I have a '71 Vette that has a 383 stroker engine and new transmission. I purchased it a year ago and it has been pretty much gone through. However there are several "little" things that still need attention. One is the tach is not working. I am assuming the normal cable operation will not work with the new transmission. Is this a true assumption. What is the best way to make the original tach operable? Is there a readily aviailabe electronic conversion kit? Thanks.
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Re: tachometer
Jim-----
The tachometer on a mechanical tach equipped Corvette like your 1971 has nothing, at all, to do with the transmission. You're thinking of the speedometer which does attach to the transmission. The Corvette tach cable for 1962 through 1974 Corvettes attaches to the DISTRIBUTOR. If yours has been changed as part of the engine swap, then you may no longer have a tach drive type distributor. If you don't, you can't get the mechanical tach to work as long as that distributor remains installed.
You can obtain a Corvette mechanical tach drive distributor, swap it out, and get your tach to work. You can also obtain aftermarket, HEI type distributors with mechanical tach drive from sources like Mallory and Accel. These will allow your existing mechanical tach to work, also.
As far as a tachometer conversion, I don't know of any aftermarket or aftermarket kit that will allow you to make a "clean" conversion. One thing that you might be able to do, though, is to obtain an electronic-type tachometer from a 1975 or 1976 Corvette and use it to replace your existing mechanical unit. The face plate is nearly the same and I think that a 1975 or 1976 tach unit will retrofit to your instrument pod, perhaps with slight mods which should be "invisible". I've never done this, though; I'm just speculating on the possibility.In Appreciation of John Hinckley -
Re: tachometer
Joe:
Thanks much. Good information.Comment
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