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Installing a tachometer...

what is the build date of your 95?

you need to determine if you have a mechanical of electronic VSS


then you are going to have to find a cluster from a 95 that has the same type of speedo.
 
The Five-Oh! said:
granted he never specified if he was putting in a cluster with a tach or an aftermarket tach.
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werd.

If he doesnt care about making it look stock he can get a small aftermarket one and position it to his liking.

100_0303.jpg


installing a tach like that on a pre98 is EASY! Get an el-cheap-o tach from autozone, I think they are like $40 there. Wiring is simple, Red goes to a 12 volt power wire, which you can tap into on the wiring harness for the gauge cluster, if you have a multimeter use this to find a proper power source to tap into, you can also use the preexisting ground on the stock gauge cluster wiring harness too, it should just be a black wire, So black to black from the tach to the cluster harness. There also should be a wire for signal, that goes to a wire on the cluster harness that is WHITE with a BLACK STRIPE, then the 4th wire on the tachometer will be for driving at night, I tapped this into the dimmer switch to the right of the steering wheel, this will allow for the gauge to go bright and dim along with the rest of your gauges.
 
Yea, I was planning to put in an aftermarket tach... I do not care if it looks "stock," just as long as it looks "clean"...

So the signal for the engine revs comes through the "WHITE wire with a BLACK STRIPE"?

And all the wire tapping happens under the dash? Cool then, LOL...

Just one more thing (do not laugh), how do you tap a wire :eek:

EDIT: I guess I could just buy these, LOL... http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...&cp=&sr=1&origkw=Tap&kw=tap&parentPage=search
 
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BoSoxBruin said:
Yea, I was planning to put in an aftermarket tach... I do not care if it looks "stock," just as long as it looks "clean"...

So the signal for the engine revs comes through the "WHITE wire with a BLACK STRIPE"?

And all the wire tapping happens under the dash? Cool then, LOL...

Just one more thing (do not laugh), how do you tap a wire :eek:

EDIT: I guess I could just buy these, LOL... http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...&cp=&sr=1&origkw=Tap&kw=tap&parentPage=search
Click to expand...

well tap is another term for splice, which most aftermarket tach kits come with, you put the splice onto the wire of choice, and insert the bit of wire that goes to the tach into the splice, and crimp it all down, and it should send signal to the tach.
 
BoSoxBruin said:
Yea, I would like to know that too (I change my mind a lot, LOL)... But also, when you get the whole cluster, what do you do about the miles? Do you just switch them on the new cluster?
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In most states its actually illegal to tamper with the odometer, just an FYI, it is legal, however, if you document the mileage at which the change happened, it is illegal if you sell the car without someone knowing the odometer had been tampered with, even if it displays the correct mileage.

Because you have a 95 there is a high chance that the speedometer is cable driven, which would make it extremely difficult to find a gauge cluster with tach that is cable driven... in fact, I dont even think I have ever seen one... but the way to know is to look at the further most right number on the trip odometer, if its white with black numbers, your speedometer is electronic, which would make it easier to do the swap... if that particular number is orange, than you have a cable driven speedometer, which would mean you need to dig through the junkyard for a 95 (and 95 only) mystique (since every mystique had a tach) with I4 motor that has a cable driven speedometer.

It is a direct swap, just pull the cluster unplug the harnesses and plug in the new cluster, because all 95-98s had a tach wire running to the cluster. 99-00's without tach didnt have the tach wire, although there is a spot in the harness for the tach wire to be ran, which is what I did... but I still dont have a tach.

As for swapping the mileage, I have never seen the inside of a cable driven gauge cluster so dont quote me on this... but every cluster I have been inside, if you take apart the speedometer (take the needle and faceplate off) you will get to the odometer, which has a small, wheel on it that you can turn the mileage forward, but not backwards, so finding a cluster with less miles than you have now would be preferable, when you remove the needle also you need to recalibrate the speedometer needle when you put it back on, which requires a friend to drive at a steedy speed on the highway and you put the needle back on at the speed that they set.

anyways, its a huge hassle to put a factory tach on a 95 if its not electronic.
 
AliasJerk said:
In most states its actually illegal to tamper with the odometer, just an FYI, it is legal, however, if you document the mileage at which the change happened, it is illegal if you sell the car without someone knowing the odometer had been tampered with, even if it displays the correct mileage.

Because you have a 95 there is a high chance that the speedometer is cable driven, which would make it extremely difficult to find a gauge cluster with tach that is cable driven... in fact, I dont even think I have ever seen one... but the way to know is to look at the further most right number on the trip odometer, if its white with black numbers, your speedometer is electronic, which would make it easier to do the swap... if that particular number is orange, than you have a cable driven speedometer, which would mean you need to dig through the junkyard for a 95 (and 95 only) mystique (since every mystique had a tach) with I4 motor that has a cable driven speedometer.

It is a direct swap, just pull the cluster unplug the harnesses and plug in the new cluster, because all 95-98s had a tach wire running to the cluster. 99-00's without tach didnt have the tach wire, although there is a spot in the harness for the tach wire to be ran, which is what I did... but I still dont have a tach.

As for swapping the mileage, I have never seen the inside of a cable driven gauge cluster so dont quote me on this... but every cluster I have been inside, if you take apart the speedometer (take the needle and faceplate off) you will get to the odometer, which has a small, wheel on it that you can turn the mileage forward, but not backwards, so finding a cluster with less miles than you have now would be preferable, when you remove the needle also you need to recalibrate the speedometer needle when you put it back on, which requires a friend to drive at a steedy speed on the highway and you put the needle back on at the speed that they set.

anyways, its a huge hassle to put a factory tach on a 95 if its not electronic.
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so your saying a 98 would be pretty easy tho
 
AliasJerk said:
anyways, its a huge hassle to put a factory tach on a 95 if its not electronic.
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I am pretty sure that is is white with a black number, although it still sounds like a pain... And I think there is a 0.000001% chance of finding a cluster with less miles then mine in a junkyard... So we will see in the coming weeks what I decide to do, LOL...
 
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Random Hero said:
so your saying a 98 would be pretty easy tho
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provided you found a cluster from a 97-98 yes

Ford did a brilliant thing where every two years they changed up the wiring on the gauge clusters, any year will work, but make sure when you pluck the cluster from the junk yard you take the wiring harnesses with it, so you can splice them into your wiring harnesses to make it work.

changing the odometer isnt really as hard as it sounds, but technically even touching is illegal, I suggest people just find an after market tach, a small one like in the pic I provided, plus the glow gauges with the white HVAC and a white face tach looks really nice, at night its a really nice place to be the light glow is soothing i actually got a lot of complements on my interior in my old car.
 
if you want to go with a factory tach but still retain the correct mileage on the odometer then you have to do a little work.

first take your speedo and the new speedo out of the gauge clusters. youll notice that the non-tach speedo has a larger face but that everything behind the face is the same. pull the needles off of both and then unscrew the face plate from the back part on both. now screw the "new" face plate (the one from the cluster with the tach) onto your back portion. put the needle back on but leave it slightly loose. put everything back in the cluster but leave the plastic cover off. plug the cluster in the car, grab the GPS or calculator, stopwatch, pen, and paper, and go for a drive (preferebly on a road that you can set the cruise control on for a while). get up to speed and set the cruise. if you have GPS look at how fast it says your going and move the needle to that speed. if you dont then grab the stopwatch and time a few miles worth driving. then based on that time you can calculate your actual speed. set the needle to that number.

go home and finish putting everything back together and enjoy your new factory tach.
 
striker2 said:
if you want to go with a factory tach but still retain the correct mileage on the odometer then you have to do a little work.

first take your speedo and the new speedo out of the gauge clusters. youll notice that the non-tach speedo has a larger face but that everything behind the face is the same. pull the needles off of both and then unscrew the face plate from the back part on both. now screw the "new" face plate (the one from the cluster with the tach) onto your back portion. put the needle back on but leave it slightly loose. put everything back in the cluster but leave the plastic cover off. plug the cluster in the car, grab the GPS or calculator, stopwatch, pen, and paper, and go for a drive (preferebly on a road that you can set the cruise control on for a while). get up to speed and set the cruise. if you have GPS look at how fast it says your going and move the needle to that speed. if you dont then grab the stopwatch and time a few miles worth driving. then based on that time you can calculate your actual speed. set the needle to that number.

go home and finish putting everything back together and enjoy your new factory tach.
Click to expand...

So by doing this, I do not need any paperwork and I would not have to mention anything if I were to sell the car like Alias said I did if I were to manually change the odometer in the new cluster?
 
as was stated the hardest part is going to be finding one for your 95. you can probably get one for 10-20$ i would think.



edit: my local pull-a-part is about $20 for a cluster
 
striker2 said:
as was stated the hardest part is going to be finding one for your 95. you can probably get one for 10-20$ i would think.



edit: my local pull-a-part is about $20 for a cluster
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Looks like I will be making a stop at the junk yard tomorrow then, since I still need to fix my engine temp problem this afternoon (stupid DST :mad:)...

EDIT: My local U-Pull-It is only charging $17 :p
 
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