Looking to add a Tachometer

[Skunksmash]

Originally Posted by jricharc

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 done this. You will need a 5" tach. I used an autometer 5" tach, which fits in there perfectly. I used an autometer fuel gauge as well, and got rid of that little clock that didn't work anyway. For the tach, I just pulled the housing off of one, that was supposed to be a dash mount. Don't be discouraged, its all fairly simple. You just need to wire the fuel gauge over to the correct spots for the new location. As for the tach, all you do is run the wire to the distributor. Honestly none of it is very difficult.

There is only one thing I would advise you to do: Make sure you get a backlit tach. As in, make sure the light shines through the numbers/letters. Not around them. Otherwise, you will have an odd light that can be seen from the passenger side. Which you can't get rid of, because then the gauge face would have no light. I will eventually have to replace my tach with a different one because of this. So you want your tach to be sort of like a modern tach in a new car, for that reason. The numbers/letters/needle are all going to need to be translucent, so that they light up when you turn the headlights on. Basically, the gauge face can't be solid metal. You need to be able to hold a flashlight behind it, and the numbers and lines would light up.

That is the easiest way. Unless you go with a factory tach, but those aren't so great imo. They have a 0 after every number, which just throws the whole thing off.