Dead 330 tachometer

[Steve Meltzer]

As my most recent post indicates, happily, I got my Webers going pretty well. During this exercise, I connected my old Sears dwell/amp/tach to the right-side coil. It worked well throughout the process; no indication of any problem. However, about half way through setting up the carbs and making the required adjustments, the tach on the 330 GTC stopped working. No sparks, no fuss: nuthin', just dead. Can't see any obvious cause here, and no, tapping on the tach's glass face didn't help! (Sears unit works just fine.)
Can't see anything I did that would have caused this, yet it seems too much to be just a co-inkny-dink. Any thoughts here? Where do I start? The schematic is pretty hard to read, esp since I was never very good at interpreting them anyhow. thanx steve meltzer

[tyang]

My tach on the 330 is mechanical running off the back of one of the distributors. Is the GTC electric?

Tom

[330GT]

The GTC tach is mechanical. I would check for loose cable at either end or possibly the inner cable broke. The cable runs from the rear of the RH distributor through the firewall to the back of the tach.

[Steve Meltzer]

thanx so much. I was too tired to start crawling around under the dash to find out much...now I know where to start. thanx again. s

[Art S.]

Does the tach have the same angle gear drive that the speedo has? I went through several of those on my car.

Art S.

[Jim]

It is rather easy to remove the tach from the dash. Simply unthread the tach cable by reaching from beneath the dash, and unplug the several lamps (label their positions). There may be several clips holding the tach to the back of the fascia. These can be turned/loosened. Then pull the tach out of the dash. Then start the engine and see if the cable spins.

[Steve Meltzer]

thanx for the advice. s

[Michael Bayer]

You can begin by reaching under the dash (at least on a 330GT series II) and unscrew the cable from the tach housing. Starting there you will know 1) if its loose you have the solution) 2) if not, once its out and the motor is running from the moving end you will know if the cable and right angle drive is whole, if not then check to see the cable is tight on the right angle. and so on...Good hunting. M

[larryingreenback]

These are mechanical; if you cannot resolve the problem, I suggest that you contact Margaret Lucas at Mo Ma Manufacturing in Albuquerque, New Mexico for advice or repairs. She is very knowledgeable!

Larry B.

[Steve Meltzer]

Larry, Do you have a phone number or email for her? thanx so much. steve

[Rudy van Daalen Wetters]

Steve,

Mo Ma is a very reputable place for your tach. I knew Margaret when she was still here in North Hollywood. They fixed my speedo cable on my Fiat 500 in their parking lot in a matter of minutes. Mo Ma name came from abbrevation of Morris and Margaret.

Rudy van Daalen Wetters
1963 GTE s/n 4001
1966 330 GT s/n 8705

[Steve Meltzer]

Thanx guys. Was their shop "North Hollywood Speedomter", or something like that? s

[Rudy van Daalen Wetters]

From what I remember, I believe it was Mo Ma dba "North Hollywood Speedometer". You'd always see some exotic car in their lot because people used to drive their car to the shop. Margaret found a nice building in New Mexico and all her employees decided to move with her.

Rudy van Daalen Wetters
1963 GTE s/n 4001
1966 330 GT s/n 8705

[Steve Meltzer]

Since I'd never lubed the right angle drive, I started there. When I pulled the casting off the distributor, I noted that the end of the casting, with the gears visible, didn't have any sort of covering to protect it. You can see the gears just sort of hanging out in the grime, facing the fire wall. Table 13 in the shop manual shows this part (the entire casting) to be #44, but I can't tell if the unit should be sealed against the elements. I wanted to include a picture of the unit showing the gears open to the elements (they are on the other end of the tang that goes in to the engine) but wasn't sure how to do that. Thanx. steve

[tyang]

Since I'd never lubed the right angle drive, I started there. When I pulled the casting off the distributor, I noted that the end of the casting, with the gears visible, didn't have any sort of covering to protect it. You can see the gears just sort of hanging out in the grime, facing the fire wall. Table 13 in the shop manual shows this part (the entire casting) to be #44, but I can't tell if the unit should be sealed against the elements. I wanted to include a picture of the unit showing the gears open to the elements (they are on the other end of the tang that goes in to the engine) but wasn't sure how to do that. Thanx. steve

I think there is a cover because I don't think I've ever seen exposed gears. I'll see if I can find an example to photograph sometime this week.

Tom