Yet another Bus tachometer DIY...

vw76westy · Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:41 pm Post subject:

very nice

do you have a piece of glass on the face to protect the needle ??
if not & you want one
i could (for free) offer you a piece of plexi glass that would be sized
to snug up to the cluster at 1/4 inch or so above the needle

just pm me....
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FreedomBuild · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:29 pm Post subject:

So nice! I'd be all over doing that for my bus!
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GeoffP · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 8:22 pm Post subject:

geat job!

Westfabulous · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:52 pm Post subject:

That is spectacular. I love people with an eye for detail. Very nice work. Maybe add the word tutorial to your title. Thanks for sharing.
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Daverham · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 12:45 pm Post subject:

A well done retro fit. Nice work.

lastchancevw · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 12:34 pm Post subject:

fastmc25 · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 6:32 am Post subject:

Nice Job.... Smile

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1973 Type181 Kubelwagen (Thing 2 ) 2110cc
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Klaussinator · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 6:05 am Post subject:

I like it!

I wonder though, were the numbers on OEM speedos & tachs painted with some sort of a reflective type paint? If so, you might see a difference after dark when it's illuminated.

Awesome job and mad Photoshop skills!

-Klauss
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bugger101 · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 5:39 am Post subject:

well done
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mygreenbus · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 3:47 am Post subject:

Well done.
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Popsvan · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 3:38 am Post subject:

That is some really nice work!
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lastchancevw · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 1:41 am Post subject: Yet another Bus tachometer DIY...

Well, I was wondering what to put in that big blank empty space. Not a clock, though I was starting to perform surgery on the type 3 clock but didn't get very far.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

(note my homemade fan switch made from a bug fresh air icon mated to a bug wiper switch)

So, hunting through some boxes of parts, I stumbled upon this tach. Made to stand alone (like I guess you would mount it on top of your dash), it's a simple thing and my guess is that it was made sometime in the 1980's The brand name is AcroTach, and it may or may not be similar to what you buy in autozone these days..

Removing the casing it was a good fit, but if I didn't use the glass that came with it, i had to use something else to cover that gaping hole. I decided to use the chrome edged trim piece in the middle of the blanking plate that's going to be replaced anyway..

Plus the blanking plate would be cut down to make the "hood" and have something to use to reattach the whole thing back to the black plastic piece that hold all 3 instruments.

It's hard to see from the above photo, but I used wire to connect the tach to the trimmed piece. and in order to make the piece sit ahead of the tach (so that it would be lit properly), I used a trim ring from a type 3 clock as a spacer (though a roughly 10mm piece of 3 inch pvc pipe would work)

Using my photo I shot of the tach face as a guide, I made a new face in Photoshop. I had a hard time finding a font that worked, but with some tweaking, "Chrysler Condensed" worked (had to fix the 1, 4, 7 and Cool

. I hope that's the only time I ever ever use a "Chrysler" part in my bus... I was going to go with UPM but settled on RPM. And no, it's not really a VDO, but don't tell VDO..

Printed out and ready to go on the AcroTach face. I was going to put it on the reverse side until I realized that it would be hard to line things up.. Plus I'm not convinced that this thing was totally symmetrical. So I just rubber cemented it right over the old face.

Sneaking the plate over the needle was tough, but if I used a bobby pin on it, to lift it up, that worked, When dealing with this tach, I found that I really wanted to keep anything metal away from it (like screwdriver blades). The tach has magnets in it and stuff wanted to go right in there. As it is, I think a bit of iron fluff got in there. Also, it's very easy to bend/damage the spring that makes the needle go back to zero. I had to futz around with it to make the needle not stick.. I don't expect this thing to work flawlessly, but so far I haven't spent a dime on it (tach was free in box of parts)..

Screwed back on. I didn't get a photo putting the chrome edged center piece on. Basically I needed that to be on, but it could only be secured where the needle doesn't sweep (in that area right about the RPM script). I used a dab of epoxy to glue a nut, then a shirt button, then the chrome edged piece. Basically the piece needed to hover above everything without the needed dragging on it.

Here's the basically finished piece mounted in an instrument cluster (not actually the one in my car, but a spare one). I still want to go into it and either put a green gel in front of it's own instrument light, or remove the green gels from the other instrument lights. I need to see how shockingly different the two look at night.

So that was a lot of fun. It requires some patience, and some photoshop skills. I would be happy to let anyone have a .TIFF file of my tach face, but it will really only work with this particular brand of tach, and only one that has a the needle sweep from roughly the 8 oclock to 4 o clock position. I can't quite see this working with another brand of tach unless it was identical to the AcroTach..

Now to install it into the real thing!

-Tara
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1970 Commercial Kombi
1971 rusty Westfalia (retired for now)
1974 super beetle
1969 delta blue deluxe bus, half-camperized and being worked on
1971 Squareback (my newest acquisition!)


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