Looking to add a Tachometer

[mxr515]

I just finished this exact setup in my 1987 Silverado V10. Pretty easy to accomplish. I had the large fuel gauge and the clock on the lower left corner. I had bought another gauge cluster from an early 80's with a tach setup with intentions on using the tach and fuel gauge from that setup. I used the fuel gauge but the tach looks too different from my gauges so I ended up with a tach from classic parts. I had to open up a small opening behind where the fuel gauge went to accommodate the tach plug (the printed circuit has a small opening in the proper location so I did not have to cut the printed circuit at all for either the tach or fuel gauge) and i used the original fuel gauge connections to wire back to the new fuel gauge as you can see in the pics (you'll have to cut the original tabs for the fuel gauge on the inside so they don't protrude in too far and are no longer used except to solder the wires to so you can wire back to your fuel gauge). I used the factory tach wire harness that came with the early 80's cluster and it plugged directly into the fuse panel for 12v, used a ground lug that was mounted behind my dash and ran the tach lead to my distributor which already had the connection off the coil unused. Looks great and works very well. Still need to touch up the needles to match the new very orange needle on the tach but overall a very easy project if you take your time.

Originally Posted by jricharc

So I recently bought an '86 C10 that has had it's factory V6 replaced with a 350 from an early 80's Z28. It has the Saginaw 3 speed with the shifter moved to the floor and I would like to add a tachometer to the gauges.

I am thinking my best option would be to replace the current large gas gauge that is next to the speedo with the new tach and move a new gas gauge over where the blank spot is on the left side. Has anyone done this and can they recommend any specific gauges?

I have seen a bunch where folks have done the entire cluster but that's just not in the budget so I want to find something that looks somewhat factory if possible.