Bongo Speedos

sajseven · Post by **sajseven** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:19 pm

How did you (or somebody else) convert the speedo in your Mazda Bongo from KM/H to MPH? Did you chip it? Did you put a new sticker on it?

I've heard that many people prefer to actually exchange the whole speedo for one from a Mazda 626. Can somebody get some more information to me about this? What are the advantages of this, and are they worth it? Where can you get them and how much would you expect to pay? Also, are there any other Mazda speedos that you can put in a Bongo as opposed to a 626? Perhaps something more common?

We're looking at buying a Bongo from the auctions, and then making it suitable to pass an MOT in the UK. Answers greatly appreciated...

Thanks in advance!

Post by **Ian** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:35 pm

Interesting poll! Hope you don't mind, but I've added "Didn't Bother" as another option.

daveblueozzie · Post by **daveblueozzie** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:39 pm

not sure what to answer in the poll ,mine has mph speedo face with km counter, but i have also changed to the light up speedo dials that you can buy.£50 blue or green.

http://www.visual-performance.co.uk/#/w ... 4519423046

Manny · Post by **Manny** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:00 pm

I had my speedo chipped by the garage in Bristol which did the MOT etc. when it was imported so I could drive it home legally. The problem then was that the speedo face only recorded mph and I would have a problem when going to Europe so I change it for one from a 626. That has a face that has both mph and kph. I paid £25 for the whole instrument panel from a scrappy but I only used the speedo.

Manny

dp bradford · Post by **dp bradford** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:32 pm

Ian wrote:Interesting poll! Hope you don't mind, but I've added "Didn't Bother" as another option.

I thought that wasn't an option, if you want to be legal...

Dave

mp3oplecarrier · Post by **mp3oplecarrier** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:47 pm

Is this a new clothing item for the shop?

Steve

Post by **Ian** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:47 pm

Not true! It is not a legal requirement to get your speedo converted. It is, however, a legal requirement to know which speed you are doing in MPH. Little coloured stickers round the edge of the dial, denoting 30 mph, 40 mph etc will do the trick.

trevd01 · Post by **trevd01** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:55 pm

I posted this last September

FUTURE FAQ?: How many miles has this Bongo done?

trevd01 wrote:I know there is a current 'should I buy?' thread enquiring about mileages, but I thought I would start a new thread, that when others have commented on, or corrected any errors I have made, could end up in FAQs.

I thought I would just summarise some things that have been said over the last year or so on these hallowed pages about recorded mileages on Bongos, which pretty much sums up my understanding on the matter:

1. Bongos don't start off in Japan with miles on their odometer or mph on the speedometer, so if what you are seeing is miles - it has been changed, or it is wrong (think about it).

2. There are three ways to change a Bongo speedometer to read mph in the UK, which legally it must do.

a) the first way, which is in many ways the best, is to put a new face on the speedo, which shows mph, but leaves the odometer in kms. Then if you have a full Japanese service history, and an auction certificate, plus UK MOTs and service history, you can have a higher degree of confidence that the distance recorded (in kms) is genuine.

b) the second way (and probably the easiest way) is to place a electronic 'chip' in the feed to the speedometer which changes the reading of both the speedometer and odometer to mph and miles. In this case the odometer can be wound back when this is done (from say 100,000 kms to approximately 60,000 miles) in which case it can be done accurately, but there could be a strong temptation to 'wind it back a bit more'.
On the other hand you can leave the 100,000 km on the odometer and let it record miles from then on. In that case after say 6,000 miles, a reading of 106,000 on the odometer would reflect 66,000 miles, or 110,000 km.

c) the third way is to completely replace the speedometer (and odometer) from a UK spec compatible Mazda car. In that case the mileage can be wound to an accurate number, left alone or set to something fictitious.

3. So when considering the 'mileage' of any Bongo you are considering buying, some questions need checking:

The first of which is: "is this miles or kms?"

If miles: "how has the mileage on this Bongo been converted?"

BUT IN ANY CASE, unless you have a full Japanese & UK service history, go on condition rather than distance recorded on the odometer.

Comments welcome.

madmile · Post by **madmile** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:16 pm

Surely we have missed the most common method - i.e change the speedo face for a replacement which shows KM and MPH.
Personally I wouldnt bother with a chip unless it was for a sports car where I needed to delimit past 112mph (not required on a bongo

), or the facia was particularly difficult to remove.
I cant see the need to have odometer in miles so wouldnt go with the 626 route- although fully accept some people may do.
As far as stickers go - This route is just totally unacceptable given that a decent face can be bought for £10 or less.

dp bradford · Post by **dp bradford** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:20 pm

Ian wrote:Not true! It is not a legal requirement to get your speedo converted. It is, however, a legal requirement to know which speed you are doing in MPH. Little coloured stickers round the edge of the dial, denoting 30 mph, 40 mph etc will do the trick.

OK, but isn't that covered by the 'Stickered it' option....

Dave

carlioll · Post by **carlioll** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:33 pm

I agree with you madmile -I simply changed the face on my speedo. I think the "stickered "reference is to the fullface stickers available that seem to look Ok in the day but the backlights dont shine through them at night so they are pretty useless -not little indication marks painted or stuck on as per Ians remarks. However, I did run with painted marks on the dial for nearly 2 years without a problem and it passed 2 MOT's at different garages in that time. I think to make this poll at all worthwhile the option of "changed faceplate" must be added as I suspect that its the most popular way of coverting the speedo.

francophile1947 · Post by **francophile1947** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:36 pm

I polled for sticker before reading the thread - I assumed they meant a replacement speedo face, which I have

Mike Jill and Emily · Post by **Mike Jill and Emily** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:46 pm

We have spent the last 8 days driving around with bits of postit notes on the speedo cos the dealer we got it from had not managed to get the chips in time

So we now have a set of the ace ones that daveblueozzie fitted - and they look so cool

(even in green to match the outside

)

It did seem a bit of a silly Idea to chip the speedo - lets face it 180MPH is a bit optimistic for a Bongo

madmile · Post by **madmile** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:21 pm

carlioll wrote:I agree with you madmile -I simply changed the face on my speedo. I think the "stickered "reference is to the fullface stickers available that seem to look Ok in the day but the backlights dont shine through them at night so they are pretty useless -not little indication marks painted or stuck on as per Ians remarks. However, I did run with painted marks on the dial for nearly 2 years without a problem and it passed 2 MOT's at different garages in that time. I think to make this poll at all worthwhile the option of "changed faceplate" must be added as I suspect that its the most popular way of coverting the speedo.

The silly thing is, you will still pass an moyt with KM onlt as even though it is not legal, it is not an mot test point.
Stickers definiteley available in adidtion to faces, but just so bad for the above reasons.

Rhod · Post by **Rhod** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:22 am

Swapped mine for a 626 one, which cost me £10 from the scrappie. The Bongo had a replacement face when I bought it, but I tend to use the odometer a lot to keep track of fuel consumption - filling stations around here are often thin on the ground and/or closed at night. I would much prefer to work totally in metric, but since all our roadsigns are imperial I find that it makes it much easier for my poor overloaded brain not to have to convert from miles to kilometers

.

Bongo Speedos

How did you convert your speedo?

Bongo Speedos