Date:         Tue, 9 Sep 2003 03:14:27 -0400
Reply-To:     Alex Towner <altowner@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Alex Towner <altowner@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      tachometer, cluster swaps, mods
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

I don't think that I've caught all of the recent posts, but I'll contribute my knowledge about installing a tachometer in a 1985 Vanagon that never had one.

My plain 1985, non-GL, came with an analog clock. The 1986-91 cluster was a direct plug-in, as others on the list have found. Despite the fact that a green wire for the tach is installed in the instrument cluster wire harness,  there is no wire connected to the coil. I have found that the green tach wire from the cluster travels about 2 feet to a  4 pin connector that can be found in the area behind the fusebox. There is no corresponding wire on the other side of the connector as there would be on a 1985 that came stock with a tach. So in my case I ran a wire from the engine to this 4 pin connector rather than splicing into the green wire up near the cluster as others have done.

People that are running higher revving engines, such as an inline 4 Jetta engine like I am, will find the stock Vanagon tachometer redlined too low. To solve this I modified my tach with a tach from a Golf/Jetta 2. It has been a while since I performed this mod, but this is how I remember it: First, remove the printed circuit from the Vanagon cluster. Second, unscrew the tach from the cluster. Next carefully remove the needle and unscrew the gauge face. Remove the temp and fuel gauges and then remove the mechanism from the plastic housing by de-soldering the 2 wires that pass through the housing to the circuit board. Perform the same thing on your donor Golf/Jetta 2 tach (gauge and circuit board can be removed without de-soldering, but you will need to de-solder the circuit board from the wires in order to install it in the Vanagon housing). Install all of these pieces into the Vanagon housing and solder up the wires. Press the needle back on. Put the cluster back together. Be advised that the G/J 2 gauge face is slightly squared off on the bottom, and this will show a tiny bit in the window of the cluster.  Now you have a 7,000 RPM tachometer in your Vanagon which looks like it was factory installed. The following site is another person who has performed this modification along with nice white gauge overlays.
http://www.vgonman.com/7ktach.htm

List members have inquired about how to run wires from the engine compartment up to the dashboard. My solution was to use flexible water-tight conduit (from my local home center) under the van from front to back. I terminated one end of the conduit in the flat vertical panel in front of the engine. I followed the factory wire harness under the vehicle until about the middle of the wheelbase and then moved toward the hoses and pipes which travel above the center of the gas tank. Making sure to give plenty of space around hot parts and shift linkage, I followed the heater hoses to the interior of the van. I cut a hole in the large gasket in the body where the hoses enter the van in front of the shifter. When done a good coat of black urethane sealant around the gasket made everything water-tight. Now I just pull off the dashboard cover under the radio and have access to all the wiring I've installed from the engine to the front. Because I used conduit, I can use a wire snake to add more wires as needed. Likewise, I can remove long wires very quickly. This isn't concours quality, but it is very practical.