87 Mazda B Speedometer & Gauge Cluster questions

My first question, can anybody tell me if the speedometer cable is reverse rotation or not? I'm doing a swap to a Ford engine & trans and my speedometer does not read at all.

Second question, can anybody offer a suggestion as to why none of my gauges work? Well technically I guess I only have 2 gauges, the fuel gauge and temp gauge, but neither register. Now the "dummy lights" at the bottom of the cluster seem to be working fine, the oil pressure light and alt light come on when the key is turned on, and go off once the engine starts.

There is a voltage regulator in the cluster that steps the voltage down for those two sensors. Fuel gauges usually have problems at the resistor in the tank

Pull the speedometer cable end out of the transmission and hand tighten it in a cordless drill. Spin the drill, does the speedometer needle move? If not, put the drill in the other direction, spin the drill, does the speedometer needle move? If not, the speedometer cable is broken or binding.
Does the speedometer have the same transmission cable insertion end on the Ford and the Mazda?
I doubt it. You may need to get a replacement speedometer cable for the Ford transmission. Make up the cable the same length as the original cable for the Mazda. Remember, you are putting it onto the Ford transmission.

I had a speedometer shop put a Ford connector onto the Mazda speedo cable. But if the Ford turns the opposite direction of the Mazda then I'm going to need an adapter of some sort.

Excellent tip thank you, I will check this first thing tomorrow.

I think most speedometer spin the same direction. It is on the transmission output shaft, so the truck would backup in forward gears!
Does the speedometer cable spin the speedometer with the drill on it?
How far does the cable end stick out of the housing on the transmission end?
You did put the cable in from the speedometer end of the housing?

I had no issues but that was a manual 5 speed

Every speedometer has the same scale, needle orientation and operation... IE: 0 on the left, with speed increasing to the right, or clockwise. All the cables spin the same way.

Either your cable, drive gears, or speedometer has failed.

Well that is not the case, there are those that use reverse rotation. I don't know which off hand but I do know that they sell reverse rotation correction kits for some vehicles. My theory might be cases where the speedo cable connects on the wrong side of the transmission, such as might be the case on some right-hand drive type vehicles. (Just a theory). I put my shifter in reverse and no speedo movement there either though so it must be broken at some point, if the weather clears up I may be able to investigate more this evening.

Well I found my issue; forgot I had disconnected the cable at the mid-point when installing the exhaust :/

Cable in place and speedometer working now.