I have two projects going right now. lol one is my 79 F150, the other is my T-bird. my question is, does anybody know where I can get a rectangular tach. analog preferably, but if I have to go with a digital tach I guess I'll have to. lol in the thunderbird it will go on the dash in place of the digital clock. (with cutting required.) And the other will go on the left hand side of the dash on my truck. something like this.

 

nope, never seen one.

 

You could take the face off a round one and make a new square one.
-Johnboy

 

here is what i found, its for marine, but you should be able to retro fit into the truck, i have never seen square gauges or tach, not sure where you could find one? maybe a 70s or 80s car? had one? not sure? i did a quick google image search and came up with boat gauges, they seem to be really cool 70s/80s like, it will be hard to match the 73-79 ford truck gauges perfectly, best of luck, its a cool idea, i just have mine off the column (the previous owner clamped it on there, i converted the truck back to auto, but i am keeping the tach) good luck and keep us updated, i always like people doing tasteful mods to the old 73-79 ford trucks also i hope the info below helps! and i have a number of cool mod ideas for 73-79 trucks including LED vertical sequential taillights, the light starts at the bottom then to the next bulb, each taillight has 3 rows of LED's and they light up one row at a time, i am thinking of 4 rows vertical? it will be kinda like a vertical 60s Shelby Mustang taillight/Mercury Cougar taillight, but a few users on here don't like mods like that, i am sure you will get some hate for this square tach, but don't worry more people will like it than hate it

8000 RPM Faria square tach
Outboard Only
Hard to find 20 pole tach for Force
engines and older Chrysler outboards
Also for 4, 10, & 12 pole outboards

4" square bezel outside measurement
requires 3-1/4" round hole in dash

MSRP $109.00
Our Price $59.95







Faria Gauges


-Brent

 

thats pretty close to what I had in mind, but, those are meant for outboard boat motors I wish that would work though. lol I'm thinking I might have to just take a round one and modify it somehow.

 

i know i bleed Ford blue more than anyone, but this looks like a nice option, i know its made for a General Mishaps product, but i am sure you can order one and retro fit into the dash, at least it looks similar to the 70s Ford truck gauges, hope what i digged up helps you out and again best of luck, i will post more if i find it we are all Ford brothers and sisters i am glad to help you out, (heck i like to help out anyone with a vintage car or truck), i know i would appreciate someone helping me out






SHIFTWORKS - Super Sport In Dash Tach Conversion Kit

SHIFTWORKS - Nova In Dash Tach Conversion Kit

also i haven't really seen you around shameless? i hang out either in the 67-72 or mostly in the 73-79 area, but welcome to the dentside area of the fourm you will find lots of knowledgeable people on here, also NumberDummy is the king on here, if you need to know something ask him! he has the experience being a ford parts man back in the days of these old trucks! and he has all the dealer books to back up those years of wisdom!

from your signature your truck sounds sweet 70s Ford 4x4s rule!

-Brent

 

i don't know what the difference between a outboard tach and a auto tach would be? the outboard one seems to go to 8,000 rpm, that's about what you need for our old trucks, there is no way our old engines can go over 8 grand

if anyone on here is more into marine, they could shed some more light on the subject, but the ones for the Malibu and Nova would work for sure!

-Brent

 

I'd go with the second picture 1977f150xlt posted, or rebuild a round one to be square. I'm going to take all the square gauges out of my cluster and build them into cut up tin cans to fit the round holes on my new dash.

 

yeah the malibu tachs are pretty much just what I was thinking about. I wonder what the dementions are on those. lol guess It'll come down to having to call and ask them when I'm ready to order one.

 

The 1980-1986 Ford Trucks have rectangle tachs as an option.

 

eBay Motors: Ford F150 Dash Cluster Tach Gauge Truck Bronco Bezel F (item 310139327586 end time May-07-09 12:43:08 PDT)

even the 80-86 Ford truck tach is different looking than the 73-79 gauges, and what is the size of the 80-86 tach? also i have no idea what size the Malibu/nova tach is? those are the real questions needed, if there too big, they won't fit, if there too small, than you get my point, next minor problem is what are you going to use for a lens? or none at all? i am sure you can cut some nice Plexiglas up and it would look stock if you spend some time on it, again this is a really cool idea to avoid putting your tach on the column or wrecking a good dash via tach mount, and that location is perfect unless you got factory AIR, then it becomes a problem, otherwise that location is just pointless with out a AIR vent, i have seen round tach's put in the same location, and too me it doesn't look right, its either clamped to the column or a nice square rectangular tach modded to fit that vent spot on the dash

-Brent

 

Difference is...have you ever seen an 8 cylinder outboard? lol

 

Well its made for a Chrysler outboard, so it might have a HEMI? lol lol

it shouldn't matter if the outboard doesn't have 8 cylinders,

The tach works off the signal (on/off of the coil) generated by the negative side of the coil on a vehicle with a distributor. It is generated differently on a vehicle without a distributor. It can come from an ignition module or the vehicle PCM

that's why i don't see why using a marine tach would pose a problem? it doesn't matter how many cylinders, its all electronically controlled, plus the marine tach is a old one, its built for a old Chrysler outboard, which was almost 30 years ago, chances are it doesn't have a cpu or anything a modern outboard might have, (i don't think modern outboards have cpu's but then again I'm not as much into marine as i am auto)

again anyone with marine knowledge out there? i don't see a problem with using the marine tach, often things deemed marine can be used on land, like Naval jelly for removing rust, or even marine V8 engines (as long as they are built to go in the same direction as a land loving V8! other wise you will go in reverse even in drive!, *you see marine V8's will often have counter direction engines, if it has a left side engine it will run the propeller to the left, and the engine on the right will counter turn to the right, so when both engines are at full throttle they will push the boat straight forward, plus you can power down one side and power up the other side to make turns, kinda like how tanks steer* i know a little about the marine world

-Brent

 

Exactly my point it works off a signal from the coil. So if you have a 4 cyl tach and its spinning at 3,000 rpm, if you put that in a v8 it will say its spinning double the speed it actually is. When you buy an aftermarket tach there is a switch on the back that says 4,6 or 8 that way it reads the correct speed

 

Just make sure on Tachs, they have a setting for 4, 6, or 8 cyl..... That determines how fast it says your revving.... if you have a six cyl and have it set on 4 or 8 it will be off.

Joe