Borry

Deleted.

joe_padavano

A couple of quick answers. The overbraid on the tach wire is for shielding. The ignition pulses on that wire, on the passenger side of the firewall, can cause noise on the radio. The braid should be grounded at both ends. The electrical term is a Faraday Cage. Can't speak to the tach behavior, as I've never used a repro tach.

The oil pressure behavior is somewhat normal, particularly for a worn engine. As the oil heats up, viscosity goes down and so does pressure. Yes, pressure also varies with RPM.

Lady72nRob71

I installed this set and did not use a shielded cable. I routed it alongside and inside the engine harness until it went in through the firewall. The tach does work but that could depend on where the wire is routed.
Since you have the shielded wire, connect the shield to ground.
You used the right orange wire - it just provides 12V to the unit.

I have the same temperature gauge issue. I did a profile of the thing a while back.
One almost has to calibrate the gauge with an inline resistor to put the center of the gauge to normal operating temp.

Oil gauge seems normal.

Fuel gauge seems right - unless you know you are running low! I can run on F for 1/3 of a tank...

You were supposed to remove the green wire from the ignition switch connector and isolate it - sounds like you did that. That was for the "temp bulb check" feature of the idiot light pack.
No other wires should have been disturbed

Make sure you have the wires in the gauge cluster correct. Yes, the black one is not used. See my "rally pac stuff" link below.
Not sure why your fan is not working. Aside from the green and black wire mentioned, nothing else should have been disconnected. If you unseated the orange wire in the ignition switch connector (by that green one you pulled), or you did not plug that one back in all the way, the fan would not work.

BTW, WELCOME to CO!

svnt442

It is normal for ANY engine to loose oil pressure as it warms up. The oil thins out as it heats up and that causes the drop in oil pressure.

1971 442 convert

Not sure whether to start a new post or keep going here?? If I should start a new post just let me know.

I just had my rally pac installed and only ran the car about 10 mins and the tach is all over the map. Can someone help us with this or did we buy crap?? It's hardly moving then bouncing.

Lady72nRob71

Joe said your engine is worn, not me.

As mentioned, all oil is thicker when cold and thins out and flows easier when hot. This is normal and all my cars with gauges show higher presure on cold startup and lower when hot. If in the middle of the gauge, don't worry. At 92k, your engine is just now broke in.

If it is not burning oil, then keep using what you are using. I would not use 5W-anything though. 10W30 and 10W40 were the typical normal recommended weights in the manual.

As for your temp gauge, you need an IR thermometer to know how hot the engine really is. Harbor freight has cheapies that work well. The parts place simply does not care about proper cal. I have dealt with them long enough to know that...... Afterall, they stand by their fact that rounded power window switches are 'correct' for 72 cars!

1971 442 convert

Hey Rob was hoping you would pop up.

Any ideas on this tach jumping around thing.
Purchased everything from the Parts Place just installed yesterday and followed your brighting tips and they seemed to work great.
Only drove the car home quick so no idea yet on oil and temp but the tach is crazy??
Help.

Roger

Lady72nRob71

Roger, make sure your connection to the coil negative is tight and you used at least an 18 gauge wire. Hopefully you added a fuse holder and that a 2A fuse is in there.
If you bought the expensive tach lead, then it should be fine.
Also make sure that the tach case is making good ground contact to the metal strips on the instrument panel and that the strips are grounded well to the body. One member here has a stripped screw that prevented good ground contact.
Finally, verify a tight orange wire connection to the tach.

If none of this works, and the engine runs well, then you may have a defective unit.

1971 442 convert

Thanks Rob I will check that.