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T O P I C    R E V I E W
GentyPosted - 08 Jan 2007 : 16:26:10
I am after a tachometer for my project. 100mm ideally so it matches the other two dials. To fit it in I am making a new dash!

One slight problem: I have no idea how a tacho works? Where and what does it 'read'? I imagine it will be something to do with the distributor as that spins around once per engine revolution - how thick do I sound?!

So, will any tach do (obviously for a 4 cylinder car with no funky engine management gubbins) and who do I wire it in?

Can anyone recomend one?

Many thanks

Adam

Genty
www.geocities.com/saab96v4
12   L A T E S T    R E P L I E S    (Newest First)
James RanaldiPosted - 19 Feb 2007 : 22:17:05
Tachometer working !!
Four wires as Woody suggested ..additional wire is another earth connection. Beats me why they couldn't common up the earth connections inside the instrument !!

Thrummmm....Thrummmm
James RanaldiPosted - 15 Feb 2007 : 22:58:55
Hi Woody,
It looks conventional rather than digital.
I will take the back off and have a look at the connections from the inside.
I believe that it may be from the VDO "Performance" Range.
I will also try to find a wiring diagram via VDO (Siemens).
Thanks again.

Thrummmm.....Thrummmm
WoodyPosted - 15 Feb 2007 : 21:24:52
Sorry it finished on the 8th Feb. raised £15 but all wires had been cut short. Though you can get the thin wire at auto-jumbles as I rewired my own yasaki. See UKSaabs postings re 96 clock
bs2006Posted - 15 Feb 2007 : 20:43:53
Hi Woody,
I have searched under Yazaki for the rev counter on e-bay but couldn't find it - is it listed under another description?
Thanks, Bryan.
WoodyPosted - 15 Feb 2007 : 20:31:40
Hi James
Is the vdo conventional or is it digital? Digital tachos sometimes double as vehicle clocks so have a permanent live feed. I am wondering if this is possible with yours. The three wires would be red to live, green for internal illummination and black to earth. To avoid risk of damage you could try testing the wires using low voltage batteries.
Alternatively you could open up the case and see where the wires come from.
James RanaldiPosted - 14 Feb 2007 : 22:02:14
I can follow the logic of Woody's wiring for 4 wires.....problem is that the Pod Mounted VDO Tachometer which I have has 5 wires.

Thick Blue and thick White which I have assumed correspond to the Blue and Yellow in Woody's reply. It also has thin Red, thin Green and thin Black. I assume that the red and black correspond with Woody's reply which leaves the thin Green.....any ideas? Is this another earth connection ?

Thanks,

Thrummmm.....Thrummmm
WoodyPosted - 15 Jan 2007 : 20:08:00
Small Yazaki tacho on ebay at present
john wyattPosted - 09 Jan 2007 : 20:27:38
Jake who contributes to the forum made a mould up some time ago for fibreglass dash tops with a binnacle included, allowing the fitting of 3 small gauges or switches and 1 big one (tacho?), I fitted my rev counter on the dash where the 96 badge is as it is not the best dash and I didnt feel too bad about hacking a hole in it, the dash tops jake made obviously replace the foam padded one and look the business, the one he made me could probably be from someone if they would actually use it, dont know if he still has the resources to fabricate more of them but they certainly give you a lot more dash space.
GentyPosted - 09 Jan 2007 : 10:22:33
Many thanks one and all.

Sounds relatively easy then.

I am planning (at some stage!!) to make a new dash from circle-polish aluminium to accomodate the tacho, and replace the swithces with silver toggle switches, for that "Fireball XL5" look - but you know me and my flights of fancy!

Genty
www.geocities.com/saab96v4
1970V4Posted - 08 Jan 2007 : 23:05:19
I made a custom dashboard for my '70 96 using a a gauge cluster from a Sonett III. I kept it in there for about a year but decided on going for the factory rally look with a stock dash and VDO column-mounted tach and Moto-Lita wheel. Here's a photo of the set-up from my gallery. The Sonett tach is nice in that it matches the other instruments perfectly:

http://www.saab-v4.co.uk/images/dennis/v4_5.jpg
WoodyPosted - 08 Jan 2007 : 18:35:48
There are various dash types, including Smiths or Yazaki, the Smiths may be 100mm but the Yazaki is 80mm. It is a shame to modify the dash board, when it is functionally easier to use a pod type mounted on the steering column, with a jubillee clip. There are usually 4 wires,
black to earth, red to power/light switch for internal illumination, blue to the distributor side of the coil (-), and yellow to the plus side of coil (ignition supply side.
For Pod types there is a choice of Smith, Yazaki and Tim makes in 55mm and Yazaki do an 80mm. This last Yazaki is the type used in the factory rally cars 1970+.
I have both types of Yazaki + wiring diagrams if you want a pic. Each can have the dial skewed so that the red line is position at 12pm for easy viewing.
Said tachos appear periodically on Ebay, and have gone for as little as £8.00
FliptopPosted - 08 Jan 2007 : 18:14:52
Dead easy, you have power and earth, and usually one feed from the LT side of the coil.

Making V4 dashes is fun, I did one many moons ago with a nice shiny alloy plate across the old fascia and an extra "console" below right, adjacent to the steering column. Never did fit it to aything though, think it's still buried somewhere in Dad's garage!

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