Projects Positioning of Speedo and tach

Tach on the left on top of the dash by the corner of the wind shield

 

Thanks but your response is not really relevant to the discussion.

 

Never even thought about swapping quick change gears changing the speedo calibration

 

On my 32 speedo center of dash and tach the old fashion way on steering column using a large radiator hose type clamp.

 

Hello,
We always liked the tach that told us what was happening in the motors of our cars. In the 58 Impala, the tach was customized as the regular sized Sun Tachometers were rather large. We did not want to mount it on the pristine red dash, so we had to find alternatives. We did see some guys put the tach on the column, but that blocked the speedometer views. So, our solution was to find a small tach that would fit under the dash lip and over to the RIGHT SIDE.

The small black aircraft tachometer fit perfectly under the dash lip on the right side. (right green arrow) The light inside the tach gave a complimentary glow with the speedometer background lights.


The small tach only covered the last few miles of the speedometer, up to 120 mph. Who goes that fast anyway, it was always pegged past the 100 and beyond going through the traps for the fastest time of 98.86 mph in the quarter mile.

Jnaki
It was important to have a tach when we always changed the rear axle gears for daily driving, long distance driving, and the weekends at the dragstrips. So, the speedometer was always out of whack. We did get the speedometer/odometer calibrated with the 4:11 Positraction gears, but when we put in the 4:56 gears for drag racing, the speedometer went cuckoo. We had to calibrate our own readings with the 4:56 gears vs the mph going down the street.

If we kept the 4:56 gears in place like during the week long, Easter Vacation cruises and drags it was important to keep those speed traps less busy. That way, 2500 rpm equaled something like, 40 miles per hour on the street. Since the speedometer read the wrong mph, it was important to know how fast you were going down any street legally.

Here are two stories that were previously posted:

Hello,
Thanks for the image Ct, we had one that looked like an exact copy of your chrome tach in our 40 Willys back in 1960. On the 40 Willys, the big chrome tach was mounted on the small dash in direct sight of the driver. It stood out well and the shift points were very visible from the driver’s seat. But, the one tach image that I am looking for is a rare one. In our 58 Impala, the large, chrome one looked funny everywhere we placed it on the dash.

We did not want holes on the dash for the mount. We even found two screws under the top edging of the dash gauge frame. This was the best place to attach a mount without blocking the windshield. The large chrome tach was too big, even for this space. We found a smaller diameter, (about 3” across) all black tach in an army surplus store in Long Beach. The sales guy said it worked and when we finished hooking it up, it was very accurate, including a great, inside light.

This small form, black tach used the Impala dash screw holes to mount it without blocking the important stuff (like the last 120mph reading on the speedo) Besides, when we went through the quarter mile, the red needle always pegged the area past the 120 reading. The actual time was 98.5 mph in the quarter.

Hello,

In our 58 Impala, the large, chrome one looked funny everywhere we placed it on the dash. We did not want holes on the dash for the mount. We even found two screws under the top edging of the dash gauge frame. This was the best place to attach a mount without blocking the windshield. The large chrome tach was too big, even for this space. We found a smaller diameter, (about 3” across, 3” deep) all black tach in an Army Surplus store in Long Beach. The sales guy said it worked. It came with separate wires and transmitter box. When we finished hooking it up, it was very accurate, including a great, inside light.

This small form, black tach used the Impala dash screw holes to mount it without blocking the important stuff (like the first 10 mph or the last 120 mph reading on the stock speedo) Besides, when we went through the quarter mile, the red needle of the Impala always pegged the area past the 120 reading. The actual time was 98.5 mph in the quarter.

The stock 4:11 gears had the correct mph readings from the factory, but those 4:56 gears threw out crazy readings. So, we went by the RPMs only, to stay at a legal speed limit around town. We just remembered what RPM vs MPH was when the 4:56 gears were installed. Yes, we could have the speedometer calibrated for the 4:56 gears, but we were changing gears almost weekly and that was a pain to keep going back to the shop for recalculations. We just remembered those rpm vs mph readings.

(With a rounded rear cover?) It had 4 holes on the face plate for their own screw-in mounts. We mounted it on those dash screws and it had a built in light that worked.

Thanks,
Jnaki

These may have come from the Douglas Aircraft Surplus Yard in Long Beach and ended up in that nearby Army Surplus store on Long Beach Blvd. A lot of our HS clothing came from that Army Surplus Store.