Mooghosty Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 Hello Ratsun! I'm new to Datsuns and new to automotive electronics which is why I have a question for you all. I have a '72 510 that either didn't come with a tach or had it's tach removed by the previous owner. What I have is a small black circular area where there are warning type lights for the parking break, the choke, and the oil pressure. (back of my cluster) What I was wondering is, can I cut the gague cluster up a bit to widen this circular area without damaging any of the (other) electrical stuff? To make enough room for a new (3 3/8 in) tach I would have to cut into the circuitboard and thereby break the warning light circuits. Quote Link to comment
Creepy Cruiser Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 Just put jumper wires in place if the traces, and you're good. If you scratch off the coating and expose the copper traces, you can solder right to them. Quote Link to comment
Tristin Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 Just put jumper wires in place if the traces, and you're good. If you scratch off the coating and expose the copper traces, you can solder right to them. Yeah if you cut through the copper or lighter green colored lines then you break the circuit and your working dash. But you could jump them to complete the circuit again... Quote Link to comment
josh_t Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 with traces that wide, its probably pretty easy to solder wires to them like they were saying. if you didnt have to cut through the traces, i'd say get a dremel and a grinding stone and put it on a low speed. My dremel is a two speed and low is 15.5k and i used it to modify a video card pcb to fit it into an odd computer case and it did a great job. Pcb smells pretty rough when you grind it though. you'll probably recognize the smell right away. Quote Link to comment
Mooghosty Posted February 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 The jumping sounds like a good option. I thought about the dremel idea, but if you look at the picture one circuit runs awfully close to the edge of the board, and I was worried It might damage something. If I connect the circuits like Creepy said, would it be alright to remove the warning lights entirely? I'm particularly interested in removing the parking break and choke lights. The oil one I would probably relocate somewhere else in the dash. Quote Link to comment
Sealik Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 PO added a tach (L6) to this cluster...by looking at the results.... his 'soldering'/etc was suspect to say the least.... :blink: Also fried the dash harness Quote Link to comment
510T Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Your cluster looks so nice, please don't cut it! Yo can easily cut a flat sheet of aluminum or plastic to bolt in where the original part goes. Then you can add 3 nice aftermarket gauges of your choice. Keep the oem part in a box inside or sell it to someone in need. Just my $0.02, we's gots to keep em alive! :) Quote Link to comment
Tristin Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 My suggestion would be to find a gauge that fits in that hole, even if the lip of it sits on the PCB. If the lip is metal, you could always cut a plastic ring so that the metal casing doesnt short out the copper runners. Then just wire up the gauge like any aux gauge in the car and re-install the gauge. Quote Link to comment
Creepy Cruiser Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Back in the 80's I installed a mini Sun Tach into the factory spot. Just cut out the plastic (it fit prefect between the lights) and went right in with no mods to the board at all. Granted it's not the same size and the speedo, but they go right in and work just fine, and only cost around $30. I wouldn't think they changed the size in all these years. Most local auto parts store have them also. Looks like this. http://www.amazon.co...r/dp/B00029JYS8 Quote Link to comment
fourfiveten Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 The black plastic panel is stock for a 510 automatic trans. if you wait and get a stock 510 tack it will bolt in to the space in the panel. the stock tacks generally sell for $100-200. The previous owner of my car cut a whole in the black plastic face and installed one of those sunpro tacks, id post a pic but won't be anywhere near my car for a month or so. If you do decide to go with a stock tack, the white needle tacks are correct for the 68/69. The red needle tack is correct for your 72. hope this helps. Quote Link to comment
Mooghosty Posted February 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 That's cool. The tach you posted was 2 5/8" Creepy. Do you know what sive the stock tach is? I like the idea of still having the warning lights, but I'm skeptical how it would look next to a larger speedometer... Quote Link to comment
Mooghosty Posted February 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 That's cool. The tach you posted was 2 5/8" Creepy. Do you know what sive the stock tach is? I like the idea of still having the warning lights, but I'm skeptical how it would look next to a larger speedometer... Quote Link to comment
Creepy Cruiser Posted February 17, 2012 Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 Sorry, I don't have any pics of it installed (that was like 25 years ago, lol). I do remember seeing a couple other people on here, that posted pics of the same tach installed in theirs though. Maybe someone will repost them for you. This is a great deal, see if this is still available: http://community.ratsun.net/topic/39428-stock-510-speedotachfuel-gauge-and-radio-bezel/page__p__617214__hl__tach__fromsearch__1#entry617214 Quote Link to comment
Mooghosty Posted February 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 Thanks! Happy Friday! Quote Link to comment
Mooghosty Posted February 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2012 Jut came up with a possible third option instead of getting a stock tach or a 25/8" tach. I was thinking maybe, maybe I could do the opposite of my orignal idea and just cut my tach to fit the hole in the cluster. I haven't checked to see if the guague would fit or what kind of space I would have to work with yet. I think I would also have to work out a way to cover the exposed contacts on the new tach... Quote Link to comment
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