I was given this tach, and I cannot find any info on who made it and how to hook it up to test it. It has two wires, one wire is for the light, it works when the case is grounded and 12v is applied to the black wire. The only other wire is white with a purple stripe, and I suppose that goes to the negative side of the coil? There are a few identifying marks, on the tach it has AT-5001. Who made this and how did it wire in?
Ok so it appears to be a dixco, how does it wire in? It has two wires, one I assumes goes to the ignition, the other is to the light, so does it ground out through the case? Also I'd like to remove the glass and clean it, I'll leave it cracked but I want to clean it up, how is the bezel attached? Threaded?
Ive got one almost identical, base is the ground, and the lens and chrome bezel come off together, the bezel is friction fit, may take some twisting and minor prying to remove. Mine doesnt have a brand either!
I know a lens that will go in place of that cracked one. If you have an Ikea in your area, they have a container in the kitchen section. Its stainless steel with a clear curved lid. It might be PETG, so you can drill that little hole in the middle without it breaking. I used one to restore my tach.
I got it set to show the highest priced auctions, and there's only one tach like this one and it's $245.....
Right you are.... Either I am dyslexic , imagined it or it's gone. I could swear the was one priced @ $425.00 . More coffee is called for ....
More often than not if you only have two wires and one is for the light it is going to need a sender. I'm sure that someone out there has a working sender for an old Dixco but in all probability it will be cheaper to have a modern movement installed in it.
I could be wrong but I do not think that is a Dixco tach. The one on Ebay says Dixco "style". All the Dixco tachs that I have seen said so right on the dial face. Dixco was a cheap alternative to the expensive Sun tach. I had one back then and bought one for my 56 recently. It doesn't work but my original worked and it was just there for decoration. I don't race any more or less than I did then. I'm not an old tach expert but for me a Dixco is worth more than a generic tach like yours and that is no where near the buy it now price on the one on Ebay. JMHO If it works, use it but I personally don't think it's all that valuable. Dixco's don't need a sending unit.
Tommy I don't recall my old Dixco didn't need a sender but it did have more than 2 wires. Given that this tach had no wire for switched power or ground I just made the assumption that it was an earlier unit and needed a sender. I bought mine in '68 for 17 bucks it was way cheaper than the Sun alternative.
This is the one on my 56. I just went to the garage and looked. It has 3 wires black, red and green (green always went to the coil). It's a later model Dixco with the 3 colors on the dial. I much prefer the earlier one that had just a black and white dial. These were later models copying the Sun tachs that started to use colors. Sorry to high jack your thread but maybe someone that bought your tach when it was new will recall the brand.
Could have sworn I had responded to this thread and there were more replies... maybe got lost in the hardware upgrade? I just picked one of these up at a swapmeet and I've tried hooking this tach up as suggested above. The needle moves very slowly. At idle it seems to read correctly but if you blip the throttle it responds very slow and doesn't seem to get to the right rpm. (I'm testing it in another car with an accurate autometer tach.) i.e. Tach in car will go to 2000, this one will read 1500 MAYBE 1700 but it gets there very slow. Any ideas??
I just picked up a real mint one-just the orange tape coming off the shift point needle-for $25! Just wondered if anyone has hooked them up with the two wires?
Found this old thread..coincidently I just picked up a 2 wire tach similar to the one mentioned...Can anyone solve this mystery..
I have that tach. I got it in 1974. I was young, no money, no experience, no tools. I ended up parting the car out, but kept the tach. 4 or 5 years ago I put it in my truck. Two wires. One light, the other coil. I think I added a ground wire to be sure. I have a GM HEI. There is a switch on the back for 4-6-8 cylinders. On a long drive it sometimes climbs in RPMs. I assume it might be heat, or the tach is getting tired. Otherwise it works ok.
did you try connecting the light wire to power to see if the lights go on, and the input to the coil (-) wire to see if the tach works? Make sure the housing is connected to ground.
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