| Author | Message | ||
     Mmelvis |
Installed the smaller tach from JC Whitney. Does not have the shift light or high RPM recall. Mounted up in a temp dash that I fabricated to see how well I like it. Right now it is hooked up with the inductive pickup. Seems to work well, not hard to read either. Here is a picture  | ||
| Ezblast |
James used a piece of plexiglass - you could get in the color of your choice - to mount his speedo - that looks good though - did you fab it? GT - JBOTDS! EZ  | ||
| Mmelvis |
EZ, made the dash from an old metal TV shelf someone gave me.I did not have to paint the metal since it was already anodized. I just need to get some trim for the edges. I have never worked with plexiglass. Is it hard to bend without breaking ? | ||
| Ezblast |
Good question - I've seen it worked a lot of ways in mfg. but by hand - hmm - I'll look into it - I've heard of heat bending it but how strong would the bend be is a good question - if thick enough? - will try to find out. GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Naustin |
Looks good. :tup: Too bad the face isn't as white as the speedo... | ||
| Ezblast |
Bending: In my opinion, a heat gun used for stripping paint ($25) works best when trying to bend acrylic. With a pencil, mark where you want to bend the Plexiglas. Place that line on an edge that you can bend it over. Then, with two people, one holding the heat gun and the other bending the acrylic, move the heat gun slowly, back and forth across the line. You won’t have to heat both sides, just the outside. Stay far enough from the acrylic so that it doesn’t melt or bubble. You can start out at 4 inches away and work your way towards the acrylic until you find a distance you find works best. When the Plexiglass gets soft, you will see it start to sag, but you will need to keep heating slowly. Don’t rush this part. Gently, start bending the Plexiglas downward. When you get the desired bend, remove the heat, and hold it in place until it cools. If you want to speed this up you can either direct a fan on it, or drip water over the bent edge. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_acrylic.php Doesn't sound hard to do to me - good luck! GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Mmelvis |
Thanks for the link EZ | ||
| Sjh |
Is there any way to use a tach off one of the newer tube frame buells such as a M2? Or does the 2 cylinders thing not make it possible? | ||
| Ezblast |
No | ||
| Jprovo |
The 2 cylinder vs one cylinder thing make is impossible unless you change ignitions. James | ||
| Berkshire |
Mmelvis, how is the tach holding up? Have you had it in bad weather yet? Just wondering - I looked for it on the JC Whitney web site and found it in the automotive section, so I figure it might not be as weatherproof as a unit that's specifically made for a motorcycle. I definately like the larger size, and the price is right too! The most likely looking unit that I found on the Westach web site was also listed under automotive products, so the "ingress protection" question applies to that one too. Down here, we have about a 30-40% chance of a "very brief but very intense" rainfall on any given day in the summertime. In my line of work, I would look for the term "IP-66" or "NEMA4" to tell me that a unit would be suitably waterproof. Unfortunately, manufacturers and distributors of "consumer" products tend to "water down" the tech info that they make available to the public - or eliminate it altogether. so... anyone know how either of these units would stand up to a heavy downpour, or a wet soapy brush and a rinsing blast from a sprayer on the end of a water hose? | ||
| Msgdld |
Aren't you afraid of the Plexiglass breaking? My experience is limited, but hasn't shown it to be very resilient. I.E. it breaks. I'd be more inclined to use an aluminum plate. | ||
| Mmelvis |
Berkshire: The unit has made it through some very heavy florida down pours. No problems as of yet with the tach still working. Still have the metal mount shown in the picture, have added edging so the edges are not so rough. I would think the Westach would hold up better to the weather. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
My Westach has only seen a half dozen washes and very little rain in the year+ and 2500 miles since its been on. So far no weather problems. EZ's Westach has probably seen more rain than mine especially since it rains (or fogs/mists) a hellova lot where he lives. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Hey Mmelvis is your tach diameter the same as the speedo? IE could the JC whitney tach be mounted in place of the speedo? | ||
| Ezblast |
Occasionally some foggging - never failed so far! GT - JBOTDS! EZ | ||
| Mmelvis |
Gearhead: The tach is close to the same diameter, not sure about the depth. Would need to check the tech specs on the depth or measure it. Web address to the manual http://www.iequus.com/assets/manuals/93-0012.revB.pdf (Message edited by mmelvis on January 10, 2006) | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
Thanks! I dont care about the depth. It would be nice to swap out the speedo for a tach (into the stock speedo hole) when racing (and it would look very stock!). | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
PS Your tach/speedo combo looks very factory! | ||
| Berkshire |
thanks! | ||
| Spooky |
Here the link for the tachs that JC Whitney sales. I'm planning on ordering one next week. http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/tf-Browse/s-10101/Pr-p_Product.CATENT RY_ID:2008897/showCustom-0/p-2008897/N-111+10201+600002124/c-10101 Eric  | ||
| Jmynes |
Anybody have a ballpark price on the Westach? I don't see prices on their website. Dakota's got a mini tach (2" round) for $169, looks the same as their $259 version for motorcycles. | ||
| Gearheaderiko |
$160 - 6 week build time (made to order). If you buy anything else make sure it will work on the Blast (single cylinder). In the 'early days' it seemed difficult to find one that would work. | ||
| Dustyjacket |
I finally got my Westach and dash installed. The dash was a little thin and needed a washer for each holddown bolt. I made a mistake soldering my splice into the pink wire - and it took me a few hours to clean that mess up, but overall the install was pretty easy. The Tach instructions talk about a white wire, but there was none - they were talking about the wire from the light switch. I tapped the accessory" wire going to the speedo (orange/white) and the black ground from the speedo. Put in bullet connectors so I could pull it if needed. Takes a second to get going but then seems responsive enough. My wife loves it. (They forgot to paint the needle black, but it matches the speedo.)  | ||
| Ezblast |
Well Done! | ||
| Mabueller |
Very nice job. I'm thinking of doing this as a winter project and adding a clock below the speedo so I know how long I've been out doing errands ... . My wife should have a corner of her art studio available for some artistic changes. Art is in the eye of the beholder so they say. | ||
| Naustin |
That looks great! | ||
| Berkshire |
Erik, That tach is exactly the same O.D. as the stock speedo, and it even comes with two screws and bosses to accept them on the back of the tach, and they're the same distance apart as the two screws on the back of the stock speedo. It IS a little deeper than the stock speedo, but not by much - should be VERY easy to make it fit. For your application, I would just buy an extra p/n M0660.T and swap the whole assy on race day - the "dash" costs $4.50, and the rubber ring is $11.50 - I bought both parts yesterday and oddly enough, the dealer had them IN STOCK!!! Yep, they don't stock turn signals, or levers, or "consumables", or any of the crucial one-time-use-only bolts that are frequently needed, but damned if they don't have the two least likely to fail parts on the whole freakin' bike just sitting there on the shelf in case somebody wants to use them for a homemade dash! LOL | ||
| Berkshire |
The rubber ring is H-D p/n 67121-95, so I guess it's not THAT big a surprise they had that piece. I bought the same tach at my local O'reilly's (sp?) auto parts, iEquus #8068 - $69.95 I can *just* see all of the "useful" part of the speedo & indicators...  This is the "git 'er done" mounting method - it's sturdy, but probably too exposed for long term bad weather use. It's made to go in a car, so I covered the back of the unit with electrical tape and wrapped it down over the plugs and the upper part of the wiring.  Tight fit! The plate is tapped, and nylock nuts are used as locknuts underneath - no worries!  | ||
| Cwizzle |
hey berk where did you get that handle bar mount did u make it and if you did how much would you charge to make another on |
