Very sinilar here with VDO mounted on the plastic steering column shroud. Reinforced the shroud with an inside plate to provide extra support for the bolt on.

Also have a Smith from MGB that is in very good condition and I'm fashioning a mount from some PVC pipe that is the exact size...yes, I often find bits in the general hardware and plumbing sections that help out.

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Select a gear, bring up the revs and release the clutch...off you go!

Anyone know whats involved in stepping a 6 cylinder tacho down to 4 cylinders?

Its an ancient smiths job out of a 70s reliant.

I don't know the 'Reliant" but check to see if the tach has a switch to alternate between 4, 6, 8 cylinders....

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Select a gear, bring up the revs and release the clutch...off you go!

It should take an instrument place about 2 minutes to connect it and calibrate it. There is a switch but it will still need calibration to be accurate. Our local crowd don't even charge me to do it.

(Edit I think there might be different terminals for 4, 6 and 8's from memory)

Regards
Al

Older.

There is a calibrating adjuster in the back of the fascia which you can adjust against a known good rev counter to be accurate, but you have a choice. It can be accurate down low, or accurate up high. If you make it accurate in the middle then it will only be a little inaccurate down both low and high, and accurate in the middle.

The old ones used to average a pulse rate out to derive an average voltage to swing the needle like a voltmeter. the components actually get old and fatigued after 40+ years.
New ones actually count the pulses, and at a maximum of 166Hz at 10,000 RPM (dreaming) then they are not even breaking into a trot.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

What about something a little more modern







OMG i feel dirty even just posting up those pics......

Thats worse than posting the Khana Mini video!

How dare you!!

Stand in the naughty corner, right now.

Bleurgh

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Sir Alec! we are not worthy!

what??? There is a video of a Mini doing a Khana event..!! never seen it. I wonder if anyone else has seen it. Thats it, I am putting it in Mini Chat...!!

This is mine

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Ryan Filippi
Minis In The Gong
[email protected]
www.minisinthegong.com.au

This works fine when you don't need to worry about the first 5000 rpm

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Curly
'64 Cooper 'S' (Group Nb spec)
'67 Mini Marcos GT www.mm7056.wordpress.com

My old 1310 (with S crank) went to 8400 a few times at Wakefield Pk...
I saw it here-

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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.

Starting from the oldest here is my opinion.
The Smiths Chronometric Mechanical tachometer is a nice period item.
Ideally you would find a 0-9000 rpm model with maximum hand and a red section.
They were made until 1970 when Smiths threw out the tooling by mistake....
The downside is in a standard mini installation they require an angle drive to be incorporated into the timing gear housing (oil leaks!) and a special slot in the end of the camshaft plus you need to route a cable in an already crowded engine bay.
Some have used a distributor with a drive incorporated out of a triumph for example or even a Lucas generator with a drive in it out of an MGTC! In either case calibration is a little tricky but not impossible.
They look good in the Cooper Car Co Fibreglass pod that sits on the parcel shelf.
Farringdon now made an electronic version of the chrono complete with ratcheting movement of the pointer. They are a lovely tachometer but something you do not tell your partner how much you paid for it.

The first electronic tachometer commercially available for cars was the Weston Speedwell tachometer which was actually an aircraft tachometer with an aluminium ring for window dressing.
Hard to find these days and in many cases require repair which is tricky as the circuit is encased in resin..
Only suitable for points ignition unless the circuit is changed.
Speedwell made a nice wooden dash that housed it, some gauges and the speedo.
Look out for one of these in my speedwell 850 when I finish it.

Next was the Smiths Impulse Loop Tachometers that have the reputation for swinging around. This is best illustrated by Rauno Aaltonen driving through the forrests in a works mini in the 60's with the tacho needle flailing around.
True the components get old but they really need a bit of dampening if you are going to use erratic rev changes which, depending on how far you go, can be time consuming to achieve.
The impulse loop tacho's do not perform well on electronic ignition as a general rule without circuit conversion to low energy.
They are fine if you use them in normal driving conditions with minimal dampening.
Even though it is a competition car it does not change rpm dramatically.
I use a Speedwell Smiths in my 997 It is currently in a bracket hanging from the top rail but I will probably change it to an in dash mount al la ABL 737.
They also look good in the traditional wooden dash glovebox lid along with a few other gauges.
The impulse loop accessory tacho stayed in production into the 70's. Early ones did not have the option of a maximum hand and had a squarer font.
Smiths obviously made a number of impulse tahcometers for original equipment as per the MGB or sprite one in the previous post. All are fine and all can be converted for use with electronic ignition the issue is here that the movement that the pointer is connected to remains the same.

Smith started to make negative coil tachometers with a thick film circuit in the 70's.
These do not have an adjusting pot so you must modify the circuit if you buy a 6 cyl one for example. Tended to burn out more readily.

Caerbont who make Smiths these days started with a tacho with the traditional meter movement. They now have a stepping motor in them and work on all impulse sources.
They are stable and accurate but have a slightly different scale and a pointer stop on the dial if you look closely. I have made old style dials to suit them as well.

VDO hae been making tacho's for many years too and the latest WWG version has a well dampened croos coil movement. Be sure to use a diode 1N4004 in line with the pulse lead if you use one on points ignition. I have made face changes for these.
I use one in a smiths pod on the steering column in my van.

Autometer, Stewart Warner etc etc etc give you a more modern look but no better performance unless you want a shift light, play back or a hamburger that includes egg and pineapple.

If I have missed any I am happy to bore you all a little more later.......

I have this old girl in my FX Holden, but I am going to put it in my 850 van when get it finished. Ringwood speedos rebuilt it for me around 15 years ago and it doesnt waver around at all, even on 6 volts!

Rodger Howard from Howard instruments has a very nice Speedwell taco in his very very nice mini van. He also makes new faces to convert VDO tacos into Smiths tachos, the best of old & new. We use one in the race car.

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Have a Nice Day.
If already having a nice day please disregard.

Before I had mini's I had FJ Holden's. Love them both.
All things considered this tacho of yours is the classic mini tacho.
Remember like beer wine and spirits there are no bad tacho's just some are better than others for your particular application and taste.

I have a Smiths 0 - 10,000 rpm tacho from the '60s in my Cooper S with matching speedo.

The van has a Clubman GT instrument three clock pod with the standard tacho.

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Slide
1965 Mini Van (1360)
1970 Mk2 Cooper S (1310)
1978 Rover SD1 V8 (4.6)
1996 Land Rover Discovery V8 (4.0)