Mark Bradley

Hi guys, first post here so hopefully it's in the correct location.

I have a 97 JDM FD and I have just learned the JDM varients were limited to around 180 km/h (110mph). Just to note mine is running the Power FC ECU.

So these are my questions.

1. With the PFC is the limiter still in effect? I know I can remove it by cutting a wire if necessary.

2. Is it possible to recalibrate the range from 180km/h to 300km/h, or would I have to buy a new cluster from a non-JDM varient? (not ideal as I don't want to mess around with the milage gauge). All I have seen concerning the speedo are the steps to convert it from km/h to mp/h, not the actual speed range.

Any insight is appreciated.

Thanks.

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

with a power fc installed i can say that speeds above 110mph are very quickly and easily reached

the face of the the speedo on the jdm cluster is only graduated to 180. you can recalibrate it to read 180mph instead of kmh if you wanted though. just pull up a gps app on your phone and adjust that **** on the board until they match. dale has a really good write up on how to do it. it will throw off your odometer though since it will still be counting in kms. if you get your board switched over to mph then it wont be a problem of course.

Mark Bradley

Thanks Rex.

It never occurred to me that the calibration process you need to do when switching from K to M could be used to switch from 180 to 300km/h.

Much appreciated 👍

cr-rex

iTrader: (114)

oh yes lol if you wanted to get rowdy you could buy a 300km/h cluster and calibrate it to mph. youd be living your best life then......

DaleClark

iTrader: (55)

I have a few threads talking about instrument clusters.

There are higher KM/h faces out there and I think https://revlimiter.net may have custom faces that will read that high. You could get the newer face then use the adjustment to calibrate it for the new face.

Back in the day many Japanese tuners sold just the speedometer section of the cluster with 300km/h faces. You can remove and swap out just the speedometer. If you want to go all in, you can swap the mileage chip, it does require some soldering but there is a chip on that board that holds your odometer info.

Hands down the hardest thing is getting the cluster out of the car without shattering the plastics around the cluster.

Dale

billyboy

Other than the stupid price for tuner house 300k speedos, Mazda OEM ones are 280k, still not cheap though, in aud or £ (depending on which Newcastle) - a 25 year old one probably isn't too far off the caps crapping the bed anyway. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility to adjust the odometer, jap importers here tended to make a habit of it!

KYPREO

I reckon finding an aussie delivered 280kph one is going to be pretty hard these days!

If money is no object, then the 300kph speedos are the ones to go for (noting that different years are not necessarily cross-compatible).

Otherwise, perhaps a GPS speed like Speedhut is the most cost effective option.

billyboy

This was buying a new one out of Japan.

A couple of years ago, one of the guys on the FD forum kindly sent me his defunct speedo - to fix cap board corrosion and resulting erratic tacho on the one installed. Came in the replacement part box.....looked part # up at the time and still available.....around 700 bucks!

ZE Power MX6

iTrader: (157)

Did Mazda make a 280kph speedo for the later series cluster? Or this is for the earlier model cluster the US has?
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billyboy

Wouldn't expect anything for version 5 and 6s, none for export and a 180k limit - aftermarket only.

I believe his car was a 95, so applied to early cars. Price is more nuts than I remember, even before shipping! https://www.amayama.com/en/part/mazda/f10055471

ZE Power MX6

iTrader: (157)

That's what I figure, the RE 300kph speedo is the only one I have seen and is crazy expensive. For the early model you can just get a speedo from the US, not sure about now but a whole cluster is pretty cheap back then.

ZacMan

I don't get the appeal of a 300kph speedo? You're massively reducing the resolution of the gauge in the area you use it the most, between 30kph and 120kph... I know the few times I've had an FD up near 180kph I sure as hell wasn't looking down at the speedo!

ZE Power MX6

iTrader: (157)

I guess it depend on where you are, 70mph-80mph is typical speed limit where I live and that's 130kph on the 180kph speedo. From the 20+ year of driving some time you can tell how fast you are going by noticing where the needle is on the corner of your eye, needle in first 1/2 of the circle is normal speed depend on what road you are on, and second 1/2 of the circle usually only happen when you scratch her legs on an open highway, and usually that mean passing 110mph and that will max out the 180kph speedo. Needle resting in second 1/2 of the circle all day when I'm just cruising on the highway will probably drive me nuts

ZacMan

Fair call. And I will admit, there is a 'cool' factor to those aftermarket speedos. Just seems like the price of them is totally out of whack? Need some retrofit board behind them, and a face that has staggered graduations. First half of the gauge can be the 0-100 kph range, and the second half the 100-300 range.

ZE Power MX6

iTrader: (157)

Yeah, the branding likely play a part in their surge in prices, the rarity also as there are likely limited amount made. The price of them is crazy I agree, the late model RE 300kph speedo alone is like $2k They are made to perfectly match the 2000+ cluster, and I think RE is the only one that made a 300kph speedo for the late model cluster, beside the blue Mazdaspeed cluster which is also very expensive.

If someone can make a perfect match speedo face for the late model cluster that mimic the early model US speedo face I will be all over it, I don't need any branding on it TBH, just plain old OEM look

mr2peak

I would like a 300kmh speedo as well. If the needle is allowed to keep going past the stop point, will it? I’ll take a needle that goes around twice.