leyland 3 guage cluster

white needle tacho has only one hookup
which goes to the coil

orange needle tacho has two, one to the coil and the other one goes to....?

earth?

_________________

Starlet Conversion:
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=15484

thats what i thought, but my workshop manual doesnt help

heard the valve bounce in the stock 998 at Oran Park, coming off the bridge in 3rd. so i put it in 4th no lasting damage donei

_________________
the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

I voted for the Smiths (looks) but IMO all Smiths are crap- I'd get a decent aftermarket one like VDO, or go rob a good tach out of a Euro car.
Like my ex-Fiat 9000 rpm Veglia Borletti...

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

I got a new smiths one, much better than the 60s originals. More accurate and everything. Hurt my wallet tho!!

Cheers
Matt

_________________
68 Deluxe.... it's shiny..... I like shiny!!

Spaceboy,
There are 2 types of Clubman tachos. Current sensing and voltage sensing.
The first type is the current sensing type. This uses a wire in series with the coil which senses the current flow through the coil as the points open and close. The wire for this goes from the coil to the tacho, passes around a plastic? former inside the tacho and back to the coil. It is effectively the primary winding of a tiny transformer.
The second type is the voltage sensing type and only has 1 wire going to the coil. This senses the change in voltage at the coil as the points open and close.
The current or voltage signals are then processed inside the tacho to drive the dial and show the rpm.
The current sensing type uses basically the same internals as the early 3" Smiths tacho.
If I remember correctly the Orange needle tacho is the Current sensing type and the White needle tacho is the Voltage sensing type.

Hope this helps
RonR

thanks alot, that helps!

Thanks for that - I have a Jaeger tacho which I believe it a rebranded Smiths tacho. It has what you describe above, a wire which goes to the tacho, around a little plasic spigot thing, and back. When you say this gets wired in series, do you mean feed the low tension wire into it, and connect the other end to the coil?

There's a space connector on the back of the tacho - does this go to earth? I can post pics if required.

Thanks for the advice - might prompt me do install it

Spaceboy, Angusdog,
Glad to be of help.
The current sensing type has the wire in series with the coil wiring. The Clubman type and the 3" Smiths type have a long white wire with one turn around the plastic former. The 3" Smiths type wire has a red and a black coloured spade terminal. Not sure about the Clubman wiring. Polarity is important here and depends on whether you car is positive or negative earth. If you get this wrong the tacho won't work. The meter is actually an ammeter and if the polarity is wrong it will try and turn in the opposite direction and the needle will just press up against the stop.
I connected mine at the fuse block. For positive earth cars disconnect the wire supplying the coil at the fuse block (White with a Black trace?) and connect the black end of the tacho wire to the fuse block and the red end to the coil supply wire and your in business. For negative earth cars reverse the red/black connections at the fuse block.
On the back of the tacho there should be positive and negative terminals for power supply and a wire to the light (connect to instrument light switch)
On the early 3" Smiths tacho you could set it up for either 6 or 12 Volt +ve or -ve operation.
On the Clubman tacho the printed circuit supplies the 12 Volt supply and I think the instrument light.
I dont have much info re the voltage sensing type but the sensing wire probably goes to the point side of the coil as the voltage will be 0V with the points closed and 12V with the points open. This voltage signal is then converted by the tacho electronics to drive the meter, which in this case may be a voltmeter rather than an ammeter as in the current sensing type. The printed circuit board will still supply the 12V power supply and the instrument light-I think.

Hope this gives some more help.
RonR

Spaceboy, Angusdog,
Should have learnt by now. Check the manual!
The white wire with a black trace is in fact a white only wire and is connected to the A3 terminal on the fuse block. The wiring for the coil goes from the ignition sw to the A3 terminal on the fuse block and supplies both the coil and the fuse supplying other ignition ON circuits via the A4 fuse block terminal.
The Clubman wiring setup is different. The tacho (current sensing type) wiring is in series with the coil as before but doesn't go via the fuse block. The wiring for the coil goes directly from the ignition sw to the coil and the tacho wiring is in series with this wire.
My manual TP832 1971 doesn't have a wiring diagram for the voltage sensing tacho as this was introduced after the manual was printed.

RonR

i dont have a wiring diagram for a pre 1976 and 1977 mini S

White needle type....so much sexier than orange! It's what I got, by accident, I thought they were all like that when I bought mine!

_________________
1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T