I have a 75 2.0L that has a bouncy tach. I have thought about just replacing it but also would like to know from any of you if there are any good "upgrade" replacement instrument clusters. I wouldnt mind just replacing the tach but all of the gauges are difficult at best to see at night, so I have knocked around the idea of some newer gauges.

Are there any plug-n-play clusters out there. Did a brief search tonite and didnt come up with much beyond a plate on eBay that houses standard Autometer gauges. Not even sure if any of the Autometer speedo/tachs are direct plug-ins or not.

Any help would be appreciated. Pics of any "upgraded" clusters would be nice too. Although I am not a purist (obviously) I dont want anything off the wall. Something nice and simple, but better visibility/functionality would be great.

Thanks in advance.

(posted this over on pelican parts and havent gotten a response - hopefully have more luck here)

I just ordered some from Mark. I think he said he started work on them tonight. His prices are really good. Even with all his options it is still way below what PA speedo or North Hollywood Speedo would charge.

Ordered all 3 gauges with his led kit.

http://www.newvintageusa.com/bigmarkdesigngauges

I haven't see anything that is a direct plug in. Porsche wires are European and somewhat standard for European stuff but not for American A/M gauges. That said it's not too hard to wire up A/M gauges. The mounting is what is unique. Our gauges slide into a rubber grommet and into the cluster and I haven't ever seen anything else like that. Usually it's necessary to fabricate some sort of adapter or plate to mount and A/M gauge in a Porsche dash or cut up the face plate of a stock gauge and mount the A/M gauge in the stock housing.
Usually the nicest thing to do is to have the stock gauge repaired and maybe update the lighting inside them. I read a thread here recently about adding electroluminescent wire to stock gauges. It looked really cool, my cars just have bigger problems than that right now.
Here's the thread- http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...tro+luminescent
There are probably other threads about LED and other lighting solutions too.

Well there you have it, 1 stop shopping.

Yep, thank you very much! I just saw the thread with his illuminated gauges in it and posted to him. thought he did those himself, but this is even better! Perfect - just what i am looking for!

Exactly. Customized and affordable - what more can u ask for? Thanks.

There is a simple fix for the bouncing tach: Add a 2200uF capacitor directly across the windings of the tach needle and you will have a very stable, non-bouncing tach. Here's my installation of the capacitor. Plenty of room in the gauge for the cap. I hot-melt glued the tach in place. Caulking or other thick glue could also be used.

Just posted on the LED lighting post, but in response to this one, we usually replace the internals on the bad tachs with new VDO internals. If your gauges are good and you have just a bouncy tach, Spoke's solution works great.

We mainly do retrofits and custom work, in addition to our main industrial design business.

Mark

what causes the bouncy tach.?

The bounce is actually overshoot and undershoot oscillations when revving the engine or shifting. Modern tachs are damped to the point where they do not oscillate when the engine speed changes quickly. Adding a cap to the winding just dampens the response to engine RPM changes. I did this on my 74 and the tach does not bounce or oscillate at all now.

The graph below shows different levels of a damped signal or movement of an arm like the tach needle. In this pic, the movement is from 1 to 0. In a 914 tach, this would be like going from one RPM level to another.

The 914 tach needle oscillates and finally settles to the correct RPM. Adding a capacitor causes the needle to follow one of the damped signals. Too much cap and it is overdamped and slow to respond. Too little cap and it is underdamped and may still oscillate. Critical damping is the goal: fast response w/o oscillations. For 914 tachs, critical damping can be achieved with about 2200uF capacitor.

Thank's, I think this may solve my issue

Thank you for the information. Would it be possible to point out the places to attach the capacitor. I have never taken the tach out before.

Thanks in Advance.
Ted.

The cap connects to the 2 wires from the tach coil. Look at the pic above in post #7. Caps of size 2200uF are usually electrolytic type with a + and - lead.

In the pic, the cap is hot-melt glued in between the turn signal tubes at the bottom of the picture. The red and black wires from the cap connect to the tach coil wires.

In the pic, the positive cap lead goes to the coil side with "+" markings. The coil wires are the little green wires in the center of the tach. I just found a convenient place to add the cap wires (red is + and black is -) and soldered them on.

If anyone is wanting the 2200uf conversion, I would gladly do it for you for close to nothing
Dr. Evil, (previous avionics technician ).

While that doesnt look TOO tricky, I've been wanting better lighting in them as well and really like Marks work. Might as well get it all done at once at one place.

Thanks for the post, might give it a try in the meantime if i get really bored!

got your email yesterday. will be getting back to you shortly. thanks!

Thanks for all the good info....looks like it might be more common than i thought.

"If the tachometer needle bounces wildly between shifts, replaced the points condenser, and check the distributor plate ground lead."

- Tech Tips 700 by George Hussey, p. 96

Might be worth a shot since pulling and opening the tach is a PITA

OK, wasnt familiar with the book - so I searched the forum for some time looking for a post here until I tried a google search and found that "tech tip 700" is a book. LOL

Thanks for the referral. Gonna have to pick one of those up sometime soon. Pretty well versed on water cooled, elec ignition American pushrod V-8's but still slowly learning about my 2.0L Only have a Haynes so far, and the motor's had some work done to it so the Haynes hasnt applied to some of the things I need to get done.

Thanks

Haynes is a must have, but it will almost always leave you feeling a bit shorted on information. I have the Clymer manual as well, which is very similar to Haynes, but between the two you get more information on any given topic than with just one or the other. The Clymer manual's been out of print for a long time, but I think there's a used copy up for sale on Pelican Parts forum. And yeah, Tech Tips 700 is a great book, a true wealth of information on just about every topic in a very condensed and digestible format.

Good luck