Markeb01 Build Thread

[markeb01]

Back to something automotive for a change. For many years I obsessed about obtaining a genuine Sun FZ tachometer with the old school oval window face with the zero adjusting screw on the front, mounted in the deep NC-1 case. Five years ago I got as close as it gets for a person on a budget, and picked up one of the new FZ88R Sunpro models.

When I originally moved the tach up to the top of the dash, I had installed the requisite long cup but adapted it to hold a Mooneyes (Autometer) tach head:



When the FZ88R hit the market, and since I also had a genuine FZ Sun tach (only good for parts) it was an easy matter coming up with the extended studs for mounting the new gauge head in the deep cup and obtaining an authentic Bakelite adjuster screw head for the front bezel. Here’s what the assembled gauge looked like:



I was marginally disappointed the gauge face window was too small compared to the original, but learned to live with it. What I never really got used to however, was the loss of legibility switching from the full face sweep of the Moon/Autometer tach to the limited sweep of the oval window model. When busy accelerating hard, it’s hard to get an accurate reading of exactly how fast the engine is spinning simply because the numbers are so close together. In that regard the round tach was much nicer. But I never wanted to go back, as I always thought the round Moon faced gauge looked kind of goofy in the Sun cup.

So I’ve finally caved in and purchased one of the Sunpro SST802R tachometers. The glaring defect in these is the lack of a zero pin for the needle to rest on, so it drops to the bottom when off making the tach look broken:



It seems many of the early originals had a red pointer, but other than that and the drooping needle the new retro tach looks identical to a comparable original:



I guess I’ll learn to live with those variances as well, just like the “too small” face on the FZ model. The real incentive to do something now – came when I realized that Sunpro has sold out to Bosch. Gone from the face of the gauge are the words “Sun Super Tach” as there is apparently no longer a heritage relationship with that name. This is a photo of the new/current Bosch part number FST8000:



So I figured this might be the last chance to ever get one with the correct markings that at least pretends to be a genuine Sun Super Tach. If everything goes as planned, the new gauge will show up this Thursday. I’ll try and remember to take some photos when I have it apart to show the screw extensions that came from the original FZ88 to fit the new gauge(s) in the deep NC-1 cup.