bjhines Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 A while ago, I found some pics on the interweb that showed a nice, clean, factory-like installation of the Autometer Pro Comp Tachometer in an S-30 dashboard. If anyone knows who did this first please post a link to give them credit. I gave it a shot and honestly, I was prepared to buy a new tach if I screwed this one up. I didn't screw it up. This turned out to be an easy, kitchen table kind of mod. Don't fear cutting into your brand new tachometer. It took me longer to remove the damn warning sticker and the glue residue than it did to install the damn tahcometer. Here is the completed install. You might think this would take all kinds of careful dissassembly and involve magnifying glasses and a micrometer. No way... It only takes some side cutting pliers, a flat blade screwdriver and a pair of good kitchen scissors. The silver ring around the Autometer tach is thin aluminum that has been crimped around a lip on the plastic tach housing. It holds the glass in place and is really easy to bend. You need to bend it. Be careful not to flex the plastic tach housing too much. You might warp the thin, aluminum gauge-face. Use a small flatheaded screwdriver to gently pry the crimped trim ring. Once you get a little lip up you can use the small, side-cutting pliers to work your way around prying it out to loosen the trim ring from the plastic tach housing. Toss the ring and the glass in the trash. Next you must remove the lip around the plastic tach housing. Break out the kitchen scissors. Trim straight and true here. You need to make the outside of the plastic tach housing flush and "lip-less". It is best NOT TO GRIND or sand here. The little bits will show up later, keep them to a minimum. The next step is the highly involved preparation of the original Datsun 240Z tachometer housing. This is a killer. Step one: Remove the 4 small phillips head screws that hold the original tachometer housing in the gauge-pod. Toss the metal tach housing in the trash. Keep the gauge pod and its plastic interior parts. Step two: Clean the bug-parts out of the old gauge-pod and wash the clear plastic lense. Dont rub the old flat black paint, just dust it off with a clean paint brush. Step three: Insert the lipless-wonder gauge you made earlier. It is a tight fit but it is PERFECT. It will slip in all the way to the original clearanced position. JUST LIKE the original gauge fit. Use some good duct tape to hold it in place. It won't move without tape. The fit is quite tight. I used Gorilla-Tape to be sure. Done. ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janaka Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 did you do this for the speedo also? That looks like you've done a great job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbc3 Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 Here is an old thread covering this. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=101620&highlight=speedometer I added LED lights for turn signals, high beams, e-brake and shift lights in my autometer gauges... mounted in the stock housing. I love the way they turned out. Jody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 jbc3, You are THE MAN!!!!!!!!!!! I bow to you for giving me the courage to do this myself. It is super trick the way you mounted the indicators in the autometer faces. This is one of the oldschool Hybrid Z threads that drew me to this site! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 Now that I have seen how jcb3 and others have done theirs, Ihave chosen to install indicator lights in mine as well. The housing and gauge internals can be removed by taking out 2 small screws on the back. I carefully drilled holes and mounted a pair of turn signal indicator LEDs in housings. I also mounted a super-bright RED shift indicator LED. I used heat shrink to cover the backs of the LEDs so they do not pick up light from the gauge backlighting. Here is the modified face. Here are shots of the LEDs lighted to show relative brightness. The RED LED shift indicator is a 3000mcd super-bright that really shines. It is pretty damn bright. Here are just the turn indicators. They are bright enough to see in the day without being distracting at night. ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbc3 Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 :icon14::icon14::icon14: 8-)8-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 I tried out the Ultra violet LED idea. I could only get them locally mounted on a large heat sinked chip. I got one and poked it in the housing to see how it lit the gauge. The pointer is definitely flourescent. It glows brilliantly under UV light. NONE of the other markings are flourescent. That will do the trick to get the needle to really stand out. I have run into a snag in mounting though. It seems that UV is utterly absorbed by the plastic gauge housing. It is not reflected onto the gauge face the way the visible spectrum is. I am going to have to mount the UV LED in front of the gauge face for it to work. The other problem is that the high power UV LED I have is WAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! too bright. The damn needle completely blots out all of the backlighting on the numerals. Jeeeze... I am scared to look at the LED chip now that I see just how much UV that thing puts out. That thing will give you a sunburn for sure!!!! I am pretty sure they were designed for UV set plasics like teeth fillings and prototyping work. That thing is dangerous. I ordered some low power 5mm UV leds for the job. They will get here late this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoorenc Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 This was a great write up. I was able to perform the mounting also. Thanks guys!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Just thought I'd throw this in here, as it somewhat relates. If you're interested in painting the rest of your needles on the other gauges to match the Autometer stuff, if you haven't already changed them out too, you can find a PERFECT match for it at some hobby shops. I posted the info in THIS thread but it seemed to have gotten looked over. Here's a pic where you can see what the stock gauges (in a ZX) would look like if you painted the needles to match. (Sorry about the flash) Warren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgkurz Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Great thread. I've always wondered how I'd deal with the turn signal indicators if I installed an aftermarket tach. Now if I could just find a couple green LED's shaped like an arrow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerryb Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 On note with needle painting...I have Stewart Warner gauges with orange needles....Anyone paint theirs white to match the original look? Will it throw the tach reading out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smoorenc Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 Well I just finished the Autometer Speedometer swap out into the original mounts. The only issue I had was the reset/trip button was too short. I removed (pull/wiggle) the rubber cap off. Then I took an old crappy small philips screw driver and cut it down to size. Lined it up with the plastic lens and drilled a hole through the plastic. Used some heat shrink and extened it. Here are some pictures that will hopefully help someone out in the future. PS. I also do not guarantee that this is the best way, it's just the way I did it and it worked for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted February 24, 2008 Author Share Posted February 24, 2008 Nice!!! Very creative on the extension Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93anthracite Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 this thread rocks! Can somebody please explain how they are "making" shift lights? I'm about to start picking up some guages for my car and I really would like to have a shift light, but don't want an ugly, bulky one like you get with the 5" tachs. I'm seeing all of these clean installs, but don't have a clue on how to make the shift light part. Also, is the RPM trigger adjustable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Purple240zt Posted May 21, 2008 Share Posted May 21, 2008 Hopefully you don't have a "now where did I put that screwdriver" moment now! Creative! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienJedi Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 This thread is a huge help, thanks guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leash Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 How do you go about wiring the shift light? I think the Autometer Pro Comp Tachometer doesnt come with a shift light option, so im just curious what you have to do to wire up an option like that? Any place/link for wiring diagrams? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbc3 Posted November 16, 2009 Share Posted November 16, 2009 Go buy an RPM activated switch, wire it and have it activate the LED you mounted. That's it. Jody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenji Posted February 26, 2010 Share Posted February 26, 2010 That looks great, what style of autometer gauges gave the near stock look? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetride2go Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 This thread should be a sticky shouldn't it? Ryan~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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