Here are the pictures of my Autometer tach install. You can see the remains of the original clock, the metal cup needed for the procedure, and the 3.5 inch hole saw I used to cut out the back of the cup. I refurbed the whole dash plate with new lenses, a rally pack cluster, new paint, and PLENTY of sanding and prep to get the old paint and "chrome" off of the face plate. As I said before, I put the Autometer in the hole of the original clock face plate from the front. What you end up with is, in order, the lens, the tach, the black clock surround, and the metal clock cup. I redid the pointers with bright orange model paint. Everything matches, and the clock pointer center knob now resides on the Autometer needle with a tiny dab of black rtv! The script of the tach is pretty close to the Buick instruments, and only the needle on the tach is a little thicker than the oem. It looks pretty good for a low buck, Cajun boy project. I started with the dash, as it is what I see each time I get into this thing. Incidentally, the "flat" lenses post 70 are really concave, and I mounted the clock lens in reverse, to get an "outy" vs an "inny" to make room for the tach needle and pirated center button. Thanks again to LarryGS for the idea. Rudy E
I was a bit concerned before I started, but am glad I did it. It came out nice, but it was just a small part of the derigging I started. Plenty of added on wiring, complete with wire nuts, was found back there. I hate having loose ends, so I went through the dash harness and removed the garbage that had been added on through the years. The harness itself was fine, just lots of extra trash hanging out. The dash cluster was a mess, too. I got a replacement that the US postal service broke during shipment. I had to reattach a corner and refinish the whole thing. The lenses and repainting the needles really made the difference with the guages themselves. I painted the face plate and added a repop dash stencil kit to spruce it up. The tachs to use are either the 2499 or 2699 Autometers. It doesn't matter, as only the bezels are different, and you will be removing the bezel and lens for this install anyway. Modded the Autometer anchor tabs to work with the back of the clock cup and pried the Autometer lens and bezel off carefully with a screwdriver. The dash may very well be the best part of the car at this time! Lately, I've spent 3 days under this damned thing. Tires off, up on stands, with a pressure washer, degreaser, and scrub brushes. Yuck! Making progress, however. Thanks, Rudy E.
Awesome Job guys... Thanks. I'm in the process of doing this. Rudy E - You flipped the lens. Because the tangs from the clock housing do not line up now that it is flipped, did you adhere the lens to the old clock surround or just sandwich it loose? Also if your lenses aren't too scratched, you might be able to polish them with a buffer wheel set low with a low abrasive polish good for plastic. This worked for me. (You also may want to have spares, or be ready to purchase new ones if you slip-up...)
