Autometer Tach - Shift Light - Rev Limiter NEW Hillclimb Car Video

[Greg Ward]

Hi guys,
I need some advice from those in the know on what I need to purchase (autometer is my preferred choice) to do this.

I want to have an RPM activated shift light which comes on at a certain predefined RPM, and then some other determined RPM later I want the rev limiter to activate.

I've never had a light or a limiter before (old school VDO tach) so I've no idea what to purchase or how it connects, I can see on the web, the tach by itself with the shift light, then a box with RPM pills, then another Autometer Pro control box, but that is only single function or something, like either light or limiter, yada yada.

I've also got 2 coils, but the usual 1 wire to connect to the tach.

So I'm at a loss as to what to buy to achieve what I'm trying to do.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Greg

[Neil Davies]

For the rev limiter I use MSD. I've got a 6AL box (with a 2-step, but that's not important!) which can have the chips plugged straight in or an adjustable (twist a knob) control box to control the RPM that the limiter cuts in at. I've also used an Omex rev limiter, which was quite considerably cheaper but harder to set/adjust, and would still work with the VDO tach. My Autometer tach has a built in shift light, so can't help you there.

I've also got a mag with an Autometer mag tach and a couple of Pro Control boxes but I've never used tham so I don't really know how to set them up I'm afraid...

[Greg Ward]

Thanks Neil,
However I may have been confusing in the way I worded the questions, I want to ditch my old VDO tach, and use all Autometer gear for the shift light and RPM, but don't know what to buy, that's all.

So I'm not trying to attach Autometer stuff to a VDO tach, if that makes sense?

I want to buy.

1. Autometer Tach
1. Autometer Shift light
1. Pro control box, or pill rpm increments box

I just don't know what combination I'm supposed to buy, a tachometer with a dial to dial in the shift light rpm, then the pro-control for the rev limiting function?

Sorry for the confusion.

Greg

[Neil Davies]

Ah, gotcha! I though you wanted to keep the VDO tach and use the Autometer shift light with it, which is possible!

I'm not going to be much further help I don't think, other than saying that the tach I use has the built in light, but it's only a small one on the face. It's not as bright as one of the seperate shift lights as it is so much smaller, but it's adjustable with a dial directly from the tach, so less to worry about with connections. It just takes the signal from the coil same as your VDO tach (red, black and green wires, plus white for the instrument face light (not the shift light!)). I prefer dials over pills if you are going to have to do regular adjustments. Pills are probably more reliable if you are going to set a limit and leave it there (less chance of dust, etc getting causght in the pot).

Hope this is of some use!

[Eric Ellis (57HotrodVW)]

Hey Greg,

Whatever you do, make sure that you mount everything with AL-YOU-MIN-EEYUM brackets...

You could go with a MSD 6AL ignition as Neil uses (very common/simple, with a built in chip adjustable rev limiter), and couple that with an Autometer tach that has a built-in shift light. Here are a few examples:

Auto Meter 3904 Sport-Comp Pedestal-Mount Tach
http://www.jegs.com/i/Auto+Meter/105/3904/10002/-1



Auto Meter 6857 Pro-Comp Pedestal-Mount Tachometer
http://www.jegs.com/i/Auto+Meter/105/6857/10002/-1



Auto Meter 6858 Ultra-Lite Single-Range Tachometer
http://www.jegs.com/i/Auto+Meter/105/6858/10002/-1

[Bernard Newbury]

Greg, you can go with the tachs as Eric suggested and then depending on what ignition system you are running you can add a MSD Swtch box.
http://www.msdignition.com/Products/RPM/Timing_Controls/RPM_Controls/8950_-_RPM_Activated_Switch.aspx
What are you trying to do? Activate what? It could be that you would be better off with somthing like a MSD digital 6 or 7.

[Greg Ward]

Thanks guys,
Again, I suppose I haven't explained everything in proper detail.

Let me start from  scratch.My current setup is, for tach, an old VDO tach, shift point marked by redline adjustable dial, it has NO shift light, and has NO rev limiting function on it, or any of the ignition.

The ignition is an electronic twin plug distributor, that connects to one coil for one set of plugs, and another coil for the other set of plugs, and I don't really want to change this, as it's working perfectly. So if you can picture a normal electronic distributor with 1 signal wire to the tach, and one wire to each of the coils, the cap has 2 hi tensions to each coil, and also 8 to the spark plugs.

Except, I am upgrading the engine, and this one must have a rev limiter, and I do want a shift light.

So my immediate thought was, I can get a tach like Eric has shown above, and some other box that controls the rev limit, but I want that to be adjustable, then I got confused with boxes that have chips or pills, or the dial adjustable pro-control.
My only other dilemma is depending on how it is configured, will it cut both sets of plugs or only one?

And Bernard the only thing I want the other box to control is the rev limiter.

So, what I'm thinking here is, I can set the shift light on the tach for 8000rpm, and the rev limiter for 8500rpm for example.

Cheers,

Greg

[Bernard Newbury]

Thanks guys,
Again, I suppose I haven't explained everything in proper detail.

Let me start from  scratch.My current setup is, for tach, an old VDO tach, shift point marked by redline adjustable dial, it has NO shift light, and has NO rev limiting function on it, or any of the ignition.

The ignition is an electronic twin plug distributor, that connects to one coil for one set of plugs, and another coil for the other set of plugs, and I don't really want to change this, as it's working perfectly. So if you can picture a normal electronic distributor with 1 signal wire to the tach, and one wire to each of the coils, the cap has 2 hi tensions to each coil, and also 8 to the spark plugs.

Except, I am upgrading the engine, and this one must have a rev limiter, and I do want a shift light.

So my immediate thought was, I can get a tach like Eric has shown above, and some other box that controls the rev limit, but I want that to be adjustable, then I got confused with boxes that have chips or pills, or the dial adjustable pro-control.
My only other dilemma is depending on how it is configured, will it cut both sets of plugs or only one?

And Bernard the only thing I want the other box to control is the rev limiter.

So, what I'm thinking here is, I can set the shift light on the tach for 8000rpm, and the rev limiter for 8500rpm for example.

Cheers,

Greg

You could acheive what you want very easy if you were to change your ignition to a MSD digital 6 or 7 as this has a 2 step RPM limit built into it. Bernie   

[Eric Ellis (57HotrodVW)]

...So my immediate thought was, I can get a tach like Eric has shown above, and some other box that controls the rev limit, but I want that to be adjustable, then I got confused with boxes that have chips or pills, or the dial adjustable pro-control.
My only other dilemma is depending on how it is configured, will it cut both sets of plugs or only one?...

The rev limiter interrupts the signal to the coil, alternating on/off, and slowing the firing sequence. Since your dual-plug distributor is downstream of the coil, I'd say that power is cut to both sets of plugs.

An alternative to going with the oft-proven MSD 6AL with a built-in rev limiter maybe you'd want to add something like the MSD 8728 Soft Touch Rev Limiter to your current ignition, along w/one of the above tachs:

http://www.msdignition.com/product.aspx?id=6937 (the image below is an MSD8738, which differs slightly from the 8728 because of the plug that it has for connection to a 6T/6TN box)

[Greg Ward]

Thanks Bernie,

Thanks Eric,
That soft touch I believe is the same as this,which was why I was talking autometer, but this one has the dial and not the pill way of functioning

http://www.ultrarev.com/5301-am.html

[Eric Ellis (57HotrodVW)]

MSD-6AL-2 Ignition ControlMSD-6AL-2 Ignition Control
http://www.msdignition.com/product.aspx?id=5813



+

MSD 8207 Blaster SS Coil
http://www.msdignition.com/Products/Coils/Street/Strip/8207_-_MSD_Blaster_SS_Coil.aspx



+

Auto Meter 6857 Pro-Comp Pedestal-Mount Tachometer
http://www.jegs.com/i/Auto+Meter/105/6857/10002/-1

[Greg Ward]

I need two coils 

[dangerous]

Hi Greg,
if you have two coils you may not be able to use the soft touch rev control,
without having two units, one for each coil!

The MSD limits RPM in a totally different way to the Autometer Pro control.

Although not as smooth as the MSD,
the Autometer Pro Control actually cuts the 12 volt supply, and so should be easilly adapted to your system.

Before I went to the 6AL in my car to control launch, I used the Pro control and it saved my engine many times.
In fact, it is still wired into the car, but set 500 rpm higher than the MSD in case it ever fails(eg chip falls out?)

[Greg Ward]

Finally finished the new car.

Some pics of how the dash came out.

[ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ] [ Attachment: You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[Eric Ellis (57HotrodVW)]

Finally finished the new car.

Some pics of how the dash came out.

Looks good Greg, but I don't think that your stock style, semi-hemi cut heads are going to require any more than half the range of that tach...

[Greg Ward]

Eric you are a RIOT mate... 

Of course what Eric wrote is not true.

Proof below:

First race in the new car, unfortunately missed a whole day due to exploding CV's...

Run 1
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/U5G8y8rsEBs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/U5G8y8rsEBs</a>

Run 2
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/g0m7_KVqrH0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/g0m7_KVqrH0</a>

Run3
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/8AbQIjp1JqY" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/8AbQIjp1JqY</a>

Greg

[herbieharv]

looks like you need a bit more traction off the line greg, nice to see another aussie on here