Does anyone have any experience or comments on the repro in-dash tachs now being sold by OPG and Year One (for 1970-72 Skylark and GS)? Is the face lettering and other markings identical to an original? How is the fit in the dash? And, how do they work? Thanks for any input. John
I am not sure where my aftermarket tach came from, but I used it in the dash for about 10 years and it never failed on me once. Lettering on the face was the same as original, only difference I can see is the back of the tach is plastic, and the original was metal. Can't see it when installed anyhow.
Other ideas? Thanks, Andrew. Does anyone else have comments on the current, in-dash repro tach units being sold by Year One and OPG? Thanks, John
What all is involved getting the clock out and installing the tach? $159 price is pretty good if it looks close to OEM. Pete
Y1 Hi John, I installed a Y1 tach. Getting picky, at night the backlighting is slightly brighter than the original gauges. From the passenger side you can see white light bouncing off the inner sides of the tach (light blue plastic). If (and I will) pull it back out I will give the inner sides a shot of flat black. This should darken it and I hope it will match the others gauges better. Lettering and pointers look very close. As far as accuracy, I would not trust it for racing, but for everyday driving it seems to be pretty close up to 3500. From 1 to 10, I would give it a 7. It looks better than my clock, that worked intermittently. George documents the process very well. http://www.buickperformance.com/cluster.htm HTH
I have installed about 5 of them so far and never had a problem. Only item that I can criticize is the opening for the lights is not the same as the clock lights. You have to use wire tap-ins to use the new lights provided with the tach. The new light holes are larger than originals so you can not directly use the clock lights.
I have not seen what is currently being reproduced, but the earlier reproductions had lettering that was only truly correct for early 70 cars--the taller, skinnier lettering that goes along with the pointed lenses.
I have the year one tach it works well but can also see the blue backing at night other than that it is good.
