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Fri Oct 24, 2008 3:32 pm

Here's mine, Its made from a Audi 4 cyl. tach. I had to make my own face and cut down the pointer. It looks and works great except for one thing. At idle it seems correct, 900 rpm, but at max revs it only reads 3000!
Anyone have any ides why? Im using the same point disto as the Audi had.

Sun Nov 09, 2008 5:10 pm

ok, here is a layout of what you need to do this.

8K tach from a MK2 gti or gli
'dummy' (clock block off plate)
3'' pcv pipe
soldering iron
tons of patients
micro tap set
hands like a little girl
beer

here it is all layed out

you need to grind off the rivet and tang that hold the center decorative doo dad in the clock blank (as seen in the above picture) i uesd a little dab of jb weld to hold the button in place

the tach head will fit thru the hole already in the clock dummy, you just need to mark holes to fasten it to the face. i wanted to use the factory decorative doo dad and make it float over the needle, so i made a bracket shaped like a 'Y', which i drilled a hole in so i can attach it to the face. i have a micro tap set that i used to tap the holes to use the factory speedo screws (from a bus) to hold it together.

this is what it looks like together

now with doo dad on

next problem was illumination. i wanted something to match the eerie green hue of the orig. gauges, so i gutted (and highly modified ) a seat heater switch from a 98 volvo S70 to make a bulb holder. the bulb is actually 'white' (more like yellow when lit) but the same car uses the same bulbs in the radio with little blue condoms. yellow + blue make green

here is the bulb holder

and the bulb with condom

now, because i made mine with a 'floating' decorative doo dad, i needed to shim it back about 10 mm from the glass, so i used a piece of pvc, and painted it silver (all the rings in my bus are silver) the 10mm shim is about correct for the gauge to look like it belongs there.
the light holder will screw to the top of the ring

when you go together. it is a bit of a pain, as the ring get squeezed between the tach and the glass. but that is about the jist of how its done. you will need to lightly center the needle (which needs to be trimmed) in the tach, the very carefully 'zero' it bu putting to to 0 rpm and make sure it stays there. on the back of the tach is a calibration screw, it kind of looks like a snail. hook it all up and fine tune it from there.

i am sure i forgot something, please feel free to ask

Sun Nov 09, 2008 5:11 pm

oh yea, i flipped the 60 around (some people asked about that on the first page)

Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:13 pm

Great stuff,no more bothering you with pm's!
Can you send me a link to the print for the gauge?
What was the pvc pipe for originally?
Would an original dash light of had the same effect?Or maybe a led?
Thanks for putting it up-I'm going to start collecting the components.
nb What do you connect it to to make it work? (positive on coil and earth?)
Thanks again
Paul

Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:47 pm

the face is done on photoshop
the pvc was some scrap i had around
the lighiting was a tough one to overcome and have it look 'stock'. i tried to notch out all over the dummy plate in various spots and the light was too focused. i came up with putting it in the center to give it more of a overall illumination instead of a pinpoint light

Mon Nov 10, 2008 6:38 pm

How exactly did you actually print your dial? Is it on metal? Paper? Plastic? :? Would you be willing to make the dial face for those of us that are unable to?

Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:34 am

I am having trouble finding a tach that goes to 8k,I have found several from the same era that go to 7k
Would these work as well?
What would be different.
A link to your dial would be cool as I don't have any way of measuring the engine rpm.
thanks Paul

Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:29 pm

busfreak_71 wrote: How exactly did you actually print your dial? Is it on metal? Paper? Plastic? Would you be willing to make the dial face for those of us that are unable to? skills@eurocarsplus wrote: the face is done on photoshop

there is no link to the face at all. period. i measured the ID of the dummy plate and went to work on photoshop. the face is printed on a matte paper. semi-gloss looked too much like plastic. i had thought of pre cutting the faces and selling them, but i just don't want to deal with un happy people. it is not perfect (the face that is) pretty dam near, but someone somewhere will find something to complain about.

Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:53 pm

skills@eurocarsplus wrote: busfreak_71 wrote: How exactly did you actually print your dial? Is it on metal? Paper? Plastic? Would you be willing to make the dial face for those of us that are unable to? skills@eurocarsplus wrote: the face is done on photoshop

there is no link to the face at all. period. i measured the ID of the dummy plate and went to work on photoshop. the face is printed on a matte paper. semi-gloss looked too much like plastic. i had thought of pre cutting the faces and selling them, but i just don't want to deal with un happy people. it is not perfect (the face that is) pretty dam near, but someone somewhere will find something to complain about.

Yes, I was aware that you made it in photophop. I was just curious how you printed it and what it was on. I can understand that you don't want to deal with bitchy people. I wouldn't either. I just would like one because I have 0 artistic/computer skills and I wouldn't be able to make one on my own. So that's why I asked. (you could sell one to me though, I won't complain. :wink:)

Sun Nov 16, 2008 3:51 am

If not too much trouble could you give me an insight to the wiring required.
Many thanks Paul

Sun Nov 08, 2009 5:37 pm

I know this is a pretty late bump but the photos don't work :(

Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:45 am

Yeah this is somethign very interesting. I would like to get a tac but am unsure of how to go about it. Pics would greatly help out!

Mon Dec 12, 2011 1:28 pm

I will have to try to dig around to see if I stll have them. It was a long time ago and I may have dumped them

Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:11 am

Yeah, I just realized the gap of time between entries, sorry, but yeah I would be very interested if you could find out. Thanks!

Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:03 pm

Bump!
Hey skills did you ever find those pics? I would love to see how you did it.

Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:01 pm

sorry, i think they are long gone :( i will look on another computer that may have them