Angle Drive Failed Again! Time for Ultra Drive.

As I started to reverse out of the garage the other evening, there was some resistance, like when you forget to remove the chocks that were put behind the wheels, and then it released and freely reversed. This sensation though, was reminiscent of something I had already experienced a few years back. As I got out on the the road and accelerated away I noticed the speedo needle was not reading, instead it was pointing at almost 7 O'Clock, as it would if the engine was off. Then I knew that the angle drive I replaced some 4-5 years ago had failed.

Never fear, I thought, I had prepared for this, knowing what I've read from others, that the newer angle drives from China or similar places seemed to have a limited life-span. When a friend was travelling from the US to London, in October 2025, I ordered the newly released Ultra Drive from DMC Houston, just in readiness for when the current angle drive would fail. Well that was the job I had planned for my Saturday. You can read about the Ultra Drive product here.

Knowing that I would be fitting the Ultra Drive this week, I thought I would also take the opportunity to install the one piece speedo cable. This is now an option when you purchase the Ultra Drive, but not at the time I bought mine. So I went on the DeLoreanGo.com site and purchased a one-piece speedo cable from there, and of course it arrived in double quick time.

Saturday arrived and I got up early to to allow time for all curve balls that always managed to make jobs take longer than they should.

I took the car out of the garage and positioned it on my mini ramps, which are needed so I can fit my jack underneath.

I got all my parts and tools ready, which included,

• The Ultra Drive

• One Piece Speedo Cable

• Socket Set

• Large Socket set

• Standard Breaker Bar

• Large Socker Breaker Bar

• Size 32 spanner

• WD40

Whilst on the ground I loosend the wheel nuts in preparation for removing the wheel once it was jacked up.

Next I jacked up the car enough so that I could position the axel stands on either side. I kept the jack in situ as a back-up.

With the wheel nuts set aside, I took the wheel off.

First thing I did was to prise off the angle drive dust cap to check if the fault was just with the this part. Once off the the flexible shaft came with it.

Looking closer, even if this wasn't the part at fault, the shaft had decayed and was now embedded into the dust cap. There was no way that could be removed without brut force and probably breaking of the dust cap.

With the dust cap off and the shaft out, the next step was to slightly loosen the outer spindle nut.

To do this, mine being a later car, a size 36 socket is required (along with a breaker bar).

I only loosened it about one revolution, it advances slightly along the spindle to about this position (you can compare to the photo above).

After this I then went behind to the Angle Drive and unscrewed the lower speedometer cable.

Removing the faulty Angle Drive I tried to release it with the spanner but it was just not shifting. I remembered being told in the past that if you're lacking any other tools for this kind of job, to get your jack and use that to lift the spanner along with the counter-weight of the car. That's what I did.

It was amazing how simple this was after struggling with it before.

Now to begin fitting the Ultra Drive. I had all the parts to hand, laid out in the garage. I also had the one-piece speedometer cable which I was going to upgrade to.

The Ultra Drive went on easily.

I also then tightened the outer spindle nut, and fitted the new flexible shaft and much better, tighter fitting, dust cap.

Fitting the one-piece speedometer cable was next. I went to the drivers footwell and reached in to unscrew the lower and upper speedometer cables from the Lambda Counter.

I then pulled out the lower cable from the outside.

I took the new one-piece cable and fed it through the hole, through the firewall into the footwell.

Positioned upside-down in the drivers' seat I next undid the wing nuts I had put on which secured the binnacle to the dashboard. I then righted myself and removed the binnacle just enough to release the upper speedometer cable from its port, without needing to remove the electrical connectors.

I fed the upper cable down, though the dashboard, and removed it from the car.

The new one-piece speedometer cable was fed up from the footwell though the dashboard where I connected it to the binnacle.

The other end was then fastened to the Ultra Drive.

Before securing the binnacle back onto the dashboard, I spun the wheel hub and quickly glanced at the speedometer in the car and noticed it working as the hub slowed down. With that confirmed I secured the binnacle back in place.

The new one-piece cable has less length, it seems, from the Ultra Drive to the firewall. Overall flexibility as the wheel turns is not compromised.

This is good since there is less opportunity for it to rub and get damaged considering my lower LH brake pipe and speedo cable bracket was found to be snapped off as I removed the wheel. Replacing this would be a job for another day.

Without a replacement cable bracket I had to devise a Heath-Robinson style solution.

Finally I fitted the new grommet before re-fitting the wheel and getting the car off the axel-stands.

I took the car for a quick spin to test the Ultra Drive was working under driving conditions, which it did.

Fingers crossed that the Ultra Drive lives up to its billing and functions long into the future.