Triumph Repair: speedometer etc., triumph spitfire 1500, roll pins

Question
QUESTION: Any advice on getting my speedometer in my 1978 Triumph Spitfire 1500 working?  I have bought a new cable and still can't seem to get it to work.

Also, any thoughts on how to fix the exterior door handle?  I purchased a pin kit from Victoria British, but can't seem to figure out how to do it.

Thanks!

ANSWER: Hi Ethan,
You need to separate as to which part of the speedometer system is not working, Connect the cable to the transmission only and either jack the rear end off the ground or get someone to drive the car while you look at the inner cable to see if it is rotating. If it is then your speedometer is at fault. Next take the inner cable from you old cable and insert it into the speedometer and hand rotate it and watch the needle to see if it tries to move. If you can't rotate the cable then the speedometer is frozen up (common fault)and that is what happen to your first cable and if you connected your new cable to it you have broken your new cable too. If the speedometer head is frozen you may try some penetrating oil and try to get it to free up by working the piece of old cable back and forth. I was able to get one to free up every so often. About one out of every four.

The outer door handle can be removed by taking the inner door panel off (the window winder handle is held in by a pin accessible by pushing the plastic spacer inward) and with the window rolled up you can access the outer handle with a long box end wrench to remove the two nuts holding the handle in place. First undue the remote linkage to the handle. There should be two roll pins in the handle assembly.

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QUESTION: I hooked up the cable and was able to rotate it.  Everything was hooked up correctly and the cable was still in tact.  Could it be something else?

Also, any thoughts on why my triumph would rattle so much when idleing?  Thanks for your help!

Answer
Did you do what I told you? connect it up to the trans first and drive the car?
This establishes that the trans gear is turning the cable. And when you connected it to the speedometer head and you did rotate it, did the needle move? This establishes the condition of the speedometer itself.

A rattle when idling. That narrows the noise to only one thousand things, you will need to get the noise narrowed a little closer to find the noise. Mechanics will first try to get close under the hood and try to determine if it is inside the engine or outside like in the exhaust system. If it sounds like it is inside the engine they will use a mechanics stethoscope or old timers used a long screw driver with the handle in their ear and the blade end on the engine in different places to try to pin down the location of a noise.
let me know.