Replace clock with tach?

Since I have the instrument cluster out I was thinking about replacing the clock with a tachometer (I'm more interested in the revs than the time when driving the car).

What I don't know is:

A) If it's even possible to exchange the two.

and

B) How rare a tach for the instrument cluster is.

Any thoughts?

 

Yes, you can interchange them without any problem. They use the same mounting arrangement and lights. You just need to add a wire from the negative side of the coil to the tach.
Reproduction tachs are available, however most folks report problems with them not reading correctly.
They are not terribly rare from the factory, but certainly not common, either.

 

Thanks for the info Larry, sounds like it's the way to go. I have <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/martin.edelius/BuickGS1972/photo#4955967851817795602">the old tach</a> lying around, I'll see if I can reuse that (it seems to be an AutoMeter as well).

My clock isn't entirely operational either (it stops completely from time to time) so I don't have any real qualms cutting it apart.

Would it be sacrilege to destroy a fully functional clock? I.e. - how rare are those?

 

Does the car have the Rallye gauges or idiot lights? The clock with gauges was pretty rare option. This option used same harness as tach option.

 

The harness for a clock-equipped car will have the lights for the tach, but the tach signal is a separate harness, which goes through its own connector in the firewall behind the brake booster. (This is at least true for late-built 70 GSs)

 

As far as I can tell the car has idiot lights (I've driven it very little) but I don't even know how the rallye gauges look like.

Here's a photo of the cluster, you tell me. :TU:

 

been there, done that. u need long thin fingers and small hands to remove & install that one nut that is at the top toward the dash & next to the speedo. if u have a rear defogger switch, u will disconnect the wiring plug.

 

Gheesh , there are PLENTY of non clock dash's out there, hack up one of those, don't ruin a good stock clock, even if it doesn't work great, its not a big job to convert them to quartz. I see clock/tach combo's pop up on Ebay all the time also. Aftermarket tachs are far more accurate, factory units can be rebuilt for more accuracy as well.

Somebody must have a non clock, non tach gauge face to give you to cut up ????? ou:

 

No worries, I won't cut anything up if I don't have to. I'll ask the local parts dealer if he can hook me up with something else.

And I'm sure that someone here has a part they can give me - it's just that when you need to ship it to Sweden, it's not really worth the trouble anymore...

 

You have "idiot lights."
Rallye gauges have a small fuel level gauge at the top, and a needle between high "H" and low "L" for temp and oil pressure in the lower corners. If you can find real gauges, Goeoge's site describles how to swap the wires to make them work. But real (AutoMeter) gauges would be way better.

 

Factory clocks are no where near as rare as factory tachs. The Auto Meter tach you have is, I think, a lot larger than the one Larry used, and will not work for the same swap.

 

Instrument clusters are the same, no matter what gauge package is installed. So Martin is not at risk of cutting up anything valuable.

 

Thanks for all the replies Nicholas, much appreciated. :TU:

 

I had the clock delete option in my 71 skylark. And the previous owner had installed a tach with a huge hose clamp along the steering column. It was extremely annoying, and didnt look right. I didnt wanna drill a hole in the clock delete, so i traced the outline on a sheet of wood. It was like a really thick cardboard basically (i would recommend something better, because this was very brittle). But wood was really easy to work with, i just drilled the holes for the screws, and cut a big hole in the middle. I had to make it 2 or 3 times to get it to line up right. The only trouble i had was, i had to create additional spacers, to fit the plastic lens in front of the tach, because the wood is flat, and the actual clusters have a "dish" shape. I painted the wood black, and personally it turned out great. (i was on a budget, but im just trying to say, its not that big of a deal, even if you fabbed something up.)

pix to follow.





(you can see slight allignment issues, but i didnt think it really mattered, was very hard to notice with the wheel in place)

 

Hi Azeem.

Thanks for the reply, I was considering fabbing something along those lines of my own if I couldn't get the clock housing to work out as intended.

Glad to see that someone else besides me thought it was a good idea. :TU:

 

I have at least 10 of those clock deletes laying around and ones yours for the asking and the postage .
John

 

Thanks for the offer John, I'll keep it in mind if the need arises. :TU:

I need to know what the "clock delete" is though.

 

If you look in my first picture. You'll see something that looks like it has a clock's face, but not really. Its just a plastic peice they put in, instead of a clock. no real function, no real value. I didnt wanna cut mine up, but theres quite an abundance of them, so its not really an issue. Will post a pic if i can find one, of the peice by itself. Will save you some fabrication, because the mounting tabs are already there, you'll justneed to cut a hole, put the tach in, and a way you go.

 

Plain flat plate