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in the process of cleaning up the outside of the G trans i recently got i thought to take out the speedo drive gearset. having been there, done that with numerous festy trans fluid checks i KNEW to be careful with the mounting ear on the alum body. so after cleaning around it and PB blasting it i got a pair of channel locks around the flats of the base and gently started to twist left and right and DAM, DAM, DAM! it STILL broke off! but just before the big "LOSER" balloon took form above my head i noticed a glop of JB weld or bubble gum or dried snot on the broken edge of the tab and how it wasn't even a clean fresh jagged break at all but actually shiny and smoothed out. Ah Ha! the PO or some mechanic had already been the LOSER and tried to "fix" it. i felt better that i didn't really break it, more like just re-broke it but still, now i had a broken speedo drive i wasn't going to trust.
about a yr ago i was looking at some Kia Sephia parts diagrams, specifically engine and trans pics to see how close they looked to the G trans. maybe it was premonition but i added a Sephia speedo gear set to my next 4G order and crossed fingers it would be a drop in since OEM speedo drives aren't available anymore. even though i didn't have a G speedo set to compare to, when the Sephia drive came i saw right off that it wouldn't be a direct replacement. it had a metal drive gear and i at least knew the G and E trans used the nylon gear. i put it in storage and almost forgot about it till i broke this capri gear. now side by side, dimension wise they are identical. the only major difference is the body of the Sephia drive has 4 little ears below the O-ringed sleeve whereas the G has the little inverted skyscraper for checking fluid level i think. not an issue at all. my only other concern was the threaded part of the body has about 1 less thread than the G body. the the hardest part of the fix is punching out the microscopic roll pins to change over the driven gear. you need the perfect size blunted nail and a solid jig to support the drive set and not damage the gear when pounding the nail against the pin. a lot easier putting back together.
i reinstalled the new drive to make sure it seats and the bolt holes align. i also screwed a speedo cable onto both then G and the Sephia assemblies and checked for in/out play at the speedometer end. same. so that alleviated my concern that slightly shorter Sephia screw depth wouldn't seat the cable tightly against body and the knurled speedo end of the cable.
you can still get new parts from Mazda for the 323GT turbo G trans to make up a complete driveset for about $50. the 4G Sephia driveset is under $12. or a JY Sephia driveset can be $5fingers. just remove carefully!
about a yr ago i was looking at some Kia Sephia parts diagrams, specifically engine and trans pics to see how close they looked to the G trans. maybe it was premonition but i added a Sephia speedo gear set to my next 4G order and crossed fingers it would be a drop in since OEM speedo drives aren't available anymore. even though i didn't have a G speedo set to compare to, when the Sephia drive came i saw right off that it wouldn't be a direct replacement. it had a metal drive gear and i at least knew the G and E trans used the nylon gear. i put it in storage and almost forgot about it till i broke this capri gear. now side by side, dimension wise they are identical. the only major difference is the body of the Sephia drive has 4 little ears below the O-ringed sleeve whereas the G has the little inverted skyscraper for checking fluid level i think. not an issue at all. my only other concern was the threaded part of the body has about 1 less thread than the G body. the the hardest part of the fix is punching out the microscopic roll pins to change over the driven gear. you need the perfect size blunted nail and a solid jig to support the drive set and not damage the gear when pounding the nail against the pin. a lot easier putting back together.
i reinstalled the new drive to make sure it seats and the bolt holes align. i also screwed a speedo cable onto both then G and the Sephia assemblies and checked for in/out play at the speedometer end. same. so that alleviated my concern that slightly shorter Sephia screw depth wouldn't seat the cable tightly against body and the knurled speedo end of the cable.
you can still get new parts from Mazda for the 323GT turbo G trans to make up a complete driveset for about $50. the 4G Sephia driveset is under $12. or a JY Sephia driveset can be $5fingers. just remove carefully!
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