Under Car Questions
 

Tonight I crawled under my 85 Targa 7 to find my speedometer cable. There is a cable that is wrapped around the undercarriage and the end is frayed. Did I find my speedo cable. If so where do I get a new one? Also there is a hard line that is rusty coming from the engine comportment that has a soft hose clamped into it to repair a bad spot in the hard line. It is thicker than a brake line. I am a newbie so my terms are not accurate. This repaired line is leaking some form of fluid. Is it a break line or what might if be. Its scary that it has a repair like a garden hose. I just bought this project car real cheap. It runs very well.

It sounds like that may be your speedo cable. The best place to replace it from is probably a wrecking yard. Victoria British sells the '81-'83 cables but not the '84-'85. You could also try the Mazda dealer in your area to see how much a new one might be. They are different depending if it is a 5 speed or an automatic. The cable plugs into the back of the instrument cluster with a plastic clip. You have to remove it be reaching up under the dash and feel around for it. It is pretty difficult to reach. The other end should have a silver colored cylinder on the end of it. This screws into the tailshat of the transmission on the driver's side.

The other line that you mention sounds like a fuel line. It could be either the supply line or the return line, but either way I would replace the hard line. Leaking fuel is both dangerous and will kill your gas mileage. Again, the easiest and cheapest way to replace would be a wrecking yard.

Kent

Thanks Kent. The hard line is on the driver's side. I saw the fuel filter and it is on the other side. The hard line looks about 1/2". Could it be a brake line?

Larry

This is a left hand drive car, right? The fuel supply and return are on the driver side (left side of the car). The fuel filter is also on the drivers side (next to the fuel pump on the rear part of the car near the fuel tank). Maybe the filter that you saw was added or maybe you were looking at the charcoal canister or something else. Where was this filter located? I doubt it is a brake line. They are smaller in diameter than what you are decribing.