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Help wiring a Tach in a 78 Brat


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Ok the 78's don’t have a tach. So I got myself a gauge cluster out of a 81 Brat which has a tach on it. Anyone know how I would wire this baby up? I have an after market tach on the dash but it's so jumpy I have no idea what RPM I'm running at.

 

Thanks,

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There should be a yellow wire taped in the gauge wiring harness. (You may have to look for it) 75% of all Gen 1s have it. You may be in the 25% that don't.

 

 

That wire, if found, fits on the loose lead on the back of the cluster. If not present, just run a wire to the + terminal of the coil, from that lead on the back of the cluster.

 

Todd

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Yes I have that yellow wire, now I need to figure out where it connects to the gauge cluster.

There should be a short yellow lead on the gauge cluster. It is screwd onto the cluster. You can add one if needed. It's in the upper right rear of the cluster, as you look at the cluster from the front

 

Todd

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Ok the 78's don’t have a tach. So I got myself a gauge cluster out of a 81 Brat which has a tach on it. Anyone know how I would wire this baby up? I have an after market tach on the dash but it's so jumpy I have no idea what RPM I'm running at.

 

Thanks,

Did you have to get the whole dash or just the cluster? Im having a hell of a time finding one of those gauge clusters... I think Ill just get an aftermarket tach.
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ok I worked on a 79 Brat with a stock tach and it had a special little box next to the coil. The wires from the disty go into the box and it hooks up to the wire coming from the tach and it also hooks into the coil. I helped a guy get his rewired after someone pulled the coil out and made a mess of the wiring...

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ok I worked on a 79 Brat with a stock tach and it had a special little box next to the coil. The wires from the disty go into the box and it hooks up to the wire coming from the tach and it also hooks into the coil. I helped a guy get his rewired after someone pulled the coil out and made a mess of the wiring...

All the factory tach needs is one lead to the coil. The cluster is grounded with other wiring on the 2 round plugs.

 

I have never seen a box next to the coil, unless you are talking about the electronic ignition box?

 

Todd

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Did you have to get the whole dash or just the cluster? Im having a hell of a time finding one of those gauge clusters... I think Ill just get an aftermarket tach.

 

All I got was the cluster. It hooks up but some of the idiot lights don't work. But that’s ok, the oil, charge and break lights work. It's 3000% better then that old cluster I took out. ick

 

Thanks for the help everyone. I'll dig back into the dash tomorrow and I'll let you all know how it works out.

 

:)

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I'm glad it works... kinda. Better get it going soon! It'd be funny to explain THAT one to a police officer!:lol: "But officer, My whole schpiel doesn't work... I can't say how fast I was going, which way I was turning, whether I was braking, or what my Rpms were." and with that 78, he'll probably believe you.

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My '78 brat does have a stock tach. It also has that box, next to the coil that cabaroo mentioned. I am interested in this thread because my tach has never worked. I tried hooking up (what I thought was the right wire) out of the cluster to the coil, but it would make the engine die.

 

I thought that someday I would get around to taking the dash off, so I could visually trace the wire from the tach out to the engine compartement. Hasn't happened...

 

The little box next to the coil, looks like a buss bar, it has around 4 screw terminals on it. I recall that one of them is 'hot' all the time (as in has voltage)

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yeah that was the only car I've seen that box on. I didn't even see it on my '79 wagon which should have an electronic ignition box since it too is a '79 just like the Brat I worked on. there were two wires going from the disty (pink and blue if I remember) that went into the box, then there was a harness that came out of the box and went to the coil, ground and there was another wire which I believe was the lead for the tach....

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