My dad and I have a '73 GMC, I have a 5" racing shiftlite tach in it. We are selling the truck and I took the tach out. I'm wondering how I can put that tach in my car, I saw Rob had one of those in his car in that in-car video. I just want to know what kinda wiring stuff I need to do. Thanks

 

Why are you guys getting rid of it? Don't say gas prices . . .

 

Not gas prices, gas MILEAGE! I can afford 3.19 a gallon in my cobalt. But the truck gets 6-7 mpg and thats only if the planet saturn is alligned properly with the moon Plus it looks cool, sounds cool, but its a 4000 lbs. SLUG. My car would smoke that thing unmercifly. That trucks fastest run was 15.64@85!!! That was also on 112 OCTANE WITH OPEN HEADERS!!!!! My car has run 14.87@96, almost a full second quicker and 11 mph faster AND it get 5 times better gas mileage!

 

What is a coby? CHEESE? why would you put a tach in cheese? this is going no where fast

 

Don't be a smart ass! I just want the shift light, but its attached to the tach plus the tach looks pretty good (black face white number 8k rpm)

 

being so testy well now I wont help.... just kidding relax.


ok first off tell what wires you have there and what settings can be made to the tach.

can you find wires

ground?
power?
Light?
input?

and does the tach have the capability to run on
1cyl?
4 cyl?

This will help me to help you. and your welcome.

 

well first find a good moutning point where its easy visble for you. after that comes the wiring.
you should have a red power wire which you can run into any fuse in the fuse box with around 20 amps or so(be sure it turns on and off with car and if you have a white wire also run it to same place) and of course the black wire is gonna be the ground which will got to any thing thats metal under your dash and usally try to find other grounding points from factory items and mount the wire there. then the famous green wire splice into the tach wire

 

Yeah it has...
Black ground wire
Red power wire
Green input wire
White light wire
and 1 or 2 brown wires in the back for 6 or 4 cylender engines

 

lol
he could have read instructions for all that or the little tags that come with the tach. lol

now tell him where he can run the wires to specifically.
Oh can he even use this tach? I can tell you if it can be set up for 1 cyl. I can have him done in an hour with out any trouble. and you did not mention how to hook up back light so it dims with the dash lights.

 

Uh... yeah what he said!

 

Is anyone gonna help me?

 

sorry we must have posted at the same time just about.



I dont get this last part. it should be a switch or DIP pins to set the # of cylinders and the shift light RPM.

I need to know so I can tell you where to put the tach wire

oh where are you mounting the tach.

 

Well I just want it for the track, cause a shift light would really help, but I don't want to look like a ricer on the street and I don't want holes in my dash.

 

well I dont know if this helps you in your decision. I know you have this thing already but if your willing to spend $90 shipped you can do what I did.

Go to my link for CarDOMAIN (link is in my signature) and look at my shift light. I love it. it was easy to put in. and I think it looks sweet. comes in different color LED's and anodized body colors. you could do anodized in yellow and have red LEDs if you thought Yellow LEDs were not bright enough. Red is plenty bright. I have a total how to do pics there. check it out. I can do a better job for the last part cause I think it is weak and I want to improve it anyway.

 

Thanks but I'm broke as a joke! This is a 1" diameter bright as hell yellow shiftlight that blinds you at night. Plus it would just be easier to see the tach without having to look throught the steering wheel.

 

Well broke is one thing I can fix. Mine blinds you at night too. that is why is comes with a cover for the night time. I never look at the tach when driving hard. that is what the shift light is for. You dont want to make holes but you will have to right.

anyway back to the original question. where are you mounting it and can you set it up for 1 cylinder?

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "1 cylender". Ok, I'm gonna take the tach out of the truck and take pictures so you can see what I mean. I'll have the pics up later today or tomarrow. Thanks for your help by the way!

 

Well you have a banger = 1 cylinder car engine and a 4 banger = 4 cylinders. the tach needs to know how many cyilinders it is working with to give you the right reading.

the truck was and 8Cylinder?
there are six, five, 4, 3, 2 and 1 cylinder engines out there. With the cobalt it is easier to set up for 1 cylinder than 4 cylinder. why? cause I know which wire to splice to get the job done. that is all. if some one can explain where the tach wire is then we can use that and set the tach for 4 cylinders you know a 4 banger. so I hope that explains it. let me know what your going to do. could PM me for more help if you wish.

 

ok will do

 

Black to frame
Red to Ing fuse
Green - take off valve cover, splice the green wire into the brown/white wire from the first cylinder's wiring harness like this (except a splice not a elec. pick up.)

White - fuse for dash lights

Cut both orange and brown wire on back for 4 cyl.

 

You do realize that the size and weight of that tach is going to cost you 3 tenths in the 1/4 . . .

 

I think not! I can pay attention to driving instead of watching the tach like a hawk!

 

Yeah he was wanting more detail for the other wires I think.

your deliverry and pic is super. Hope you dont mind I want to use it for my HOW TO on car domain. if you object I will delete.

one problem with your setup though. your picking up one cylinder here. the tach needs to be set for a single cylinder to work. maybe you didnt know or forgot that detail.

 

THe picture isn't mine, its actually from another how-to for the MSD digital shift light. I believe you still clip both orange and brown wires for 1 cyl. If not, you can hook the green to the tach output wires, I just installed one on an Evo last night. We found the tach output wire per the wire harness diagram, and then splice the green wire from the tach into it. Worked like a charm!