Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2015 21:49:46 -1000
Reply-To: "SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott )" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott )" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Organization: Cosmic Reminders
Subject: Re: Tachometer in a weekender?
In-Reply-To: <CAHTkEuJYMxJa77ZjJDd0DX74WfBLe0zPShBxM6rWovhNA+dTyw@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
well...
geniouly and Most Conveniently ( talk about clever and practical car
design and contruction ! )
the wires on the main plug to the instrument cluster , T 14 ...can be
easily swapped from place to connector in the plug !
that means ....if you're say putting in a Instrument Cluster from a
later model van with tach ..
and say the green tach wire is on position 8 or whatever on an 84
( first appearance of a waterboxer vanagon tach is 84 Wolfsburg models
..so usually you'll have an 85 or 86 and later instrument clsuter with
tach to install in yer 84 or whatever )
and the Bentley Diagrams show that for an 86 say ..it's on position 10 .
you just open the connector by unclipping the ends..
carefully move the wires to the right spot ...could not be nicer !
one does of course need to actually look at, and decipher Bentley wiring
diagrams ..
they can be a little odd ot first for sure.
about the most complicated thing one would have to know is 1.9
waterboxers, up to 85..
only have one oil pressure switch and wire to the instrument cluster.
if yer puttin' in an 86 and later instrument cluster with Dynmaic Oil
Pressure System ..
besides getting the right wires in the right place....
would need to ground the high rpm oil pressure switch ( used on 86 and
later 2.1 wbxrs )
to trick it into thinking all is good oil pressure wise at high rpm.
Again ..Most Conveniently . .the logic of the high rpm oil press switch
is reverse of normal..
i.e..if the wire sees ground .
the circuit is happy
tust take the wire in your 86 and later instrument cluster that is for
that function and ground it. ..
I'm often the first person to complain about stupid engineering and
design ..
and I must say ..VW could not have made it easy to upgrade to a later
instrument cluster ..
as long as you udnerstand a few basic things..
and are willing to dig into the quite -good wiring diagrams ( generally
they're good, with exceptions ..rare mistake or two I gather ) and think
and study some.
it's all good.
On 6/24/2015 2:11 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
> I've attempted the changeover for my 84...a couple of times. It's an
> involved procedure, what with changing a lot of tiny small wire connections
> and messing with various foil connectors behind the cluster and trying to
> find the proper year, oil warning systems, resistors, etc.
>
> I ended up getting an inexpensive small aftermarket tach and using
> that...That big old clock still sits in my van, ticking, and sometimes it
> even is right...
>
> On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 9:13 PM, Neil N <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> No. ;)
>>
>> What model year?
>> There's a set of instructions here:
>> http://www.oldvolkshome.com/late_van_cluster_install.pdf
>>
>> Neil.
>>
>> On 6/23/15, Tyler Hardison <tyler@seraph-net.net> wrote:
>>
>>> My broken clock is of little interest to me. Has anyone replaced their
>>> clock with a tach?
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Neil n
>>
>> Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general <http://tubaneil.blogspot.ca>
>>
>> 1988 Westy Images <https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy>
>>
>> 1981 Westfalia "Jaco" Images, technical <http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>
>>
>> Vanagon-Bus VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>
>>
