cheep tack worth it?

hey i have a civic that came w/ out a tachometer and i've been craving one for a while the think is i have very little money and i'm wondering if you think i should go w/ the cheep "wallmart" type cheep brand or if i should save up and get a quality one from a performance shop... either way how difficult is it ot hook up a tach to my car to get the proper readings... could i do it myself?

its not that hard you can do it yourself if you know where to hook it up. Personnally I would only get one of the middle range tacho's... I wouldnt het the bottum of the line one.

But thats just me.. Maby you can be a guinea pig for us :)

well i've got like 50 bucks and gettin kinda pissed about still not having a tack that and i just put a new d15b engine in there (working on a budjet plan to do minime conversion later) and i'm kinda worried about damaging the engine so i want a tack does anyone know anything about cheep autozone, pepboys, or carquest tachs?

Why not just get one out of a Si? Or am I being Captain Obvious? It will bolt straight in to the instrument cluster.

BTW - when I first saw the title to this post I thought it had something to do with birds and pointy things :tongue:

Im with Setanta. Get a cluster from an LX/EX/Si of the same year range 88-89, or 90-91. If you still want that "big tach" appeal, get a shiftlight from summit and mount it on the dash or something.

don't get a cheap tach from ractive or anything cheap like that. intake is one thing, tach's actually involve electronics.

ok sure replacement tack from lx/si/ex but will that hook right in and work or will i have to wire it up?

direct bolt in as long as its from the same year span as your car.

88-89s are compatible
90-91s are compatible

out of interest wot do they hook up to ?

coz i would prefer a dash mounted one than a stock style one

ok i know it's sadd that i started this thread to ask about cheep tachs when i already know a little, changing the instrument cluster for one w/ a tach the stock car has the sensors for the rpm to go to the ecu and apparently all civics have the plug behind the instrument cluster and all it's missing is the tack, i dunno where it is or anything but since this thread has shown me that the cheepest most reliable way to get a tach after i buy one of these i will tell you unless someone else tells you first.

While on the topic of tachs, I have a 90 civic hatch and it doesn't have a tach.

Can I get a cluster from an SI (or whatever one has a tach) and swap the cluster but keep my odometer/speedometer so I dont have to start screwing around with rolling back/forward the one from the new cluster?

I assume I can just screw the speedometer part out of the new cluster and bolt mine up to it?

yeah thats right just make sure its from the 88-89 or 90-91 wotever u have,

Coool :)

It's my birthday on friday so I think I'll wander over to the junk yards and try and find me a birthday present :icon16:

Hahaha..I love it when this thread comes around. This was my FIRST mod to my car...a tach :cool: - I bought a $35 Autozone tach, and it has worked beautifully...Although, after 3 years, the backlight in it burned out :mad: - when I tore up an LX at the junkyard recently for the cruise control system, I got the instrument cluster so I'll prolly go back to the more stock look. I know OEM tachs are not as accurate as higher $$ ones but I am not into that much precision.

If you get a cluster from a different car, you can remove your speedo/odometer gauge and transplant it into another cluster. But as already noted stay with 88-89's or 90-91's to match your year.

To connect an aftermarket tach, you can hook it up to the BLUE wire that is already in the wire harness inside the cluster (remove the two screws up by the windshield, and the screws underneath the cluster and pop the cover off.) I chose to connect it thru the firewall to the blue wire on the dizzy. I also filled the red connector with silicone so the connections would stay water tight..the green wire is from the tach.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/205749tach_lead.jpg

This is where it all starts!!! Pretty soon you'll be doing engine swaps and buying coilovers & camber kits!!! :thumbsup: :devil: :pimp: :bananasmi

Originally posted by sastanley

This is where it all starts!!! Pretty soon you'll be doing engine swaps and buying coilovers & camber kits!!! :thumbsup: :devil: :pimp: :bananasmi

haha thanks for the info dude. Much appreciated.. :)