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Later gauges for a Bugeye

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drooartz

drooartz

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I'm going to look at a RWA project car on Monday, and have a question about gauges. Don't know what condition the gauges on that car are in, but I've got to wondering if they would fit the Bugeye dash (specifically, the speedo and tach). I'm not intending to replace Tunebug's gauges, but right now the speedo is DOA. Might be willing to replace them temporarily, and a new tach could allow for an alternator swap in the future if desired.

I'm trying to figure out how many parts from a RWA car could work on the Bugeye. Helps me figure out how much I'd be willing to pay for the car.
 
gauges are the wrong size.
But you can use the a-arms, sway bar, rearend, axles (if steel wheels), disk brakes, calipers, engine and transmission, front shocks, and think of the collection of spare nuts and bolts!
 
The speedo and tach are smaller but the guts from the smaller gauges fit inside the larger housings.
The tach is neg ground and would need to be wired to the car accordingly. The speedo guts screw right to the bugeye speedo dial.
 
OK Frank, the speedo guts will fit, but I thought that would mess up the calibration. But, if you switch to a 3.9 rearend, that will mess up the calibration anyway.
 
But not if you change BOTH the diff and the speedo guts. They will balance each other out.
 
The gauges both look good. I'm intending to eventually get them working again--I like the look of the originals. The tach works (or it did) but the little gear box thingy has gone south and I haven't gotten around to fixing it yet (like many things).

Mostly I was just wondering if I should care if the ones on the project car work or not.

Also, this later motor has an alternator on it. Will the brackets for the older generator still fit? I'd like to keep the generator for the tac drive if possible.
 
The alternator bracket for the A-series engines had a longer offset than the one used for the generator. I've seen people use spacer tubes to make up the length difference between the alternator and the generator. However, the alternator brackets are available new and they aren't expensive. I think the alternator brackets are a better looking solution than spacers.
 
Doug - I want to use a generator on the 1275. I have the generator bracket from my current 948. Will it bolt up to the later 1275? The 1275 I'm considering has an alternator (and appropriate bracket) on it right now.
 
The dynamo bracket from the 948 will fit on the 1275. I think.
 
Drew:

It will, I have a 1275 with a dyno on it.

Patrick
 
Thanks, Patrick. Just wanted to make sure I was thinking the right way. Hope to look at the project car in a few hours.
 
Take pictures Drew! Share them please upon your return!
 
I go along with Trevor and Patrick. The old bracket should fit the 1275 block. I don't think that became a problem until BL introduced the A+ series engines. Did they ever make an inline A+ anyway?
 
After driving a bugeye for 20 yrs. with bouncing gauges that worked sometimes, the third tack tranny caused me to pull a little more hair and make the switch. Spritenut is right, speedo guts screw right in. The tack guts take a mod to the back of the can to install. After this the lights don't light the gauges unless you take the glass off, Paint the outer interior with black, then silver and reinstall. It looks and works good. No bouncing guages, with the 4.22 diff you loose about 1 mph per 10mph. The 3.9 does straighten it out.
 
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