Installing a Tacho to 80 series

Go and get a DX,RV, GXL dash from a wreckers. It will be better than sticking an aftermarket Tacho on the dash. All the wiring should already be there for it.

Cheers
Dave

The wiring will be there, but if the fuel pump hasn't been touched it won't have the pickup sensor in it.

I see you have a diesel. As already said, the simplest way would be to get an 80 series tacho from a wrecker. There's a 99% chance that the wiring is already there in the wagon, you just need to connect each end.
Just make sure if you're getting a tacho from the wreckers that
a) it's for a diesel,
b) the engine has a matching sender in the block - you'll probably have to check a workshop manual to find it. Chances are that if there was no tacho when delivered, then there won't be a sender in the engine block. Not sure what Toyota do, but the Nissan 4.2 sender was mounted on the housing in front of the cam gears and picked up pulses from the timing gear.
Bascially, petrol engines derive their tacho pulses from the ignition or ecu, but the older diesels need an electromagnetic sender to pick up pulses from some rotating part in the engine (similar to speedo senders in a gearbox).
cheers,
Gerry

The tacho sender unit for a 1hz is on the engine side of the injection pump. I don't know if your pump would already have it fitted, it's very difficult to get at without removing the pump. Also the sender unit is made from very thin aluminium and can be easily sheared off when tightening. ( I'm speaking from experience here ).
Regards Jon

Like Sonny and Jon have said above, the Std and DX models have no tacho, and unfortunately the injector pump lacks the required sender.

Most people I know just get used to driving without it. I don't know what Toyota were thinking when they decided these model could do without a tacho! One of my kids has a Std 1997 model, so we'd be interested if anyone comes up with a good alternative.

Hi slyder,

I have a 1993 std 80 series and l fitted a VDO tacho on the dash right in the right hand side next to door pillar and then the electronic pick up comes off the alternator also it is wired into dash lights so it dims when adjusted.

l got a auto elec to install it for me back in 1997 and have had no trouble with it at all. When l first put it in it was held in place with double sided tape and it has not moved at all.

Hope this helps,

David

Thnaks to all for feedback.

I understand that I don't have a sender on my fuel pump and heard to have one put on is only a viable option if you haveing the pump removed and worked on, otherwise it is cost prohibitive.

Looking around I think you can get a VDO guage that takes a feed off the "W" terminal on the alternator. The trick is getting the calibration correct becuase of the pully size, poles on alternator etc etc. This required a bunch of calculations to understand how many pulses generated by the alternator to a revolution of the engine.

A suggestion was to go to a mechanic, or similar, who has an optical tacho to take readings at different revs and calibrate the VDO (little screw adjustment) to that. I might cost a few $ but alot easier and possibly more accurate too.

Was also told that the LCOOL had discussion on this too, so I will get into that