I need to dump the stupid, inaccurate, needle-flops-around-like-a-
fish Smiths (stock) tachometer in the Elan (1967 S3) and get a
good "performance-oriented" tach in there. Does anybody know who
has one, how much it is, how it fits, how it works, etc.? Or
any subset of those? I hesitate to call Dave Bean; I may not
have enough money for that...If something I can get at my local
BAP store or some such will do the job I'd be quite content.
Sounds like you need to send it to Nissonger to get it rebuilt. They
do a good job on Smiths. Then you get to keep a nice-looking guage in
your car that matches all the other guages...My speedo had the same
plus/minus 30 degrees or arc flopping around, but after Nissonger re-
built it for me, it was smooth and rock-steady (oh yeah, and accurate
too).
I think the diameter of this thing is about 4" (haven't measured
yet--the car is currently somewhat in a state of disarray, and so
are we :-). A tell-tale would be nice but it's not mandatory.
The Europa used 3" speedo and tach, I would assume so would the Elan
(the car is not big enough to shoehorn in a 4 inch anything...). If you
must go for something accurate and reliable and totally out of keeping
with the rest of the car, VDO makes a nice set of 2 and 3 inch guages
that will fit. Note, however, that the Smiths tach is a current-sensing
gauge and is wired in SERIES with the ignition [whereas VDO/etc bridge
off of the ignition (I believe they just "count" voltage pulses???)].
At least, for the Europa TC, such was the case...
-RDH
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