QUOTE: (Dumbass questions: where does one obtain decal paper? And, does it fade from UV or stuff like that?) You can get decal paper at any sign store. Its vinyl sticker material. Hell look on ebay...
Yeah, I believed they were on more than corvettes....like late 50's pontiacs and olds J-2s. I'm told that the drive on the back of the distributor is the same as those units that drove power steering pumps of that era......giving you more options for a generator. Jim Jard's 409 deuce 5w coupe has this mechanical setup.
THere is a guy who usually attends the GG Pleasanton show in Aug in the swap area that will convert the early Tachs into electronic mode.
http://dandmrestoration.home.mindspring.com/ I just used these guys to fix a totally wasted ralley pac tach for a Comet Cyclone, He converted it to electric and refinised the case and dial, plus had to make a new needle. Only cost 300 bucks. I thought it was reasonable and the work was superb. Jay
Mechanical tach drives are common in the tractor and stationary engine world. I have a '51 Ford 8N that runs off the back of the governor. My Massey Ferguson 135 runs off the back of the generator (1964). Funny thing is, they turn opposite each other so I couldn't use my Massey tach in my Ford when I switched it to an alternator.
EXACTLY my plan - already have the 2-piece cap, Unilite triggered, SBC dizzy (think I paid $70 w/good cap, rotor, & wires). Just need to turn it down. Great minds...
Several years ago a converted Chevy tach drive sold for big bucks on Ebay. It was worded in a way that never revealed that it was a conversion. I wondered if the buyer was pissed to find out it was a phantom distributor. There was an aluminum "ledge" bolted to the side so that the 8BA hold down was still functional. There is nothing wrong with a conversion as long as you don't pay big bucks for a "super rare" distributor.
Those are Smiths Chronometric Speedo and rev counter.The cool thing about them apart from being deadly accurate when set up right is that the needle kinda hops up and down the dial.Now i have been toying with the idea of a tach drive and have worked out a smiths motorcycle speedo drive or even better a smiths cam tach drive would do the trick brilliantly.the tach drives and the speedo drives are still available and as long as you have a working electric tach hooked up next to your new cable drive tach it would be easy enough to work out the face.........................Marq
We found a couple of old Sun tachs in my dad's stuff. One is the the fairly common style, an RC-40 4000 RPM... With an EB-9A 12 volt 8 cyl Transmitter. But the second one I have only seen one other time...in the dash of Don Dillard's 32 roadster. This one had a 6 volt, 8 cyl transmitter. Does anyone know anything about the second tach? I would assume it was fairly early, 1940's maybe? Thanks, Neal
Wow Neal....that second tach is REALLY neat! Would look great in my truck. Looks military.....although every military issue tach I've seen has been mechanical.
Hello, I have some old SW tach's from WWII which were cable driven. These were tachs found in a Military Surplus Auction! Some of which are still packaged in Cosmoline. Anyway, I also have what I believe to be some of the first electric tachs, 1944 and 1945 coded from Stewart Warner, which were being produced right after the war. I also believe some of the tachs were being used during the war as proto-type or pre-production stuff. These tachs do not have a tall RPM range, (2500) which would put their limited use to some kind of land vehicle, or small RPM plane or truck. Remember, gas was at a premium and it would not be uncommon for these tachs to be associated with deisel engines. Most of the casing were metal, and very few were brass at that time. Again, due to the war effort. Most of the pre-40 stuff was black painted or some form of black trim. You can find some of the chrome trim stuff showing up in the thirties, but really did not take off until the fifties, after the war. I believe the SW script writing on the face of the gauge are some of the more eligant gauges. More to follow
I just got this tach and has hoping some of you guys could tell me some history on it. Its a Stewart Warner obviously! The face is 5 3/16" from the very outside edges of the bezel with a curved glass front. I'm assuming its pre-war and as far as I can tell from messing around with it, that its a 10K tach?!? I want to say its NOS but there is scrape marks around the back that point to it being fitted in a vehicle at some time. It has a removable non-reverse angle drive. There is a brass tag that reads "Calibration 100-1860 Do Not Remove" Also there are red painted numbers and letters that read "870D"
Check the numbers right below the 870D. There should be a letter and a number, and they represent the year and month of manufacture. Compare to the chart on roadsters.com. Sorry, but that isn't a 10,000 RPM tach, it's a 100 RPM tach. Probably from some piece of equipment rather than a vehicle. Now, if you could screen "in hundreds" right below the "RPM", and recalibrate the mechanism, then you'd have something.
NealinCa well with yours and Dillards that makes 4 of these that I know of. I was told they were used in planes. The 10k is from 64, I bought it new then
i`m glad this post came back.here is a couple of mine.now i will have to read back and digest the old replies.
We're up to 5 of them ... I stuck one in the windshield header of a '46 Chevy panel about 1979, along with a Motor Minder and a 6v SAAB clock. Mine came out of a Sun distributor machine and was hooked up to a battery powered EB sender. The light was under the dome shaped center. Far as I know, it's still working.
I don't recall what transmitter it calls for but I do know it's not an EB, it's an odd one that I hadn't heard of before. Mine also has the light under the center I would imagine all of this design are the same
Funny how things go sometimes. There are 3 of these old tachs on E-bay right now and here all we had seen was 5 of them
I have an Accel distributor with a cable drive on it. Does it make a difference what kind of tach you use as long as the cable fits? I was just wondering if there was anything about the gear ratio in the dizzy that would have to be matched to the gauge.
Ive been told that the Scripps built a landing craft called LCA. That used two Ford Flathead engines. Some info here http://www.6juin1944.com/assaut/amphib.php?id=11
Ryan the military had electric tachs during the second war. I had a '42 GM sedan that had an OD tach mounted on the dash. It was around 5 or 6K RPM and hooked up to the original 6 cylinder. A lot of guys don't like the cable tachs because they have a tendency to bounce unless everything is really up to snuff. Cables already made up are usually hard to come by and expensive but if you have a houseing you can build your own cable with one of those universal speedo kits and if you don't have a houseing here's a trick get the houseing from the older GM cruise control ( before electric) the one that goes from the cruise to the speedo has the correct size coupleing to hook up to the dizzy and the tach end is normally the same as a speedo.
When it comes to cable tach's I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the most popular tach there is among the circle track racers and Bonneville. The Jones..Made by the Jones-Motrola Corp. in Stamford,Conn. They have a modern version marketed by Moroso now. They are of the chronometric type movement rather than magnetic like the S&W. Thus they are far more accurate. Jones tachs have been almost exclusively used at Indianapolis for over 40 years. Almost any big speedometer shop can furnish drives and cables for these. Brackets for the drive unit are available for some standard applications and in any case can be fabricated at home with hand tools. Cable tachs can be had in right or left hand drive, with tattletails and various size dials. The drive units can be had in right or left hand drive also for either crank or cam drive. The drive units are available in 1:1, 1:2, 2:1 and special ratios on order. Attached is a pic of a cable drive on SBC. Home made bracket. Tach dial pic tattletail shows 9300 rpm. If anyone is interested, I have a Jones-Motrola advertising sheet I can email.
Great addition to the post... I know I've seen 60's era Jones' tachs, but don't know that I have seen anything earlier than that. How long have they been around?
I've got a mechanical tach apart (sure looks like a SW) and see it needs a new shaft and spring... anyone know of a source for parts?
Add two more... I've got a NOS one with the little light, and another with the mounting cup and light. They aren't unbelievably rare. I see 'em from time to time.
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