I am guessing here but I think that the speedo must be bad. If the odo is working that means it is getting a signal from the vss up to the speedo.

 

That's a bad board in the speedo. Easiest thing to do is find another speedo in the junkyard. If you really want to keep your current speedo, a speedo shop that works on VDO speedos will be able to fix it.

 

Dang, that's not what I wanted to hear but what I suspected. After fixing the odo with the better gears I don't want to have to throw it all away. I may just have to improve my memory and remember what rpm is what in what gear.
Getting it fixed is a possibility but not likely. Not worth it IMO.
Thanks for the advise.