Anybody done this? I see all kind of posts about replacing the ammeter with a voltmeter in the dash cluster, but none about changing the tach in the middle hole. Mine has a vac gauge now, but I know a tach was an option that year. I'm not going drag racing, so I'm not going to keep the 3 inch tach that was clamped on the steering colomn, lol. Still would like a tach for troubleshooting and tuning. And no, I don't want to spend $200 bucks on a gauge.
In dash cluster aftermarket tach replacement-69 Cuda rallye cluster
- Thread starter RSie
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moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Theres a guy on here that used the gage blank off plug and cut the center of it out to fit this tach shown below. Then he removed the tach glass and chrome bezel so it would fit in the stock barracuda bezel. I have some pix of how he did this with a regular style SW tach. I am planning on doing this on my sons 69 with an SW sidewinder tach. Paint the needle flourescent orange and viola instant factory looking tach. My 67 , i will hide a shift light in the parking brake indicator bezel.
Hope this helps
Matt
Hope this helps
Matt
there isn't a aftermarket tach that fits other than those designed/built for this application. Year One, Classsic industries, others, offer them. maybe that's where your "$200 bucks" figure comes from.
I have seen alternative aftermarket tach put there after the housing and bezel were butchered severely.
I have seen alternative aftermarket tach put there after the housing and bezel were butchered severely.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Pix above, bezel and housing are untouched. Only the blank off plug was modified to fit. This is why i will go this route for my sons car. The aftermarket "repop" ones look great, but the accuracy of them is pretty dismal. I got a blank off plug in his instrument cluster i plan on cutting to fit this, however a mount plate could be made from some thick aluminum plate, and the tach could be glued into it with JB weld. I think the guy i got the pix from stated this was a beat up cluster he used for mockup purposes.
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Unclear on what 'used the gage blank off plug' is. $144 is still a bit too pricey for a gauge to me. I'd be interested in on any more pics you have though, and thanks!
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Its the round plastic thing they put in the center hole when you dont have a tach, or a vacuum gage, or a clock in the center gage hole. Just fills it. I like this one because the size just about fits, and the numbering is close to oem for me, plus its a Stewart Warner. A decent brand of tachometer.
Ahh, got it. A delete plate.. no option, just blank plastic.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Does your dash have a black insert with a couple white round rings painted on its face in that location? If so thats the blank off plug.
Mine has the vacuum gauge.
Find an original and put the updated board in it. Unless you plan on running points.
Sorry, I'm an idiot.. unclear on all of this... no idea what 'updated board' or 'running points' means.
Points ignition. The originals were designed for such.
To run any aftermarket electronic ignition the factory unit will need to upgraded.
My car came with it and was unhooked as soon as I bought it in the mid 80’s. I used a column mounted Sun Tach II unit and Chrysler electronic ignition. I updated it with a board from RTE to run with the pertronix when I restored and sold the old column tach. It works very well with the new board.
To run any aftermarket electronic ignition the factory unit will need to upgraded.
My car came with it and was unhooked as soon as I bought it in the mid 80’s. I used a column mounted Sun Tach II unit and Chrysler electronic ignition. I updated it with a board from RTE to run with the pertronix when I restored and sold the old column tach. It works very well with the new board.
Factory original with updated PC board.
So, you're saying: find an old original tach, update it with a board from RTE to run with electronic ignition? Just trying to understand what you're saying.
Yes!
No fit issues direct bolt in and there are plenty out there to be had.
No fit issues direct bolt in and there are plenty out there to be had.
moparmat2000
Well-Known Member
Well he is looking for "cheap" as in inexpensive. The retrofitted factory tachs are uber cool. They really are, but the buy in one one of those is higher than a repop, then add to that a conversion kit = cost prohibitive for what the starter of this thread wanted to do on a budget.
The bone yard.
I see cheap all the time for sale here as well. The board is not that pricey.
I see cheap all the time for sale here as well. The board is not that pricey.
I've done that before. I have a wife.. not looking to having to deal with the fallout from that again
I'll look around. Thanks for the idea!
I've done that before. I have a wife.. not looking to having to deal with the fallout from that again
Here ya on that.
My wife saw the neighbor of the same age die from a heart attack and from that point on she was all in to restoring and getting done! I never looked back. It took 25 years to get to that point and took full advantage.
The RTE replacement board is $100. If you find a stock tach in any kind of reasonable condition for under $200 you’re doing really well. Most are north of $100 for something you will then have to pay several hundred dollars to rebuild.
The repops aren’t great. I wouldn’t buy another one. The screen printing is fairly low resolution, the construction is cheap and the tach itself is inaccurate. And they’re like $250 for that. I bought one used, wasn’t that happy with it right out of the box, and after using it for a couple years it started randomly bouncing the needle all over the place.
The pictures Mat posted are mine, I bought an SW 3 3/8” tach and pulled it apart. I cut the housing it came in down and fit it into the stock gauge cluster. I then used the block off plate out of the original cluster and cut it down to make a mounting ring. In retrospect, I would just make up some little 90 degree mounting tabs. Cutting the ring down and sanding it and fitting it was unnecessarily time consuming.
Anyway, I fit the 3 3/8” tach into the stock rally gauge cluster without modifying the stock gauge cluster at all. All the mods were to the aftermarket tach, which was like $150. So far it works great! It looks a lot better in my car than it did in that spare bezel I had laying around for the picture, that was just an extra I used to do the fitting.
The repops aren’t great. I wouldn’t buy another one. The screen printing is fairly low resolution, the construction is cheap and the tach itself is inaccurate. And they’re like $250 for that. I bought one used, wasn’t that happy with it right out of the box, and after using it for a couple years it started randomly bouncing the needle all over the place.
The pictures Mat posted are mine, I bought an SW 3 3/8” tach and pulled it apart. I cut the housing it came in down and fit it into the stock gauge cluster. I then used the block off plate out of the original cluster and cut it down to make a mounting ring. In retrospect, I would just make up some little 90 degree mounting tabs. Cutting the ring down and sanding it and fitting it was unnecessarily time consuming.
Anyway, I fit the 3 3/8” tach into the stock rally gauge cluster without modifying the stock gauge cluster at all. All the mods were to the aftermarket tach, which was like $150. So far it works great! It looks a lot better in my car than it did in that spare bezel I had laying around for the picture, that was just an extra I used to do the fitting.
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