ShopTalk Forums | Aircooled VW Tech & Restoration Help

Hi All,

Last year at SIR I picked up a 4cyl, 5800rpm, 914 tach. I'd like to install it in my '72 Bug. Anyone out there running one.

I ask because I did a quick test of mine with some make shift wires and logicical connections. Well it didn't even register and I dropped the idea of installing it. Now the car is back as my daily driver and so the tach idea is back on the burner. I was wondering, is there a trick to getting them hooked up right?

R/

Jim

I'm running one in my 1970 Bug. Pretty standard hookup (12V power, ground, and point side of coil). I modified my tach to have the 914 oil pressure light and alternator light in the tach face. Cheers!

Here is mine.

You need a tach adapter to make it work with a cdi system, Or just hook it up to the - side of the coil if no cdi is used.

Kevin

I have a swap meet VDO tach from a ?924? works fine with points or CDI.

12v power, ground and points side of the coil?

OK, idiot time here. That's the green wire off the distributor right?

So do I have to use a t- type clip to connect the tach and the points together at the coil terminal or are you saying I can just hook to the negative terminal of the coil? My coil has 3-point terminals on both the pos and neg.

As for a CDI, that means if I try to hook it up using like an MSD6a or a Jacobs set up I'll need a tach drive, right.

Thanks,

Jim

2litre,
yes what they are saying is go ahead and hook it up on the same side of the coil as the points [dizzy] are hooked up to. It doesn't need to be on the same wire/tab as the points.

robbieD

Thanks a lot guys.

robbied31, I hooked up some old wiring harness bits to do a quick test and it checked out fine.

Now I just have to run the permanent wires and mount it.

R/
JIm

The tach adapter is something like this: "Mallory Tach and Tach/Fuel Adapters" for the CDI hookup. A tach drive is something all together different (mechanical instead of electrical).

In my '77 std Beetle, my 914 tach is mounted to the right of the speedo which I relocated slightly to the left:
http://thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page ... _id=104980
That took some minor fabrication but the tach is well in the line of sight.

For my '69 Beetle I mounted a 912 tach (same size as 914) into a Radio Shack "project box" under the dash:
http://thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page ... c_id=98897
Much quicker to do, but way out of the line of sight.

CPRcubed,
I have an MSD6a and a vac/Unilite I might install in this or a future bug so I was just wondering. I've read Century Performances' FAQ's on the need for an adaptor. Never seen one though. Thanks for the link. For now I'm sticking with my Bosch 205.

RoWaMe,
Looks cool, now that's thought. Same tach I have. I had originally thought about replacing my speedo with the tach altogether and just using common MPH stripe marks on the face but decided not to. Not sure where I'll put it yet but I am going to use a 18 or 16g wire from the #1 coil terminal to the front of the car. Not sure if needed but I'm thinking along the lines of speakers, power losses and wire gage sizes on longer runs. It's about 12ft all totalled. Another thought, I also have a Berg oil temp lighunit that goes into the dipstick spot on a universal case. I just tapped a cover and installed it. Though my motor doesn't have a universal case right now, if I ever get one in it I'll hook that up to the high beam indicator on the tach.

Not that I'm going to try right now, but how do you get inside one of these things? Does the front bezel unscrew? Tryed it by hand and then abandoned the idea before I trashed it.

R/
Jim