Old School 70s Tach - HotRodPlus question

[MNAirHead]

I'm including information on the tachometers for your reference. You've probably come across these things in the past but not known what they are. For future reference, grab them whenever you find them for cheap ($20 or so).

SUN tachometers from the early '60s to the late '70s used a sending unit that looks like a voltage regulator. Inside it is a battery and some signal processing equipment. The eight cylinder models are the most valuable even though they're the easiest to find. Second and third on the list are the four and six cylinder senders.

Here's a pic of one with a very early tach.



Thanks for your help and patience. We'll get this done.

[MNAirHead]

I believe his question is how to wire it or if anyone has a diagragm

[hotrodsurplus]

Tim, you're the man! Thanks for the forward.

For the record, I'm looking for one of those goofy black boxes to the right (in the photo MNA forwarded). I got the tach I need. This is what it be.



Per the label on the back, it uses the EB or WPA transmitter.

[doc]

If we don't learn anything else from all the car/bike show soap operas on TV, it's that details are everything. The whole appearance of the car, whether Cal Look or Rat Rod is magnified by the smallest details. Gauges can change the whole feel of an interior. As MNA knows, I am a personal fan of the old school look, but some of the new stuff is pretty wicked looking too.

Jake Raby is constantly reminding us of this "attention to detail" in almost all of his posts. I think it's his single best message.

Nice gauges!!

doc

[hotrodsurplus]

Agreed: the devil is in the details. It's also the part of a build that makes these things fun (second to driving them, at least).

Thanks for the props on the gauges, too. Among other fetishes, I have a thing for mechanical gauges and tachometers. All are cool, but I have a particularly soft spot for the 5-inch pre-war Stewart Warner in my roadster.



I have other mechanicals that I could use instead of the Sun, but I don't really feel like modifying a VW distributor for a drive gear. Even my patience has limits.

[MNAirHead]

Hot Rod..

Do you know if this was some type of universal tach.. most of the sun stuff was 4 or 8 set up..

I may know of some old timeres that could have different senders...

[hotrodsurplus]

...universal tach.. most of the sun stuff was 4 or 8 set up...

Yeah, all the Sun tachometer heads were basically the same. When you bought one, you also bought the appropriate sender (actually, in official Sun speak it's a transmitter). The transmitters were the only real difference. You could get a four, six, or eight-cylinder transmitter, but I've heard that there were single- and twin-cylinder transmitters available (probably just rumor, though). There were also magneto-specific transmitters as well.

[DesertGuy]

Hotrod, I was poking around Ebay for a few items and came across this... is this something like what you are looking for?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Sun-EB-9 ... enameZWDVW

...also agree, the nostalgic details make all the difference.