Hot Rods WWII Corsair Tach Wire Colors?

I just bought this WWII Corsair tachometer on Ebay and I want to use it on my hot rod project. Anybody know what the three colored wires would go to?(red, green, blue) I assume the gauge is 24 volt as most WWII aircraft were so I will have to supply 24 volts to the red wire? I'm not sure if the blue wire would be ground and the green would be the signal from the coil or the other way around?
The face of the gauge is numbered up to 45.

Any advice would be welcome!

Ebay descriptions reads:
WW2 air plane gauge Tachometer electric General Electric AH5530-1; I was told this was from a navy Corsair.
The tag on the side reads:
INDICATOR ; ELECTRIC TACHOMETER AN5530-1
MFRS PART NO. 8DJ13 AC X SUB 27
CONTR. NO. NXSA2O139
MFRS SER NO 1743423
GENERAL ELECTRIC

 

The red one goes to the machine guns...

 

I'd have a talk with someone on a warbirds website!

 

I NOTICED THAT IT ONLY GOES TO 4500 R.P.M.
MUST HAVE BEEN RUNNING CHAMPION SPARK PLUGS!!

 

I would try the guy's at the USAF Museum in Dayton OH. Give them a call at 937-255-3286.

 

Look up Kermit Weeks in Florida. He just finished a Chance Vought Corsair, F4U4.
Email him for info...Kermit's a great guy, will reply.

 

Pretty sure they restored one of those at the Tristate Warbird Museum. Contact Paul Redlich for that question. Here is their website:
http://www.tri-statewarbirdmuseum.org

 

You'll probably need a tach generator to provide the signal for this unit... The AN5530-1 has been used in a lot of different aircraft over the last 70 yrs.

 

Factory is still standing in Bridgeport, Ct. They had a Corsair flyin a few years ago, seven showed up. Great looking planes. Bob

 

If Corsairs had odd numbered radial engines how will you reconcile the firing pulses with a car engine?

A little O/T but here is a painting I did for my dad-in-law who was on the Lexington in the South Pacific with a wounded F4U titled "Comin' home", with the Lex in the distance.

 

There's a video on u tube called F4U Corsair Whistling Death - awesome video - the Japanese hated them - giving them the name - my father was a marine in WWII and talked about them - one of the best fighters of the war!

 

Frenchtown, the engine had 18 cylinders, 2 banks of 9. Hopefully the tach is set up to work off from one cylinder that way it wouldn't matter.
155 cu in per cylinder @ 4500rpms and a 13 1/2 foot prop, no wonder they came home from war and wanted to build hot rods

 

Hate to burst your bubble but that's not a corsair tach....its more likely from a twin engine plane ..plus the AN number is a post WW2 part number

 

OK did some digging through my books and it is post war and its not from an F4U corsair but from an F8F Bearcat

 

And you need the AN5531-1 flexible shaft tach generator to make it work ..they are a little pricey about $100

 

http://www.controller.com/list/PartsSearch.aspx?PartNum=AN5531-1.........here is a source for the generator

 

Great info Justin, does your book show what the AN5531-1 flexible shaft tach generator looks like or how it connects to the engine? Just wondering if it will connect to my 331 hemi and read correctly? I checked the controller site and it did not list any of the AN5531-1's in stock. I will keep up the search. I still have lots of parts to collect for my WWII traditional rod project.

 

This is what it looks like it has a shaft almost like a speedo cable that generates the RPMs. I'm not sure how feasible it would be to mount it to a conventional car engine... My quartermaster parts book only shows the part not how it mounts to the engine

 

Here is the shaft side of the tach generator ( these pictures were stolen off of the internet ).... If you have any other questions about ww2 stuff let me know .. if you didn't notice by my avatar picture I am quite the military collector!

 

Talk about a "Hot Rod".The F8F held the record for deck to 10,000 feet and back to the deck in 90 seconds for 10 years until eclipsed by a jet.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Justin's got it right... you'd need an accessory drive of the proper ratio on the engine in order to get the tach to read correctly. Don't think too many car engines have that built in ;-)

 

Thanks again Justin, What are the chances I ever find a working tach generator? Not to mention mounting it on the Hemi. It might be easier to send to a gauge and instrument repair shop and have them put in modern tach innards. I just hate to ruin an old piece of history like this tack... Its a long project and I have a lot of time to think about it.

 

we use tach generators on the big diesels ( tug boats , bulldozers , stationary generators ) , basically the tach is a voltmeter and the generator generates the current to move the needle ( no pulsations ) we drive the generators off of the back of the alternators ( like they did in some old cars ) , some have a jack shaft ( kind of like the distributor shaft on a old vette mounted on the fuel pump/govenor housing ) and some were direct cam drives , you have to find out what accessory mount they used to mount they mounted the drive thru and that should tell you what the gear ratio was for the drive , as fuel pumps can be 2:1 cams are 1:1 , alternators/generators unless gear driven can be overdriven

 

Oh and detailed specs are on file with the FAA as everything has to have a certificate in order to be in a plane and they keep records that go back on things for years . you should be able to contact the manufactuer and find information on the device

 

It never ceases to amaze me about the information available on the H.A.M.B. Nice job Justin!

 

If you can find one, early Corvettes had a tach drive off the rear of the generator, maybe you could do some adapting from there.

 

I have been collecting military stuff since I was 6 ......and you are not ruining a piece of history those old gauges are everywhere there are tons of them around

 

Great info Justin, hope you don't mind if I PM you one day when I go through some of my Dad's WWII
stuff. He was a Marine gunner in a SBD Dauntless and was escorted a few times by Pappy Boyington's
squadron. Bunch of great stories.

 

Damn, this place amazes me.

 

Wraymen...anytime! I love talking militaria! One of these days Ill post some pics of my collection