Digital LCD Tach

[robbz28]

The tach in my car is a little sluggish, I'm sure a trip to the repair shop or possibly a new filter might fix this issue, and I'm sure I will get to that eventually. I have also seen the cool shift light mod, hiding the tiny light behind the a/c vent and have almost pulled the trigger on that, until I was watching a rerun Top Gear the other day. They were testing out the Lexus LFA and talked about the electronic digital display and how they had to use an electronic LCD tach because an analog one wouldn't keep up with the revs. Now I know a good aftermarket AutoMeter would probably do just fine, but I would love to see an aftermarket Digital LCD screen tach that has a "needle" that sweeps like an analog tach and not that silly little 4 digit screen that most of them have. I have seen only a couple and they were for sport bikes, but this could be a huge deal. I see the gauge being just a "screen" that would be flat, thus depth not being an issue for mounting, with multiple layouts offered as far as getting your info, if you wanted to have a needle, press a button, if you want the digital readout, another button, both....whatever. You could have the screen blink on and off, or strobe whatever color for a shift indicator. You guys picking up what I'm putting down? Seen anything like this, know of anyone cooking something up? I know that more and more cars are moving to this type of electronic readout for gauges, and just wondering how long before the aftermarket companies have their own thing ready.

[XfireZ51]

Shift light works best. All I care about is knowing WHEN I need to shift. The rest of the data is unimportant. I have a Raptor mounted on my
"A" pillar in line of sight.

[robbz28]

How much of a hassle is it to install the shift light? Anyone know where the best access point is for the wire to tap the light into? Do you have to remove the entire cluster? That is another thing that has kept me from getting a raptor myself.

[XfireZ51]

Here's some pics. This makes it a plug and play setup

[Coupe89]

My book mark must be at work...
My shift light is like this.

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by Coupe89

My book mark must be at work...
My shift light is like this.

Dittos... Raptor in the AC grille = mine too.

Note: There are only two of the five LEDs lit in the photo, as the LEDs are caught running through a start-up light pattern. All 5 are very bright, and even in sunlight, you won't miss 'em when the light comes on!

I'm with Dom (and others) in that you don't really want to be watching the tach while racing - a shift light is soooo much better, and there is NO LAG with them either.

No need to remove dash, just use a coat hanger wire to fische the wires to the "C-100" bulkhead connector. Refer to the FSM for the proper white tach wilre. Tap into that, and then a "switch ON" power source and a ground point. Voila!

Sluggish?

Is your tach sluggish, or does it simply read low? If there is simply an error where it reads low, it is a relatively easy fix that you can do yourself, but the cluster does need to come out because it involves clipping the old resistor out of the circuit and installing one of the proper value to calibrate the tach. Let us know - the procedure is well known and several here, including me, have done it and can walk you through it.

Some lag is normal. If it is not a question of accuracy, but truly one of lack of respnse, is it really slow, or is it just "normal"? I'm not familiar with some of the better competition tachs, far as comparing the stock ZR-1 goes. But, I wouldn't be too surprised is the stock tack was less responsive that some high-end tachs you may be familiar with.

The stock tach is driven by a dual op-amp chip, receiving pulses from the ignition module (under the plenum). There is some lag, and the lag is greater with the rate at which rpm is changing. So, I guess the question is how much is too much?

Unless you can harvest a op-amp from an 1990+ cluster PC board, you might have to send it off to one of several places to have a new chip installed - usually for $150 to $250 (prices I ran across) - assuming your tach is actually more sluggish than normal (hence the use of a shift light instead of the tach needle).

P.

[robbz28]

Oh I ordered my shift light yesterday afternoon, I found the how to article fro HashMark I believe? Anyway, very straightforward.
My tach is calibrated ok, its just sluggish, especially when compared to my brothers 91. His is very responsive. If you wait until mine gets up to 6k you will be closer to 7k...hold yoir foot down another second and the tach will eventually catch up. There is an annoying delay.
I was more or less curious about an lcd tach. Thought it would be cool, also be able to be used as a memory tach. All kinds of possibilities. I used to bracket race and all I had visible was a monster tach with warning lights on my oil and water
I know now you can plug a reader into the odb-ii port and it will tell you everything going on.

[BigJohn]

You have an ODB-II port???

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

You have an ODB-II port???

sounds painful

[Kevin]

you can have the factory one reprogramed. I need to send my chip back to marc and have that done