• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

retro tach source?

Share this page

What is the model number for that VDO tach. I think i want one! I had no idea they matched up... My present "stock" one is heat sensitive. It reads lower when the ambient temp is lower and higher in the afternoon, or after IT warms up... It would be nice to have an accurate one. I'm assuming that you just run two wires from the coil to the back of this VDO gauge, correct? I'm still positive ground. Will that be OK? Or is the case grounded?
 
The picture above looks great. I'd like to see a close up of the VDO with the Smiths trim ring.

BTW, if you want that white needle, go ahead and paint it with some flat white Testor's model paint from the hobby shop. The weight of the paint shouldn't change the calibration much if at all. The hub will never quite match though even if you paint it silver. Of course... you could always paint the speedo pointer safety orange and it's hub flat black. You'll find the safety orange in the acrylic craft paint section of stores like AC Moore. They will probably have two brands, Palmer and Createx. Both make a color called "Fluorescent Orange" that is good for orange gauge needles. I think both will be a little "more orange" than the VDO needle you have.

EDIT: Bill, the VDO will have a single wire hook up to coil (-) and will be for negative ground only. I don't think I've ever seen a positive earth VDO tach even when old ones surface on eBay.
 
The VDO is negative ground.
Just one wire goes to coil.
Link:
https://store.summitracing.com/partdetail...mp;autoview=sku

The chrome trim is glued to the ring on the VDO. The VDO ring
did not come off easily that I could tell. I had to break the tabs off the Mk1 ring to get a flush fit.I used super glue. :wink:
I think painting the speedo needle orange might be neat but I'm probably going to leave well enough alone. I can't see how
I could access the tach needle. I'll do a closeup in a day or two.
That VDO fit the hole so tight I didn't use the spin on ring
at the rear to hold it in. It ain't going anywhere.It was so tight a fit you had to be careful to insert it flush. Just a little in too much to any "side" and it would freeze there
and I'd have to shove it back out. It will not even spin around in the hole.
Like I said it ain't perfect but it's close enough for my needs. Heck there is very little "stock" left on this BE anyway.

PS: I saved the VDO shipping box ans bubble wraps to send the old Auto Meter to you know who. :wink:
It has a modified Smiths retainer brace that will come along.
Gimme a PM with details of where to send the abomination.;)
 
A much overdue thank you to Gundy.

Way back in March he sent me the old AutoMeter tach removed from his car. I installed it in the instrument panel of my father-in-law's vintage Linx-B Formula-Vee. The car had many changes for its last outing in late April and the shift-light on the tach surely helped us to achieve better lap times.

Two pictures of the tach and the car can be seen at:
https://home.mindspring.com/~dklawson/minipics/AutoMeter_Tach02.jpg
https://home.mindspring.com/~dklawson/minipics/FV-02.jpg

(Sorry, I don't know how to directly post pictures so cut and paste the text if the hyperlinks are dead).
 
A little black shoe polish on the horn and collar, add
a new wheelskin leather wrap and ...bingo.
Here's the old Autometer in the V. Looks great!
Glad it found a good fitting home.
 

Attachments

  • 18041.jpg
    18041.jpg
    19.4 KB · Views: 268
  • 18042.jpg
    18042.jpg
    30.5 KB · Views: 268
I realize I'm late to this topic (like a year) but just seemed like the best place to start.

I have a 62 Sprite with mechanical tach. No idea if it works since gear-drive was missing when I purchased car last year. My goal is to get a tach-drive and get it working. For now, I'd like to install an aftermarket tach. My car is positive ground and engine/distributor stock (with points).

Any suggestions for inexpensive - easy to install - reliable tach? I figured I would install somewhere below dash - not permanent.

THANKS!
 
On it - THANKS!

Just in case I'm out-bid, any ideas for a temp solution? I've seen some +/- $40 tachs that are for 4 cylinder engines. If I'm careful to isolate mount to deal with positive ground, would I have problems with wire connections?

Thanks!
 
If you are outbid then just wait for the next one, a tach is fun to have but not really necessary (flame suit ON!!)
BillM
 
I may have a spare from a '66 Sprite. If your interested I'll check.
 
You can take off the "flame suit". No arguments here.

If your aftermarket tach has a plastic case, uses "two wire" hookup for the illumination (as opposed to one wire to the bulb and the other to the case), you MAY find a generic, aftermarket tach will work. Just make sure to isolate everything from ground as you said.
 
Just got home (meeting went late) and missed out on last minute bidding. If the spare works for a 62 with positive ground, I'm interested.

Thanks!
 
Gundy said:
Pic of the current abomination. It just bugs me. Glows all orange at night and looks like something from a drag racer.
It sticks about 3 inches out of the dash too.
Click to expand...

Hi Gundy,

Wow; I never noticed that Tach protruding like that! I must have been a bit overwhelmed with the High Revs coming from Engine to look.

Nice Move David,

Regards, Russ
 
Back
Top