bought a factory tach cluster

[Big Ray]

from ebay. Got it late yesterday. Couldn't hardley sleep, i wss like a kid at Christmas "i hope it works!"
Tested it today, worked like a champ!

 

[ZooMad75]

Good score. I assume it came with the separate harness for the tach?

Now is the time to clean/polish the lens, fog the back housing with some Alberta chrome paint and add some LED light bulbs.

 

[Big Ray]

No, I bought a harness from LMC truck when I bought it.
Going to try and use my cluster as there's only 2 tabs left on the one I bought.

The fun part will be repinning the connector...
I have some leds on the way...I think they're on a really slow boat from china...

 

[88Silverado]

Thats one of the mods I want to do for my 88. I would assume its a pretty simple mod but let me know.
Are you going to move the gas over to the small gauge cluster?

 

[Big Ray]

Yes I am. Adding the fuel gauge requires repinning the instrument connector, as the printed circuits are totally different with the tach option. On my 79 anyways, ymmv

I stumbled across this site last night. Don't know anything about him. The 73-87 truck forum mentioned him a time or 12..

Chevy Truck Impala Oldsmobile Nova Tachometer Repair Restoration

www.tachman.com

Edit: the tach has a stand alone harness. Lmc sells them new $40.
Thats where I got mine.

 

[Big Ray]

huh...found another wiring diagram that says I do not need to repin the connector. Ordered a new p.c. for a 79.ill do a comparison then...

 

[obijuank5]

The circuit is different but should not require a repin. Is this a 78-79 ish cluster? What year is it goin in?

 

[Big Ray]

The cluster is an 84-ish.
I bought a new printed circuit for a tach and new backing plate. Won't have to cut holes in my existing one.

I'll stick the 84 in my 86 when I get to it.

And, just for giggles, I also have a new 7k tach coming...

Saw some videos of sbc's with the cam I'm using...hehehe

 

[scouthead]

Thats one of the mods I want to do for my 88. I would assume its a pretty simple mod but let me know.
Are you going to move the gas over to the small gauge cluster?

WHAt - that was word for word what i was going to post!
wheres quartz hill? - you must be reading my mind from quite a distance!

 

[Shawn]

I bought a used one here in Denver. I never had to re-pin on my 79. Just worked. Not sure if they changed the back plane in the 80s. I did buy a tach harness for it and it was better than trying to use some cheap spade connectors since those would sometimes fall off. I just cleaned up the gauges (very carefully) and repainted the needles on speedo and tach. New lens too. Also swapped the original speedo so the miles matched.

 

[88Silverado]

WHAt - that was word for word what i was going to post!
wheres quartz hill? - you must be reading my mind from quite a distance!

lol....Quartz Hill is the Beverly Hills of (West) Lancaster up in the Antelope Valley

 

[Big Ray]

I bought a used one here in Denver. I never had to re-pin on my 79. Just worked. Not sure if they changed the back plane in the 80s. I did buy a tach harness for it and it was better than trying to use some cheap spade connectors since those would sometimes fall off. I just cleaned up the gauges (very carefully) and repainted the needles on speedo and tach. New lens too. Also swapped the original speedo so the miles matched.

View attachment 428748

View attachment 428751

Looks good. Thats the plan for mine. I found a factory diagram, no repinning needed since I found a 79 printed circuit for it.

 

[TJ1978]

Wish I didnt sell mine when I got that dakota digital. Oh well. One day I get a stock cluster