Tacho options for a petrol dash?

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CJH
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by CJH »

I'm not - I just have the tacho so far. I know I'll need to get new fuel and temperature gauges since they're a different shape from the one in my clock face, but I haven't looked at how they'd fit yet - I suspect I may need a bit of lower housing to suit, since the tachometer only includes the upper half of the back plate.
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CJH
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by CJH »

Just been Googling the parts I'll need. Looks like the lower frame is going to be hard to find. Maybe I need to fire up the 3D printer again.
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CJH
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by CJH »

Did I read somewhere that the fuel and temperature gauges from a non-tacho dash can be made to fit the gaps in the tacho faceplate by modifying the backing plate? If so, then my 3D printed backing plate seems like a neat way to achieve this - I could just make it to suit the gauges I already have, and save myself the cost of new gauges.
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CJH
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by CJH »

I made a few iterations of a 3D printed backing plate yesterday evening - ended up with something I thought worth printing out in full.

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So I started it printing before I went to bed.
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And this morning it was ready to trial fit.
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Close enough I think. It gives me something to work on for fitting the gauges. Today's job is to work out if my non-tacho gauges will work in the cutouts in the tacho faceplate. If they will (and they do look like they will) then I'll adapt my backing plate to mount them directly.
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by Cobra88 »

That is awesome :ok

sign me up for a kit please
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CJH
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by CJH »

CJH wrote:Today's job is to work out if my non-tacho gauges will work in the cutouts in the tacho faceplate. If they will (and they do look like they will) then I'll adapt my backing plate to mount them directly.

Well they do and they don't. The gauges themselves could be made to fit the cutouts in the tacho faceplate:

Image

But the corners of the gauge backing plates are too wide to fit in the dashpod:
Image

Image

They could be made to fit with a bit of surgery, but I prefer not to do that so will look into picking up some second hand gauges. It'll probably be easier to fit the proper ones into the backing plate too.
"I'm a man of means, by no means....King of the Road!"

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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by bigbadbob76 »

Nice work mate. Thanks for sharing. [THUMBS UP SIGN]


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CJH
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by CJH »

My tacho-specific fuel and temperature gauges arrived today, so I've modified my backing plate to accept them. They're much easier to fit than the ones that fit into the clock frame - they're slimmer so they only need holes for the studs, rather than complete click-in cut-outs that my originals would have needed.

Image

I was trial fitting this to my spare dash, which, like most of these dashes, has some cracked screw holes. These binnacles seem very brittle, and I don't think I've ever seen one with all eight gauge screw holes, all four binnacle mounting tabs and both LED/symbols panel screw holes in tact. And the main bit, with the four mounting tabs and the eight gauge screw holes, is a single piece, so you can't, for instance, make one good binnacle from two part broken ones. So I made a repair piece, and I've epoxied it into place - will see how strong the repair is when the glue sets.

Image

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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by 300CE »

Nice work Chris :ok
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CJH
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by CJH »

The repair piece seems to be holding nicely.

Image

And the gauges fit well.

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That's the hardware sorted - need to give the circuit board a bit of a push now.
"I'm a man of means, by no means....King of the Road!"

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CJH
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by CJH »

Uh oh - pressure's on: http://forum.club8090.co.uk/viewtopic.p ... 0#p8223640" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Dropped the ball on this PCB - will give it a push so I can get a first version ordered. Been running with just the gauges for awhile now - it would be good to get the tacho working and installed.

Image
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by Cobra88 »

That would be great

My late tacho clocks have arrived (it turns out my originals are late type plug too)

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Rick
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by Cobra88 »

Ah sorry

I didnt realise it was me :ok
No pressure mate
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by kevtherev »

Fascinating stuff Chris.
Truly inspirational.

It's the attention to quallity I most particularly enjoy
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CJH
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Re: Tacho options for a petrol dash?

Post by CJH »

Cobra88 wrote:Ah sorry

I didnt realise it was me :ok
No pressure mate

Hehe - don't worry, your post was a timely reminder. I'd been hoping to get the order away this weekend anyway.

Even though I haven't determined all the component specifications yet, I've scaled their dimensions from the '88 Vanagon PCB above. I'll just make my board to take components of the same size, and I'll make all the PCB traces nice and fat to be on the safe side.
"I'm a man of means, by no means....King of the Road!"

1983 Viking Xplorer, 2.1DJ

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