[olibass1]

I just picked up a tach for my Belvedere and can't get it to work. The car has an "elctronic ignition conversion kit" installed and when I tried hooking up the tach using the green to neg side of coil, I got nothing...... needle never moved. Am I missing something? Any suggestions?

[bigdog7373]

What kind of tach? Sunpro?

[olibass1]

Yes it's a sunpro tach...jsut a cheapie (35 bucks). Followed the instructions, red to pos., black to neg, green to neg of coil, white to keyed ignition power source (illumination). As far as the ignition I have goes, I'm kinda lost. No ignition "box" like the msd units, just some components wired in and bolted to the firewall. I was told it was an Elec ignition conversion kit, but didn't get the details. May be one of those internal distributor component kits that replaces the points. Sorry I'm not up on ignition systems. I did use aligator clips to hook to pos & neg of battery....could that be an issue? I checked the connection wit my meter & got 12v.

[bigdog7373]

Red goes to keyed power source, black to ground, and green to neg on coil.

[olibass1]

oops....i do see that now in the instructions. I'll give it a shot and let you know what happens.

[eloc431962]

Maybe this will help , The green wire is connected to - side of the coil for tach signal.
The black wire is ground.
The red wire is 12 volts + ignition on, fused.
The white is connected to the dash lights.

Cole

[olibass1]

Well, I chabged the red to keyed positive and no luck. I can see the needle twitch just a hair when I turn the key, so I know I'm gettign power, but when I start the car and rev....nothing. No needle movement what so ever. It must have to do with the electronic ignition conversion, but I don't know enough about them to start experimenting. Any idea where I should go from here?

[bigdog7373]

Post a pic of the dist and where you are connecting the wire to.

[vicrod]

Sounds like you have it hooked up Ok.
I'm sorry to be the one to inform you that your tach is toasted.
OR you have an ignition system that is not compatible with it. But not likely.
What type of ignition system do you have?

vicrod

[olibass1]

The tach is brand new out of the package today! I can see the needle jump a hair when I turn the key so I know it's not fried. I'm not sure about the ignition system. I just purchased the car a few months ago and the owner told me it was an "electronic ignition conversion kit". I will post some pics as soon as I get my camera back....the wife took it on vacation and is gone for a week. Others have suggested to try the positive post on the ignition coil. copuld thids lead to trouble?

[mud.man.rj]

Just wondering does your tach have a switch on the back for different engine sizes, 4, 6, 8 cylinder, check if it does put it to 8cyl, hoping for you.

[eloc431962]

Originally Posted by mud.man.rj

Just wondering does your tach have a switch on the back for different engine sizes, 4, 6, 8 cylinder, check if it does put it to 8cyl, hoping for you.

I am sure it does . I was just getting ready to ask if he had it set for V8 or something else. But as stated he could have already fried the Tach I hope he hasen't though.


Cole

[olibass1]

Switch was set to 8 before I did anything else.

[olibass1]

Well, thanks to everyone who gave their input on my problem. The Tach is finally working like a charm. I ended up putting the meter on the coil and finding the side with voltage, which was the Neg side. I switched the green wire to the pos side and walla.....it works I was only showing about 6.5 volts though....shouldn't it be 12?



Thanks again!

[redsdad]

OK. You need to find out what ignition system you have and make sure it is wired correctly. Usually, for a coil to work correctly the positive receives the power from the switch and the negative is controlled by the ignition. When it is grounded, the coil builds up the magnetic field. When the circuit is opened, the field collapses and the coil "fires." (Usually. There are some systems that work differently)

Some electronic ignitions "want" full voltage to the coil. Others want a less than full voltage like a points ignition.

Bottom line, find out what you got and find instructions for proper installation.

Oh, and "walla" is spelled voila. (I'm AR, so flame me)