I was with a friend today,and I stumbled across a TA in a junkyard. I have an 86, and It came with the 6 grand Tach. The Car I saw at the junk yard had a 8 grand tach. I'm wondering 2 things

1 Will the cluster be worth anything sence it has been in a junk yard in the weather?

And 2 Would it work by just pluging it in? Or would it read like the old gauge?

I'm putting an other engine in my car soon, and I would like to retain the factory tach and the higher redline would be much nicer for my set up

 

8 grand tach, are you sure that car isn't a v6? if it was, the yellow would be at 5500, and the red at 6000.

 

Tell us what the top speed on your current speedo is and then tell us what year the T/A in the junkyard was and what top speed it has on its speedo. In 91 it went from cable to VSS so mixing guage clusters from 91 and 92 cars wouldnt work on a pre 91. As long as they are both 90 or older then it should work fine. It should also read the correct speed unless you change gears. I swapped a 145 mph speedo into my 90 RS (originally had a 110/115 speedo) but it reads 9 mph off because the gears were upgraded. Before I did the swap my 110/115 speedo also read 9 mph off so yeah it should read the correct speed. These were the cable driven type BTW

 

86-92 the parts are interchangable, not sure about the whole cluster, but the tach, speedo, and gages can be interchanged in those years.

Under ONE condition, Since the tach was from a V8, you have to put it into a V8 car in order for it to read right.

I have a 8K Tach and 140 Speedo from a 1991 GTA in my 87 Formula, thats how I know. I also have a 120 Speedo that worked as well from a 92 Firebird.

If you convert the speedo over and do not want to make your Odometer inaccurate, you can remove the odometer, and using all of the new parts, motors board, etc, screw the new speedo into its place, and just use the odometer parts...

John

 

Yeah I forgot to mention that i have an 86 lg4 TA with the 140 speedo, and the car.....as best as I could tell was about the same year with a tpi 305 or 350. It has the exact same gauges except the tach is bigger. I am guessing it is 90 or below because it looks exactly like mine.....

Is it going to be in good shape though? It looked fine, but it has been in the weather for a while. The dash is taken apart and it is just haning there. The t-tops are out of the car, and I'm sure it has been there for a while because I have been to the same junkyard many years ago and saw it sitting there.
Is it worth anything?

 

its probably just dirty, I have seen IP's in junkards that looked like they should be trashed because of weather, but when you take them apart they were fine.

I personally would never pay more than $70 for an IP. You might find one for more on e-bay.

Note: As to my knowledge All firebirds, T/A's included starting in 86 got the electronic speedo EXCEPT firebirds without gages, if they had the Idiot light package, instead of the gage package they were cable driven to my knowledge.

John

 

If it helps out, when I tore mine apart to change the bulbs, the whole cluster comes out in one piece, and it all has one plug that goes to the car.

 

Yeah I wondered about that. Although the cluster I saw had less miles, I want it to be right. How do the gauges come apart?

Like I said, I tore the dash apart to change bulbs, and I didn't try to take the gagues apart, but they were all connected. I don't see how I could change just one part of them?

 

If you convert the speedo over and do not want to make your Odometer inaccurate, you can remove the odometer, and using all of the new parts, motors board, etc, screw the new speedo into its place, and just use the odometer parts...

John


I was wondering that. I would like to keep the mileage right, Although the other car did show less miles But I don't understand how you could change the gauges seperatly. How would I go about this?

 

each of the gages screw into the front, and back of the white holder. You can remove everything and transplant it if you would like.

Once you have the clear plastic shield off it becomes reasonably obvious.

you will need a #2 & #1 Phillips Screwdriver if I remember right.

Keep in mind that its illegal to "Roll Back" the miles on the Odometer if you ever plan on selling the car.

John

 

yeah that's why i wanted to transplant the odometer when, and if I do it. I don't want to break the law.

 

And to be totally legal safe, when/if you ever sell the car you need to make sure the buyer understands its not the original odometer, even if the miles read the same. They need to be notified or else you are breaking a federal law.

 

Is there no way to change the reading on the odometer if you were to replace it? Does GM sell new ones, or are they discontinued? I understand that if you change the odometer, it's normal practice to mark the old mileage on the door, is this correct?

Mathius

 

I've heard of that before, but not for sure?

 

i think that if u do that u also have to notify the DMV =/

 

In Florida at least, most cars as old as 3rd gens generally say "odometer exempt" on the title. I think pretty much any car with over 100k miles on the clock, they just slap that puppy on the title.

 

I think your right.

 

in Michigan, its 10 years and then the Odometer is no longer on the title when renewed. no matter the miles.

John

 

that has me wondering. i think once the odometer hits 100k here in ohio, it's exempt.

my camaro is odometer exempt. ~165k miles

mom's caravan is odo exempt ~ 208k miles, purchased @155k.

i'd have to see the title, but i think my s10 when the previous owner had it, the odo status was actual @ ~ 83k miles, purchased @ 123,924 on the odo. new title will read exempt.

the farm truck (94 ford) was actual i'm pretty sure. has ~120k on it now.

my old 86 cavalier had a notice on title when my parents bought it saying "odometer discreprency". the original odometer quit working at ~30k miles. it had ~150k when i totalled in in jan. 1999.

 

i'm sorry, what was that last line about the totaling a cavalier ? =D