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Has anyone installed one of these? Thinking of installing on my 69 427 coupe? Is it as simple as removing the mechanical drive from the rear of the tach and replacing with this module? Three wires - red positive, black ground, and green goes to positive on coil.
Has anyone installed one of these? Thinking of installing on my 69 427 coupe? Is it as simple as removing the mechanical drive from the rear of the tach and replacing with this module? Three wires - red positive, black ground, and green goes to positive on coil.
Hi mate,
yes it is pretty much that simple.
All hardware included and lines up perfectly.
Positive goes to ignition. Ground to ground and green to negative side of coil.
However you need to calibrate it also.
You can have it done from a gauge repair shop that will use a signal generator or if you have a digital timing light which shows engine RPM you can do what I did and calibrate it pretty darn close using the timing light. First you "zero" the needle by connecting all wires. Turn the ignition on and that is 0 on the gauge. Now adjust the needle to zero. Now everytime you turn the ignition on it should zero.
Now with your digital timing light set up you can start the car and when you have a nice idle turn the yellow screw on the side of the electronic unit to adjust the needle position to suit the RPM showing on your timing light. Making sure its consistent at various RPMs
yes it is pretty much that simple.
All hardware included and lines up perfectly.
Positive goes to ignition. Ground to ground and green to negative side of coil.
However you need to calibrate it also.
You can have it done from a gauge repair shop that will use a signal generator or if you have a digital timing light which shows engine RPM you can do what I did and calibrate it pretty darn close using the timing light. First you "zero" the needle by connecting all wires. Turn the ignition on and that is 0 on the gauge. Now adjust the needle to zero. Now everytime you turn the ignition on it should zero.
Now with your digital timing light set up you can start the car and when you have a nice idle turn the yellow screw on the side of the electronic unit to adjust the needle position to suit the RPM showing on your timing light. Making sure its consistent at various RPMs
here's a few photos I took doing mine
thank you for the detailed response. I am going to see if Willcox will calibrate prior to shipping. The installation looks pretty straight forward. I am tired of jacking with the cable drive.
yes it is pretty much that simple.
All hardware included and lines up perfectly.
Positive goes to ignition. Ground to ground and green to negative side of coil.
However you need to calibrate it also.
You can have it done from a gauge repair shop that will use a signal generator or if you have a digital timing light which shows engine RPM you can do what I did and calibrate it pretty darn close using the timing light. First you "zero" the needle by connecting all wires. Turn the ignition on and that is 0 on the gauge. Now adjust the needle to zero. Now everytime you turn the ignition on it should zero.
Now with your digital timing light set up you can start the car and when you have a nice idle turn the yellow screw on the side of the electronic unit to adjust the needle position to suit the RPM showing on your timing light. Making sure its consistent at various RPMs
here's a few photos I took doing mine
My timing light does not show engine RPM it is a dial version that just allows adjustment for degrees.
I found one on EBay for $50. Where do you point the light to register rpm?
can you tell me where you connected the power wire and ground? Does the power need to be supplied at key on?
I have. easy to install. And works great. No problems. Bought mine from Zip corvette. It's been in my car for 3 years with no problems. Hardest parts is taking the dash out.
I have. easy to install. And works great. No problems. Bought mine from Zip corvette. It's been in my car for 3 years with no problems. Hardest parts is taking the dash out.
I think I've been talking to this customer via emails for the past few days... if not it's a small world.
But you guys should be aware that the conversion kits more times then not are not calibrated 100 percent correct. This is why it's always best to run a wire from the coil to the tach head before you install it so that you can make changes.
The bad part is that we dial the gauges in at 4k and when we do everything else falls in place. Most don't want to spool the car up that hard to test or set a tach so my advice would be to either buy a signal generator from me or to go with 3k.... it'll get you very close you just have to remember any change at 3 or 4k is large, but it effects the lower scale in much smaller increments. If you have questions please feel free to message me at Support@Willcoxcorvette.com.
I think I've been talking to this customer via emails for the past few days... if not it's a small world.
But you guys should be aware that the conversion kits more times then not are not calibrated 100 percent correct. This is why it's always best to run a wire from the coil to the tach head before you install it so that you can make changes.
The bad part is that we dial the gauges in at 4k and when we do everything else falls in place. Most don't want to spool the car up that hard to test or set a tach so my advice would be to either buy a signal generator from me or to go with 3k.... it'll get you very close you just have to remember any change at 3 or 4k is large, but it effects the lower scale in much smaller increments. If you have questions please feel free to message me at Support@Willcoxcorvette.com.
yes. I’ve emailed you some questions. Can I use a digital timing light with an rpm measurement to calibrate?
I have the Zip unit.....and yes, I used a digi light and had the unit outside the car.......I went to 3500.....held it steady.....and calibrated from there.
I like your 'disassembly' write-up. As you mentioned, it is important to note where all the wiring and vacuum lines are routed BEFORE your remove the column or the dash panel. This is a good time to give a good cleaning to the electrical ground strap for the headlamp switch and to put some sort of light adhesive on the vacuum ports/hose ends at the headlamp switch so those little @3$$%823"s won't come off when you are installing the dash pad!!!
Last edited by 7T1vette; Aug 19, 2020 at 02:14 PM.
Has anyone installed one of these? Thinking of installing on my 69 427 coupe? Is it as simple as removing the mechanical drive from the rear of the tach and replacing with this module? Three wires - red positive, black ground, and green goes to positive on coil.
I'm going to have to go with Zip on this one... Yes it needs to be dialed in.
You can do this with a cheap dwell meter by hooking it up to the engine, setting it on rpm's and then run a set of test jumpers to the tach.
It is very un-common for us to get one that reads correctly when we install them here and you'd want to test the tach before you mount it in the metal can. It has a 1 turn pot on it for adjustments that you can't get to if it's in the can. There is no way I'd want to install the tach without testing it and installing it. No one want's to go through taking the pad out multiple times.
Electronic tach conversion?
