Has anyone taken the guts out of an electric tach...

and put them into the "shell" of a mechanical one?
I have a set of gauges from a 1980 XS650 in pretty nice shape and they fit nicely on my 81 Seca 750. Because I'd read somewhere that someone else had used these gauages, I jumped ahead and made a mount with LED's etc then discovered the tach was mechanical. Hours of work down the toilet...
A quick search revealed that I should give up and find an electric one and it seems there are a few that share the same form factor as the old mechanical one I have.
In theory you'd think it would be feasable to connect whatever wiring the electric one uses to the "gear" that drives the needle on the mechanical one.
I know bad news and sarcastic remarks are forth coming...
Thanks

 

Not yet but I'm working on it. There is no "wiring' for the mechanical tach (other than the light.)

The key is to figure out exactly where to attach the wires for the electronic tach to pick up the pulses from the TCI coils and power the tach itself.

I plan to do exactly this (long term) to eliminate the tach cable on one of my 550 Secas (I'm adding an oil cooler from an FJ600 and there is a clearance issue.)

 

Sirhedgehog,
Its totally possable to fit the electronictac guts in the mechanical tac shell if you have a decent doner Or feel like buying a nice one.I used one from a honda hawk because it was a much smaller cluster than the stock xj The best part is most of the honda stuff meshes with our stuff.I have a bunch of pics Ill try to add so you can see how it works Or pm me if you need instructions on adding an electronic to your mechanical setup.

 

Thanks Ratchet,
I actually did it already...
I used the guts from my "fish finder" and put it in the housing of a different tach and presto!
I had to make a few adjustments to make it fit but everything worked out.
I'll post up some pics also.
thanks