Ive noticed this a few times while racing, but confirmed it while I was installing my new silver face gauges. The tachometer needle will not go past 8K. It hits a hard stop. Has anybody removed the stop? Its not a pin or anything like the speedo.

Did the tach still funtion correctly afterwords?

 

No, there is no way to get the tach to go any further than the stop. This is because of the way the tach works. It uses a coil of wire and a few other thingamajigs and the frame for holding all this is actually what stops the tach from going past 8K. If you can grind some of the frame away without wrecking the tach, then mabey you could get it to go to 9K at most. But I took apart the stock tach once and ended up wrecking it.

 

dang! looks like im never going to know how high my racing rpms actually are..

 

just get an aftermarket tach, jeezz

 

unless you have the whole hardened crap and whatnot in your engine, be carefull about taking it that high. Also unless you have it ported or something your hp drops off way before 9k rpms. (didn't see anything in your sig about it.)

 

I've found the stock 12a engine has quite a bit of power WAY past redline. With a free flowing exhaust, even after 9k the car pulls very strong. I've determined through time slips at a dragstrip it was quickest to rev past 9000 or even 9500 in first, and close to 9000 in second. Obviously a restrictive stock exhaust can radically change that, but the motor has more in it at high RPM than most people realize. That said, if you like your motor to stay in one piece, its probobly not wise to rev past 9k on a regular basis.