Of course opinions are like.....well, you know. And, I always respect yours but a clock in my dash with a modern quartz movement would bring the interior back to "as built" except for a gauge additions. As far as blocking my gauge cluster, I only watch the fuel gauge anyway since my accurate gauges are under the radio. (My idiot lights are functional, though) As for the speedometer, it will block only about zero to 20 MPH which is OK with me. I think, if done neatly and with a quality tach It will look just fine and may promote some interest at shows that this is a serious performer. I like that. Guess we just have different thoughts about the image our cars portray.
Ray, i have a tilt column and there is room to mount the tach base on the stationary part of the column. Works great. To me, mods like this are totally reversible and why anyone would laugh at such a great day 2 addition, well to each their own. Im lucky to see any Buick's at car shows in my part of the country and wouldn’t laugh at such a reversible upgrade.
Sitting in the driver seat, mine blocks most of the fuel gauge and under 30 MPH on the speedo. I think Ray is a bit taller than I am, so it might be different for him.
I like it and may buy that tach too. So, your tach rotates to the right as you shift into low and then back to the left as you upshift? Is that tach a 3 3/4 in. diameter version?
Ray, it doesn’t rotate at all in this position on the column. I’ll take some pics of mount, measure diameter
I have my tach mounted on the right side of the column. I was thinking of putting on the left as others have it here on this thread, but the issue I had is I keep my left hand on the wheel at 12 O'clock when racing and shift with my right (4 speed car). My arm would obstruct the view of the tach if it was on the other side of the column. Its a pain as it blocks most of the speedo.
Hi Ray, big car here, so the dash layout is different than yours. Mine's a column shift, and has been said before there's a small spot on the column just in front of the steering wheel that doesn't turn when I shift. The hose clamp thing may be a turn-off but really it's not that noticeable. Maybe paint it to match. While tachometer shopping, have a look at www.classicinstruments.com . They have a huge variety of styles, and they're customizable. I chose one that closely matched the dash, and optioned a pointer that matched the color of my speedo pointer. I managed to stuff their tach w/chrome cup and a shift light and an oil pressure warning light all next to each other at the top of the column. And yes, the red oil pressure light is on in the photo below, but by design. The sender I chose is a twenty-something if I remember right, and is often on until the revs come up a bit on a hot engine. Devon
Back in the day, a column-mounted or dash-mounted Sun Tach was VERY COOL to most of us...meant the car was SERIOUS and probably had a floor-shift 4-speed and a decent engine. Today, at car shows, some cars from back then (Tri-Five's, etc.) are still cool with them, at least to me. Cheers!
Ray, if all you need a tach for is to know where to shift at, you could mount you a tiny shift light (or any kind of bright light) somewhere inconspicuous. and avoid the bulkiness of the tach. Just a suggestion! Fernando
Thanks, Fernando for the good suggestion. I do like to view the RPMs from time to time and don't mind the "bulkiness" between the steering wheel and the dash. I'm old enough to have lived and driven Hi-Po cars during the 60s and 70s.
I like your tach installation but, since I don't have a tilt wheel, My clamp will have to be mounted all the way forward of the directional lever and the ignition switch. Because of this, I won't be able to use the Sun tach mounting method since it would place the tack too close to the steering wheel. I'm currently looking at the Auto Meter and Classic Instruments tachs that will mount in a cup and will allow me to slide the tach backwards or forwards in the cup as needed.
Mine is the 3-3/8" in their chrome mounting cup. It's a close fit, in fact I now see with the photo I just took that a little bit of adjustment is needed on the black bracket to add clearance, never noticed that before. And please pardon the dust! Devon
