This has been covered dozens of times I'm sure but I am looking for a current solution.

I have a 1987 Camaro 305 TPI that I swapped a 383 into. I would like the tach redline to be higher like on the V6 tach.

I have both tachs in my possession. I have read numerous posts about converting the tach by swapping resistors and boards.

Since I have both tachs, what exactly do I have to swap over to make the V6 tach work with a V8?

 

There are Firebird V8 tachs with 8,000 RPM scale. Wouldn't the Camaro have had something equivalent that you can buy used?

 

The V8 TPI tach has a redline of 5000 rpm. The v6 tach has a redline of 6000 rpm. I have both and read the v6 can be made to work with V8 if some parts are swapped.

 

With the Firebird, some V8 tachs are lower some tachs are higher, point is I found factory tachs with 8,000 RPM range and just swapped it into the dash. Camaro must have had a similar option with some engines, just find one of those gauge pods and use the tach.

Years ago I modified a calibration resistor in the V6 tach using a waveform generator. But I didn't know I could have bought the same face plate with a V8 tach and just screwed in to the dash.... Much easier.

 

Can't you just swap the V-6 faceplate onto the V-8 tach?...

 

None for Camaros

 

No. They are calibrated different. They do not interchange without modification to the components.

 

I don't know about Camaro, but the Firebird 6K and 8K rpm tachs have different range for the same needle sweep. An 8K rpm faceplate would indicate 33% higher rpm than the 6K rpm faceplate. You'd have to decrease needle sweep 33% to calibrate the tach. Would need a proper circuit board to make that happen.

Again, I calibrated my original V6 tach for use with V8 engine. You swap out the calibration resistor and verify the calibration with a waveform generator. If pairing with a V8 engine, then I think you got to slow it down something like 33% because the V6 gets 3 pulses per cycle but the V8 gets 4 pulses per cycle.

 

V6 tach gets 3 pulses per revolution from the distributor,..... V8 tach gets 8 pulses per revolution from the distributor. This is why you don't have an accurate Tach reading when just swapping a V6 ( for the higher RPM Yellow and Red lines ) into a V8 car.

I too wanted higher RPM readings to better match the engine output. The stock Berlinetta Tachometer begins to flash ON-&-OFF once the Yellow-line is reached and in the V8 that was 4500 RPM. I was making the thing flash like crazy almost every time I took a drive, so I swapped a V6 cluster ( TACH) into my car and used a Dakota Digital signal converter to calibrate the tach reading. Now,...... it begins to flash @ 5500 RPM, a much better match for my LT1.

My advice is to do the same thing,..... install whatever Firebird tach is the closest match for your engine Yellow/Red lines & then use a signal converter to adjust/calibrate for accuracy.

 

I don't want a firebird tach in my Camaro. Was just wanting to make the v6 6000rpm redline work if possible so it matched the dash. I guess it is too complicated.

 

(1) Find a smart person
(2) Pay that smart person
(3) Install the tach that the smart person re-calibrated

 

OK ----> Let me rephrase my message:

My advice is to do the same thing,..... install whatever CAMARO tach is the closest match for your engine Yellow/Red lines & then use a signal converter to adjust/calibrate for accuracy.


** I don't know why I had Firebird on the brain, the exact same scenario applies to any distributor driven V6 to V8 tachometer swap.

 

A signal converter will be the easiest

 

Ya',....... YELLOW and RED lines are different from V6 to V8 ( and V8 "HO" ) but they all top out @ 7000 RPM.

 

This has probably been the most frustrating thread I've had in the time I've been on thirdgen.

All of you responding know what I want, and even some of you have done it. But yet all I get is a run a round and bad advice that doesn't apply.

I don't want firebird tachs, I don't want to find another tach.

All I wanted to know is if I could swap electrical components from the V8 tach to make the v6 tach read properly.

I am not interested in any other ideas. If it can't be done, it can't be done and I will forget about it.

 

Really, dude?? SMH.
Why don't you go back and RE-READ the answers to your question. They were quite clear...

 

The only problem here is that the real solutions are too big for you.

 

I "literally" gave you the answer that you were looking for. Sorry for thinking you had a Firebird & for being so "frustrating"......... I'll be sure not to respond to anymore of your posts going forward. ​​​​​​​

 

There is no direct interchange from a V8 Tachometer to a V6 Tachometer, or vice-versa... Sorry.
Instrumentation readings will be inaccurate!

Can circuit modifications be made? ...sure!
Is it worth it? ...NO!

End of story.

 

hey what’s up buddy I have a 87 Camaro used to be a 2.8 V6 now it’s ls 5.3 with a 4l60e and I’m trying to get my dash worth cluster to work I got all the wires for my coolant my gas and my temperature I’ll try to get my RPMs to work and I bought a module from DeCora digital for the speedo and I was wondering did you know how to get to RPMs to work

 

Grave dig. Theres a tac wire coming off of the ls harness youll have to look at the pinout for your motor. Wire that to pin D6 on the C100 bulkhead connector beside the brake booster.



​​​​​​​As for the OP's question: There's a thread here which details converting a 7000RPM V6 tach to use V8 signals. It's as simple as desoldering a capacitor and replacing it. The other option is a box like the Dakota Digital SGI-100BT. It piggy backs in between the ignition and corrects the signal. Uses an appliction on your cell phone. If youre handy a $1.00 capacitor is a better deal than a $100.00 converter. Unless you change tire sizes often and care about your speedo being exact.

I feel your pain WRT all the guys that have 4000+ posts of being dismissive and not actually answering the question. Then they proceed to make a big deal about being called out for filling your thread with garbage replies.

 

The questions in this thread were answered. The O.P. didn't like the answers. Some people come here with the idea that they're ENTITLED to answers or help, and it's quite rude.
This is not a service that anyone is paying to use, and if someone is looking for help, they shouldn't be demanding, or get pissy when they don't like the answers they get. Most of the people here are fellow hobbyists and owe no one anything. I don't always get all the information I need here (although I often do) but I am always grateful when I do...

 

Read the comment directly above mine. Tell me it's not dismissive. Basically, repeat the same thing 4 other people said while trying to make the OP feel stupid for wanting answers to his original question. That's not how you grow a community, it's how you alienate members. It's a forum and people were hijacking his thread by basically telling him to get lost because the person responding didn't feel it was worth it. I just proved it'll save you 90+ dollars. That kind of response is cancerous and is not conducive to productive discussion.

 

That's simply not true. No one got "dismissive" until the O.P. threw a tantrum, acting like he was entitled to something. And he doesn't want to do what you suggested either...

 

Whats this?
It prompted this response

Which is hardly a tantrum. Some people decided that being told their answers werent adequate decided to get offended. IE tantrums. It simply IS TRUE.

And as for my answer, the link I posted does answer the question exactly. I also answered the later guys question. In one post, without flaming the OP. Yall need to get off your high horses.

 

Well you should feel good about yourself knowing that over a year later, you not only answered the guy's question, but criticized all those who didn't answer it to his satisfaction...

 

glad you can agree, next time somebody is looking for an answer to this they will see that not everybody acts like butthurt children when they don't get instant gratitude for not helping. As this convo clearly contributes nothing to the original question I'm going to stop filling the thread with more garbage. I can see how some of you have thousands of posts....

 

Whatever makes you feel virtuous...

 

I made that post. I agree with monkey-leader, that post wasn't helpful and it was rude. Seems silly in retrospect.

Also, some a-hole added another like to it today.

 

Yep, that was me...

 

I followed the three step process and got somebody smarter than me to calibrate mine. I mean you gotta be a serious nerd to have a waveform generator at your house.

 

He he... LOL!