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Grrrr freaking tach! *figured out what the bump is*

Avery4jc

Avery4jc

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ok just wanted to share that installing the tach which was supposed to take all of about 20 minutes took forever and I still didn't get it working....
I got it all wired up and mounted...clicked the key over to ACC and the light ring came on...then I ran the green wire through the firewall and got it over to the distributor....
thats about where my luck ended...I spent an hour trying to climb around in the engine bay w/ a mirror and a flashlight and I couldn't figure out where it was supposed to plug in...

On the top of the cap it has a small black box that comes off of one side where its supposed to plug into (at least in that area/side of the dist.) and it even says TACH right on it....well there was already something that looked like it was plugged in....I traced it (or so I thought) and found it back under my dash and it even had the right connector to plug into the green wire coming from the tach....so I plugged it in....nothing. :(

So then I crawled back in there again and kept searching....does the black cap come off to plug the wire into the distributor? Or does it just plug into the side of it?
I spooled the wire up and zip tied it safetly out of the way for now. :(

Just thought I'd share :)
 
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its kind of impossible to help w/ stuff like wiring unless you have detailed pics...I was just sharing my troubles...didn't really expect some magical answer to pop up from someone :)
I'll run the truck over to my buddies shop and see if he can figure out how it plugs in.
 
You have some pretty bad luck when working on stuff huh? Did you get lucky with the chick yet?
 
You gotta get a spade connector and hook the wire up underneat the distributer. Its on the tach side of the thing. Like it says its labeled. Also, make sure you have a hot, and a good ground going. Its not all that hard. Trace your wires and make sure its a complete circuit. If your going through the firewall make sure you use a gromet or else the firewall will rub through the wire.... Just food for thought incase you haven't thought of it. If you were closer I'd offer ya a hand with wiring it.

~Brian
 
Thanks...yeah it came w/ the spade connector so after I ran it through the firewall I soldered it on the end...
 
I just hooked up a tach the other day. It is a pain in the arse to get to it but you were in the right place. That little box that sticks out of the right side of the dist cap is where you need to plug it in. Yeah, it does look like there is other stuff plugged in but there is or at least should be a male spade sticking out that you can hook your wire to. I eventually got tired of trying to contort myself to find it so I just popped the cap and plugged the wire in and then put the cap back on and reconnected the other 2 connectors. Hope this helps.
 
there is 3 plugs on the side...my best recomendation is to have a small mirror to look underneath....but it is a pita...
 
yeah I was using a mirror last night...its just a PITA to reach back there....I was laying across the engine w/ my legs laying on the radiator...hurt like heck...haha
 
this i why i enjoy mt 33s:D :haha: but yes as aid 5xs before you had the right spot. its next to the 12v going into the dist and infront of the pos, neg, and ground for the coil. just pop the cap off flip it over adn youll see it...plug the bitch in and see what happens.

my tach is grounded to the original speaker mount if you care. if you do it in that fashion sand down to the metal...
 
ok...I was wondering about that...I saw on top of the cap where it said hinge...or something of that nature...how the heck do you pop the top off?
Does it slide off...flip up...what?
 
Avery4jc said:
yeah I was using a mirror last night...its just a PITA to reach back there....I was laying across the engine w/ my legs laying on the radiator...hurt like heck...haha
Click to expand...
Ha glad i'm not the only one that tries to hook up everything in the dark...Somehow I never get around to working on the complicated stuff untill it gets dark :doah:. Thats the nice thing about a fullsize, you can sit in the engine bay and work on it :haha::haha:
 
I wish I could sit in the engine bay! I have seen guys sit on the inner fenderwell in my truck before but I can't seem to squeeze myself in there...haha but then again I'm 6'-1" 240ish and he was 5'6" 150lbs soaking wet haha.

But yeah I do end up working on all the "hard" stuff like wiring to the back dark reaches of the engine bay late at night :)
 
haha yep...I have a set of floods on a stand...two 500w halogens that will give me a nice burn after a little while :)

that and welding...I thought I was crazy at first but I do believe that the daily exposure to the mig welder has given me a nice tan.
 
There are four screws around the base of the dizzy cap. Shove a flat screwdriver in them, push them down, and turn them counter clockwise to pull it off. It uses the same connector as the power feed for the distributor, so if you wanted to you could grab a connector from a junkyard truck, and just splice it to your tach wire, then pop it in. No fiddling with the cap, or using mirrors to see what you are doing, lol :D
 
HAHA! I got it!....I was outside (in the dark of course) and I just started to feel around in there...I felt something that felt like the male end of the connector I had on the end of the wire from the tach...so I messed w/ it for a sec and it plugged in nice and tight.
Went in the cab and fired up the truck and it worked :)

ahhhh another mini project down! haha
 
well I just got back from a test drive...as long as I've had the truck I've been currious as to what kind of rpm's I've been spinning...between a slipping tranny, gearing changes, tire changes, etc. and not having a tach I had no clue where I was at.

Here's some random stuff that I remember from the drive...

Idle while in Park was 950
Idle while in gear was 500
First shift was at 3,000 (I still have to let off but thats where it'll shift)
65ish mph was at 2500
and 75-80ish was at 3,000


So iono what a good range is...do those sound ok?
 
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