vancouver, BC BMW dealer prior to my importing it through US Customs (and yes, US Customs will check!). They convert the kms to miles, and noted it on the paperwork for future reference and warranty work.

 

on the speedometer of course you are correct, on the odometer whenthe digits of 10000 and it was a european speedo it would be in km just which is around 600 miles, just changing the words is not going to change the gearing

 

My Euro 328 is that way. The speedometer has a sticker with MPH stuck on the face of the original KPH. It looks very good, but if you examine it closely you can see the edges of the sticker. The odometer and tripmeter still register in kilometers.

 

And that is perfectly legal for a private owner to import a car in this manner. Where it gets sticky, is that when it was later sold, the owner was required to properly convert the odometer too, which means replacing the entire speedometer. But who's checking at this point? I believe a lot of importers get around the odometer issues, as US Customs may not always be aware of the odo issue for dealers/registered importers.