Just installed '99+ JDM 6 o'clock tach - COOL!
 

Hey guys -

I got REALLY lucky and got my hands on the '99+ JDM tach with the zero point at the 6 o'clock position. Man, is it cool! It was pure luck that I got it, and I paid a bit too much for it, but such is the price :).

As I'm sure you know, the stock USDM tach has the zero on the tach at about 7:30, if the tach was a clock. Some of the '99+ JDM models (not all, and I'm not 100% sure exactly which models) had the tach's zero at the 6 o'clock position, so when the tach is off the needle is pointing straight down.

I bought JUST the tach module - no cluster or anything. Good thing is it bolted RIGHT in to my instrument cluster. There are 3 screws holding the tach in from the back, and these 3 screws also provide power, ground, and signal to the tach. The new tach popped right in, no sweat - no cutting, modding, or anything.

And it works great - it's accurate to the reading the PowerFC is showing. The electronic guts and everything seem to be identical as well.

The only caveat is the tach has green illumination - the numbers all light up green, with a red needle, as opposed to the stock amber numbers/red needle. The needle also seems to be a bit brighter. I will probably undertake the "white gauges" mod at some point and just have all the numbers illuminate white, though I'm a bit hesitant to do the hard-to-find and pricey JDM tach :). But, it would look SO cool to have them all white!

I guess the one upside is the tach matches my Greddy gauges now :). Looks like Christmas up in there.

Anyhow, attached are some pics for your enjoyment. I tried to get some pics of the illumination, but they turned out horribly - my camera isn't so hot at low light levels. I'll have to give that another stab.

Dale

I like that tach. wish I could see it lit up.

omg that so cool O_O

wow, that is real nice

thats nice. I didnt even know that existed

Nice - you can try http://www.blackcatcustom.com/ or probably any other custom gauge face maker to duplicate them in white. I like the 'font' of the '99+.

Have a few pics of Black Cat's custom replacement faces for my HKS meters here, towards the bottom:

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...0&page=3&pp=15

Wow!.. where did you happen to get it from?

OK, just took a pic of them lit up. I had to turn off the flash, turn off the lights in the garage, then bring the gamma on the pic WAY up to get anything near useable. Like I said, my camera doesn't like taking low-light pics :).

I think you get the idea, though.

Dale

i like how the numbers are all slanted. but they dont match the rest now. stil they look good.

Try putting a piece of white typing paper over the flash to diffuse and lower the flash intensity. I remember taking pics of my lit dash gauges that way, and it came out ok.

I got them as a friend of a friend deal. Boy we really could use someone scouring junkyards in Japan for parts :).

dclin, that's pretty slick on the HKS gauges! Big problem is a lot of aftermarket gauges are more or less impossible to take apart - you have to pry the bezel off, making it look like crap in the process.

In theory, a new face could be made for the US tach with the 6 o'clock start position, then just move the needle to its new home. It would be tricky to get the lighting right, though, as you aren't just letting existing numbers shine through as it were.

Dale

I'll try that. The big thing is you can't change the exposure on the camera for low light, so you end up with a dark mess. But, I'll give that a whirl tomorrow - it's getting late for now.

Dale

woow that looks really nice. i'm jelous! i've seen the DEFI tach put in sideways to make its 0 at 6 o'clock and wanted my tach like that ever sence. nice

i just saw your in p'cola we should get a bunch of sevens together one night

Dale, I def. like it. But having seen many 99spec clusters, the tach (to me) looks a bit out of place (used to seeing the font all matching). But looks good nonetheless :bighthumb:

I forgot about the lighting, been a couple years since I had the gauge part. It probably is easier and better just to get the complete assembly. Really like how the 99+ font modernizes the gauges, but I don't want to go thru calibrating the needles again if someone were to attempt a '99 style face. The thought did cross my mind to have Black Cat update the '93-'98 font along with the HKS faces, but passed on it for that reason.

The tach looks great man, awesome job. IMO, they would look amazing if you did the white gauges like Hyperite. Anyways, great job dale.

looks awesome!

I might have to do something like that!

Quickie update -

Drove to work this morning, trying to keep my eyes on the road and not on the new cool tach :). One thing that's weird is when I push in the clutch and the revs come down, it goes to the "I'm fixin' to stall" range of the old tach which kind of messes me up :). It'll just take a little to get used to.

Dale

lol... I can imagine... that would mess me up too. I like that gauge though, Dale... but like someone else mentioned, the others don't match now :( now you gotta find another friend of a friend deal for the other gauges!!! :)

I would spend the first few weeks having to actually read the numbers rather than just glancing at where the needle is pointing. It would irritate the hell out of me :p:

The problem with getting the rest of the gauges would be the speedometer, which would be in KPH. The other gauges would be no big deal.

I don't mind having the tach a little different - there are some factory cars that have a slightly different or more "special" looking tach. I think it works. The green illumination has to be remedied, though.

Dale

I like it! but the thing that would bother me is the font.

couldn't you just swap out the light thingies between the two tachs?

The coloration is integrated into the faceplate itself. There's a thread recently -

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/hello-lovers-my-new-gauges-%2Apics-gaaalore-%2A-420936/

about sanding the colored backing off so the gauges light up white. I'll likely do that.

The difference in font doesn't really bother me, and I'm usually bothered by that type of thing. For example, the stock tach bugs me because the "9" is actually an upside-down "6" - a little of my graphic design background haunting me :). It actually just looks like the stock gauges, but a little "extra", since the tach is the important gauge in the cluster it makes sense. The font is actually damn near the same, just italicized.

Dale