Mechanical to Electric Tach
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 62
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From: Bowling Green KY
Mechanical to Electric Tach
Hey everyone, I don't post on here much, but really enjoy reading the threads. I have a 68 BB car that I am converting to fuel injection and at the same time to a computer controlled distributor. My question is, what does it take to convert to an electronic tach since Im wanting to use a late model dist? Cost? And is the electric and mechanical tach cosmetically the same?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 7,720
Likes: 12
From: Chattanooga TN
Originally Posted by brianlewis60
corvette clocks by roger.
he did mine and it is great. just converted my old tach from mechanical to electrical.
he did mine and it is great. just converted my old tach from mechanical to electrical.
Pro
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 553
Likes: 1
From: Valparaiso IN
Originally Posted by 68 Blues
Hey everyone, I don't post on here much, but really enjoy reading the threads. I have a 68 BB car that I am converting to fuel injection and at the same time to a computer controlled distributor. My question is, what does it take to convert to an electronic tach since Im wanting to use a late model dist? Cost? And is the electric and mechanical tach cosmetically the same?
Steve
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 62
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From: Bowling Green KY
Originally Posted by OldSchool
CF member Mike Mercury does this also. Give him a PM. He can use your existing face and give you 75-77 Elec guts..
Steve
Steve
Is that his user name? If so,this is the message I got when I tried to send him a PM,,
Mike Mercury has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages. Therefore you may not send your message to him/her..
Any ideas? Thanks guys for all the help!
Pro
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 553
Likes: 1
From: Valparaiso IN
Originally Posted by 68 Blues
Is that his user name? If so,this is the message I got when I tried to send him a PM,,
Mike Mercury has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages. Therefore you may not send your message to him/her..
Any ideas? Thanks guys for all the help!
Mike Mercury has chosen not to receive private messages or may not be allowed to receive private messages. Therefore you may not send your message to him/her..
Any ideas? Thanks guys for all the help!
tim-yvonne@juno.com <tim-yvonne@juno.com>
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Drifting
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,950
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From: Chino Hills CA
You can do this yourself. Get a tach at your local wrecking yard out of an '89 or so Camaro V8.(around $20) The guts will fit inside your corvette tach with two 1/8 pop rivets ( just paint'em flat black afterwards) Remove the needle from your vette tach. Remove the needle from the Camaro tach. separate the needles from the hubs on both. Attach the vette needle on the Camaro hub with a little JB Quik. You'll have to do a little dremel trimming so that the vette instrument lamps shine through the gauge correctly. The leads are clearly marked on the back of the Camaro circuit board (trash the built in temp gauge) Test it on the motor before you install. Use a separate dwell meter or tach to get the idle rpm to match before installing the needle. That's all there is to it. Took me about an hour and a half. Works perfect. The Camaro rpm range and degree sweep is almost the same as the 5300 rpm vette tach. Take your time and have fun!
Team Owner
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 54,204
Likes: 180
From: S.W. Ohio. . . . . . NRA Life Member
Originally Posted by markdtn
That's the way to go so it looks the same. You can also use a 75-77 tach and it will work fine, but the numbers are a different style and the colors are a bit different. That's what I have in my car, but if I did it again I would let Roger convert it.
Using the original dial-face and pointer helps in two ways:
1. keeps the costs down
2. makes for a true "stealth" installation
As far as I know; I'm the only person that can use the original tach dial-face and pointer without altering them in any way.
What you'll find with a total electronic tach conversion is that the new dialface won't match the speedo. Some of this has to do with different dialface colors used over the years; but there's the "fading" issue as well. Even if a new dial-face is installed -that has the proper original color scheme- the new tach face still won't exactly match the speedo - since the speedo will have faded some over the years.
If you're having the speedo serviced at the same time as the tach conversion - then new dialfaces aren't as big a problem - you get both replaced with new.
email me for more info on electronic tach conversion: tim-yvonne@juno.com
(sorry, I don't do speedometers)
