I bought a replacement speedo cable for my type 2 box (1978 mk2 escort running gear mostly). I ordered an FKS2013 which agrees with the first line web cat and the burton power site, but the end is an ally piece rather than the steel piece on the original - see below.

Left = old. Right = FKS2013



Because the flange is significantly thicker the circlip groove is completely obscured by the aluminium, there's no retention on the new one. Diameter is good and cable appears to fit too.

Have I identified my gearbox incorrectly? Is there another piece of kit for retaining the cable? Has anyone come across this before? I'm really struggling to identify what's gone wrong - my google-fu is not strong today.

What you'll need is a type 9 speedo cable FKS2016 from burtons, it has the thinner fitment which will allow your retaining clip to fit. The trouble with Burtons is they use the same photo on every speedo cable they sell so makes it hard to identity yours from looking at the pictures.

Burton
http://www.burtonpower.com/speedo-cable-sierra-type-9-5-speed-fks2016.html

similar can be found on ebay: this is an extend version but you can see the it has the thinner steel piece fitment.
http://www.burtonpower.com/speedo-cable-sierra-type-9-5-speed-fks2016.html

Hope this helps

Chris

Brilliant, thank you Chris. Any idea why the firstline webcat gave me a bum steer too then? I'll get myself an FKS2016 - thanks again.

I did exactly the same, but used the cable by basicly grinding the flange down to a thin fit,
has been on the car a couple of years now, so seems to be ok

steve

I was tempted to take the angry grinder to it and seeing as the MOT is on Monday I may well do that yet, seeing as I can't take it back now. Thanks for the advice and your experience, good to know it's lasted as I'd be concerned about doing it with the vibrations and ally fatiguing.

Hopefully this will help other people out too as I couldn't find any cases of it on Google.

[Edited on 26/4/15 by motivforz]

Thanks for everyone's help.

I ground down the ally replacement in the photo, but it was pretty soft. It may have worked for some time, but I bought the FKS2016 which fitted fine although I had to find extra space for the additional cable length! Hopefully this is of use to someone in the future. Thanks again.