If your tach isn’t working, join the club!

There are perhaps 10 different reasons why it quit. I’ll review many of these possible faults in this post.

Tachometers are often non-functional when Bugeyes arrive in our building. The mechanical tachs on the early cars are particularly problematic, because they rely on a number of parts and any one of them can fail. (We sell an electronic tach that’s more reliable and might help you get good information in your cockpit). Our electric unit is also very useful if you have an alternator with no mechanical tach drive. But if you insist on using that original mechanical assembly, this post will help you make it all work.

Above you can see one of our generator/alternators with the tach driven off the back of the unit, just like the original Bugeye and Mark II Sprites. As the generator or alternator spins, it spins the inner cable which transmits the rotational energy to the gauge. If anything gets in the way of the smooth transmission of energy, the tach will stick, jump, or otherwise fail to work.

Old English car issues are sometimes very easy to diagnose. When stuff leaks, there is a problem, except, of course, when it’s leaking oil, which is inevitable, and which is only really a problem when it floods your driveway or stains the tops of your shoes. 

This is Thor (named by the new owner). Thor was an online acquisition by our client in Minnesota. We picked the car up for him so we could review and upgrade the car before his trip home, and in the video below, you can see some of the issues we will address before the car departs.