On my mechanical gauges where they mount to the plastic panel have 2 round steel plates that sandwich the plastic between them. (P.O. cut the holes to big for the gauges) It seems to help spread the stress of the mounting points across more surface area. for plastic that has sat in the desert for 60 years it is remarkably undamaged, only crack is on one of the spots where 1 of the screws goes to hold the cluster to the panel.
I figured that a tach is fairly useless seeing as I can hear the rpms of the motor all the time anyways, and I have an old dwell meter in the garage if I ever do need to know for sure what the rpms are.
really just trying to decide what temp gauge to use and what to put in place of the one that's getting removed.
The only reason I was leaning towards the mechanical temp gauge is that it seems to have been installed to replace the electronic one once it stopped functioning. Sadly it would appear that the mechanical temp gauge's line was chewed through by some sort of super rat, I would assume. (super rats must like ether).
I'm not sure where the electronic temp gauge goes. when I start following the wires (and using the wiring diagram as reference), I notice that I'm missing the wires the go from it to the motor. They disappear somewhere in the middle of the harness. (it got to hot outside to keep cutting the tape back).
Either way I'm still waiting until the first when I can pick up the remaining materials need. (as long as it's about $50 or less). If I exceed that price range it's waiting another month. So I have lots of time to think about and plan what I'm doing there.
