My camaro tach cluster-done!

[edman87]

I finally got my cluster together! Removed gas guage, put a tach from a 86 z28 in its place. Originally the camaro tach had the oil pressure gauge in the corner, swapped it with the camaro fuel gauge. It fit with a little dremel work. Also installed a NOS clock in the vacant location. Reset the odo to 0 miles. Used the cluster from my 89 parts blazer because it has the trip odo. The knobs for the trip odo and clock are aluminum tire valve caps with the end of a sports ball inflator needle screwed in them, then drilled and tapped for a 6-32 set screw. Pics below. Whatcha think??

Pictures no longer available.
Forum Staff

[chev74]

man, thats lookin sweet!

i like how you did the fuel gauge inside the tach

btw... how hard is it to set the odometer back to zero?

[Mr79C10]

Looks good, I like the tach and fuel gauge..

[N2TRUX]

Is it just the angle, or is the tach larger than the opening?

[chev74]

Originally Posted by N2TRUX

Is it just the angle, or is the tach larger than the opening?

coule be.... looks like it could be really close if not

[edman87]

The tach is identical in size to the gas gauge that came out, used 2 of the same mount holes. The bezel circle does crowd it a little bit and the angle is not a good one. The print on the tach plate is larger taround than the speedo and such because it was not recessed nearly as much in the camaro.
As to the odo, it was pretty easy, but hard to explain, you really just take it apart far enough to get the number reel out and move the keeper on the end of the rod enough to make a small gap between the reels, then move them around to where you want them and push the keeper back to where it was and re-assemble.
Thanks for the comments, if I xcan just find the time to put the blazer back together enough to drive so I can look at the gauges, I will be fine.

[beaterC10]

Man that is slick. I was looking at camaro clusters on ebay. I saw several that looked like the tach was driven by a VSS connection from the speedo. The connection to the tach looked like it was part of the printed circuit board. Are all of them like that?

My quick peek at ebay looks like 82-89 are the correct years with your choice of 85, 110, or 145 mph speedos. Do you know what the differences are in the different years. I have always hated camaros, so I never paid any attention to them.

[DBLSPRT68]

That looks great!

[cochino12]

Looks good man

[edman87]

The tach board is labeled on the back for ground, 12v and dist. Would have to get the 1 from a v8 car unless you wanted to mod the resistor chip in the driver board. The 85mph clusters are usually fairly cheap, and 82-89 should be the same. I used this 1 just because I have a 86 z28 parts car and it was right there in my face. Also have the old cluster from my 91 camaro, but the tach shape is way off and a very different design. The 82-89 are metal plates just like the other gauges in 73-87/91 trucks.

[Malo83]

Now that's what i'm talking about

[Pyrotechnic]

Looks sweet! Can we get some in truck and drivers view shots when you get it installed ?

[edman87]

Will do, but the k5 is a ways from being complete and there is nothing inside it that is not metal right now.

[Hoods69BadBowTie]

I like it alot. Thats awesome.

[rfmaster]

Edman87

Thanks for posting your work, which got me inspired to do the same. So, last weekend I managed to pull a Tachometer and fuel gauge from '85 (at least that's what JY markings were) Camaro, not a Z28, but V8 car. I took some side by side photos with my '75 fuel gauge.






Questions
1) There are no visible markings on the PCB indicating which post is what (12volt, grounds, tach) - do you have schematic for that PCB?

2) How did you get fuel gauge in place of oil pressure??

//RF

[jchav62]

Nice!! That looks SICK!!!

[SBTork]

wow, you may have started something. The z28 tach looks right at home in the stock cluster, very very good work.

[84 400]

like it man looks really slick

[Frosty]

I read this yesterday and was still thinking about it today. Very cool idea! Good job.

[edman87]

I knew I was supposed to do somthing else when i took it back apart to paint the inside of the cluster in chrome! I will pull it back apart and get some pics with notes on what and how I did it asap.

[edman87]

The board on the tach is marked, just not in the right places. I will add informative info in a while.
Can anyone tell me how you draw on the photos with the comp? to point out somthing

[Mickey_D]

Use a text box (red arrow) in Paint.

Just make sure the overlay setting is selected (blue arrow).

[edman87]

I know about paint. How do I get things from paint to this board? I use photobucket to post pics normally. I will try it out.

[edman87]

OK, took the cluster apart for hopefully the last time- had to do it anyway because I ran the wires through the wrong hole.
Here is a few pics and a wiring diagram I drew trying to explain what I did. Notching out the tach plate and gas gauge plate to match up is up to the next person. I used a dremel and pliers to flatten the gas gauge face and fit it to the tach face. I could do a lot better job if I did it again, but it is all hidden anyway. The tach circuit board has to be notched a little bit on the side to accomidate the gas gauge. The truck cluster has to be notched out where the bottom of the new setup will rest. For all of the wiring hookups except the tach signal wire, I tied to the original fuel gauge tabs. I did this by grinding the front lip partly off and using a bolt and nut to attach the new wires to the tabs. After all 3 of the wires are connected, cover the inside part of the tabs and wires wit a couple layers of electrical tape to be safe.
Also, the gas gauge is using 2 of the original oil pressure gauge holes in the tach board, but they serve no purpose other than to hold the gas gauge in place. I used a razor blade to remove some of the circuit metal on the board to keep it from contacting the new gas gauge terminals.
Here is the pics, I hope this all makes more sense with pics. I am sure O have left somthing out, so ask if you need more explanation.

[edman87]

OK, the diagram- last pic, didn't come out big enough to read. I will try and fix it.