Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General '98 Speedometer/ instrument cluster question

Does anybody out here by chance know what the difference is between the speedometer/instrument clusters on these 2 options listed below? (as given on car-part.com for '98 model year speedometer):

my closest 1st option said:
(head only), MPH, 2.5L, exc. SVT; thru 1/98

my closest 2nd option said:
(head only), MPH, 2.5L, exc. SVT; from 2/98

What would be the difference in appearance, function, etc. between these build dates of units? By the way, this option is just for the '98 model year only. Does not cover other years before or after, so there must be a difference between units in the 98 model year is what I am gathering.

Anyone have experience with this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Schematics on my '98 service cd indicate difference before 03/98. Appears to be elimination of a solid state module which one of the speedo head wires was connected to before 03/98. The different part #s you acquired would imply differences in the heads, which I would speculate were internal electrical in nature and not user noticable.

HTH.

Thanks for that reply. That makes sense to me now. That solid state unit is likely a signal buffer to clean out the spikes from the vehicle speed sensor signal to the speedometer, and the later model cars may be using the buffer circuitry that's already in the PCM for the speed input data or possibly the cruise control module if later ones still even have those? The factories seem to always move more and more of all the electronics into the PCM as cars get newer since so many other systems on the car will share that data, it makes sense for them to spend less, and have the PCM do all. No need to have more than one buffer on the car for cruise control, speedo, and PCM speed signal. That makes sense. So I just ordered me the earlier of the 2 units for my swap (pre 1/98), because I need the type with self contained buffer unit since I'm doing a cable to electronic speedo conversion to my car. I have to do this to get the new indiglo gauges of mine to fit my car.