Installed the mini tach where the clock goes

[PFSlim]

I did not have to dremel anything, it bolted right up. only one wire is needed and is part of the instrument panel wiring. plug and play.

maybe repaint the needles on the speedo/instruments while the dash is out?

Jason

I think we discovered that your tach is not the Jeep CJ tach, didn't we? The one I bought is just that and did require some dremmel work. However, not anything real big.

Paul

 

[390cs68rcode]

correct, mine is the non Jeep tach.

 

[PFSlim]

I am sure that is the difference in size.

Casey - Which one did you buy?

Paul

 

[case12]

The same one Jason got - from Australia. The only difference seems to be the Jeep one uses two digits (10, 20...60) for the rpm and Australia one uses one digit (1,2...6). It was $79 on ebay. Casey

 

[PFSlim]

Great. So it will be an easier installation. Once again, good luck Casey and let us know how it turns out.

Paul

 

[nfrntau]

Casey, wanted to reiterate what Jason said. Now is a good time to repaint your needles, old and new tach needles will match that way for certain. Slide a piece of paper gently underneath and be very careful. It'll look great when your done. I used a flourescent red for mine which matched very closely to stock color.

 

[case12]

Casey, wanted to reiterate what Jason said. Now is a good time to repaint your needles, old and new tach needles will match that way for certain. Slide a piece of paper gently underneath and be very careful. It'll look great when your done. I used a flourescent red for mine which matched very closely to stock color.

where did you get the flourescent red? model paint? i notice the tach needle is much brighter than the faded needles on the other gauges (they are almost orange after fading). thx, casey

 

[390cs68rcode]

arts and crafts store it is used for models. it is BRIGHT neon red/orangish

 

[nfrntau]

arts and crafts store it is used for models. it is BRIGHT neon red/orangish

Ditto: I went to a local chain called Micheals. I also bought a fine point artist brush to make certain I didn't get any paint where it didn't need to be. I wasn't brave enough to try and paint the outside arc of the speedometer face.
Here is a before and after photo, you can see the color is very close. I used a Kraft Paint, neon red #20488, it's got a picture of half an apple on the label.
Cheers

 

[390cs68rcode]

ditto on the outside red on mine. I bought a NOS speedo and called it a day (of course I put it to the exact mileage of my old speedo).

 

[case12]

Got the tach in and working great. Thanks for all the advice. I painted the needles with the flourescent red suggested and they look great. Here are some pictures. One neat thing is finding the date stamp on the instrument cluster. My GTCS was built Feb 21, so this instrument cluster was relatively fresh with a Feb 7 date. Thanks again. Casey

 

[Aussie Mike]

G'day fellas,

One of your members mentioned to me that he'd come across a posting of the Mustang mini-tach on this forum so of course, I just had to check it out:wink:

As this is my first post, I'd better introduce myself. My name is Mike Brand and I manufacture the Retrogauge Mini-Tach here in Australia. It's great to see it being put to good use in some of the finest examples of Mustangs ever produced. Co-incidentally, I was just chatting with an owner of a GTCS over here in West Oz, who claims it's one of three in the state. He emailed me asking if he should buy a 6000 or an 8000 RPM tach.

For the record, I sell a lot more 8k units than sixes. I think much of the reason that people buy an 8K is that they're of the perception that they will damage a 6K tach if it exceeds the 6000 mark. This is not true (at least with our tachs). We utilize a moving coil movement, which simply comes to an end stop - over revving cannot damage it. The 6k unit also has the advantage of an expanded (less condensed) scale so is also a little easier to read. If you are not regularly going to thrash the gas, I'd say go for the 6000 unit.

I read the above posts thoroughly and you may also be interested to know that the correct paint to use for restoring the needles (or pointers) is Model Master (by Testor Corporation) Fluorescent Red # FS28915. We use a PMS equivalent to this for colouring the Mini-Tach pointers so it will be a perfect match.

You can always PM me or email me at info@retrogauge.com if you have any questions.

On a personal note, I've just commenced my 67 fastback restomod project. The car is being converted to right-hand drive and will be heavily modified. I've always had original and/or restored Stangs but this time I'm going out on a limb (and no it's not and Eleanor replica). The finished car will also feature some very special instrumentation, the likes of which I'm building especially for the project which will also be a prototype for a new range.

Anyway, thanks for listening.

Cheers, Mike B.

 

[Mustanglvr]

Welcome Mike! Glad to have you here!

 

[390cs68rcode]

Howdy Mike. I was one of the first people to buy a tach from you off of Ebay and have been 100% happy with it. I think the 6k tach is the way to go since the 289, 390 and 428 motors don't rev above 6k.

good product you are producing.

 

[Aussie Mike]

I think I made a classic faux pas - that should have been 'G'day fellas and LADIES'. I tend to forget that many of the fairer sex have an equal passion for the hobby. My apologies Rhonda.

Again, thanks to all those that have bought my Mini-Tach and the positive feedback I've received - much appreciated!

I also looked up my early sales and Jason you are exactly right. Yours was one of my very first sales. The first week they went up on eBay in fact. Thanks, mate!

Cheers, Mike

 

[case12]

Mike, I just installed mine and it is REAL nice. The shipping was very fast. It is priced well. I l love the product! Left good feedback.

One suggestion - and keep mind I am a weekend hobbiest: When the instructions said to hook to the negative side of the coil, I actually didnt know which side the negative side of the coil was (my coil is not marked on my 68 or my 66). I even looked it up in my shop manual and had trouble figuring it out (and I didnt want to hook the tach up wrong and blow it up). I finally took the chance that the negative side was the side going to the distributor, and yes it had a black wire - I was right. Probably everyone knows this, and I make things harder than they should be. But I could have saved maybe 20 minutes if the instructions indicated the negative side of the coil goes to the distributor. Just a thought.

Casey

 

[PFSlim]

Mike

I did not buy my tach from you but have a tach in my car. Looks like you have a good product and we welcome you to the site!! I hope other folks follow the lead of Jason and Casey and buy more of your tach's.

Paul

 

[Perkchiro]

Hey Mike: Nice to hear from you. I'm one of your recent customers and I did receive shipment of my 6,000 rpm tach yesterday. Haven't installed it yet but it looks great and I'm looking forward to seeing those engine revs on that needle. Thanks for producing such a needed product at a super price. And, welcome to our site.

Steve

 

[Aussie Mike]

Thanks again for the warm welcome:smile:

Glad you're pleased with your tach Steve, I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

Ditto Casey, I've taken your comments on board but unfortunately, I just had another 1000 instruction sheets printed so the change may have to wait for the next batch. Having said that, I just updated the web site and made the note about the negative side of the coil being the distributor wire side in my FAQ page.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[p51]

Just finished installing one of these clock-tachs that I purchased from Mike down under in OZ. It is very cool! Used a lot of the hints given on this thread (thanks!). Installation of the tach itself was a breeze. It was getting the instrument cluster off and back on that was &%$#-ing hard part. If anyone is on the fence about one of these, I'd recommend it a 100%.