aftermarket tachometer

[Serveck]

i just recently picked up a cheap 91 civic DX sedan for running around town as compared to my jeep, (lift and tires are horrible for gas mileage) its mechanically sound and only needs minor body work. however, its a 5spd and yet it does not have the factory tachometer, which is very weired seeing as you would expect a tachometer with a standard.

what i'm asking is what can i do for a cheap aftermarket tachometer that i can simply put on the left side of the cluster, and how do i wire it in? is there a special wire needed or can i just connect it to something. i found some original guage clusters on ebay for around 15$ (8$ shipping), would this be the cheapest route? other than taking one off of a junker. if so, is there any way to put it to the miles it currently has? thanks, i really like this car even though its the most basic you can get. also, what are your experiences with this car in the snow?

i am also having a problem with my interior lights, turn signals, parking lights, and the automatic seatbelts not working, i blow fuses the second i use any of them, i think i hit a bump and shorted something out, what wires/where should i check?

[maxassassin]

its cheaper to do a aftermarket tach. when you do a cluster with a tach you have to de-pin and repin the harness and thats no fun for a first timer. you can connect the tach lead to i think the blue with white or yellow stripe off the dizzy. i believe thats the wire.

[wiseguy01]

what you need a tach for you said its just for running around town right and i have seen alot of civics with standard and no tach. only time you need tach is if your trying to race the car.. so is it for around town or racing??

[FrodoGT]

If you get the right year cluster there is no depinning needed, just plug the sucker in..oh and btw, if you bid on that $15 cluster on ebay..you outbid me

[Serveck]

i just like being able to watch my rpm's, im not used to a car without one, its not for racing, but i just like using one. also partly due to the fact i have the comon problem of the adjusting idle, going up and down from what seems to be 300-800 rpm, but cannot tell. anyone know what causes this?

[FrodoGT]

Usually a vacuum leak. Could also be the Eacv.

[KoDKingVegeta]

Cheap tach's are sunpro go to Auto Zone, spend 30 bucks and u get a little tach. The wire is a blue wire on ur dizzy, I will take a picture tomorrow when its light out.

*Edit*

Its got a high buy it now, but the bid is .99 no reserve.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/88-91...spagenameZWDVW

[sastanley]

If you don't want to go all the way out to the dizzy, that blue wire you need to tap into is also on the plug end of the wiring harness that plugs into the cluster. As noted above, if you don't change years around, the harness is already wired for a tach, so if you got an LX or EX cluster, it should be plug & play. I had a Sunpro tach in my DX, and when I did the engine swap, I put in an LX cluster..I got lucky, when the stock motor died, it had 229,785 or so miles on it, and the LX cluster I had yanked and had sitting in the garage for 2 years had 229,892 miles on it..I figured that was close enough!

I'll give you my Sunpro tach if you pay shipping..It works fine I just didn't want to throw it away! I might still have the bracket..I mounted mine with a simple sheet metal screw in the A pillar trim and it worked great for years!

I ended up ripping out my non-working motorized seatbelts and installed manual 3-point belts from a '00 Civic. I would not recommend this as it took forever, finding grade 8 bolts the correct thread and length and custom fabricating everything. The drivers side shoulder belt still worked when I removed it...I'll give you that too but it is slightly bulky and would probably cost a bit to ship...again, I just didn't throw it all away yet.
There should be some old pics of my car floating around this forum..If I find one I'll slap it in here for you.

The link below takes you to a pic. It was before I mounted the tach, but you can see it up in the corner..I forgot that I found this forum 6 years ago trying to hook that thing up!
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=245574

[Tony]

Just as long as you stay in the right year range (88-89 and 90-91) no repinning is required and you stock cover will fit. If you want to keep your mileage, its as simple as a few screws on the back. I need to switch mine out with my new cluster. I did the whole repinning thing before and swapped out the odometer, which the tripometer is different between the years, but that can be switched too. IMO doing the cluster swap would be just as cheap, and cleaner if its just for daily purposes.

As for cold weather, I have a blast in mine when its nice and slick outside, its the only time I go the speed limit in it

[maxassassin]

does it jsut have to be 90-91 civics or can you basicly do the crx cluster as well. this is good info i never knew.

[Tony]

Easiest source for clusters with a tach...4dr Civics. I saw a ton of them when I was in the salvage yard. Doesn't matter which model of civic(civic, crx, 4dr, whatever) just stick with the same year range and your set.

[maxassassin]

perfect. looks like ill be getting a cluster then. sorry for the hi-jack.

[Serveck]

at the local salvage yard (the only one with a 90-91) they want 35$ for a guage cluster even if i were the one to pull it out, is this reasonable? maybe they will accept a trade. its relatively close mileage (about 3k off, i can just swap the odometer) is this worth it? or should i just go with sastanley's offer if i just pay shipping, thanks.

[FrodoGT]

Id say 35 isnt too bad. if they have it then buy it. Its not worth waiting a month and going through the trouble of shipping or ebay morons to save 5-10 bucks