does anyone know of a tach that can read a 3 cylinder? Thanks dane

Google search found this http://www.omorimeter.com/Playback_Tacho.htm
among others. Must be a Geo 1.0 liter "Big Block" :D

Don't tell me you are going to put a tach on a Metro 3-banger??

Love the little cars... Had two of them, an '87 and a 2000..

And did you know that the '87/'88, 3-banger Suzuki Swift/Chevy Sprint car came stock turbo'ed!

Power went from 48hp n/a to 77hp turbo'ed.

Quite a 1,500 pound SK-8 Board!! 12" tires AND all... It was what the new Mini-Cooper SHOULD be like!!! They had just a low enough C.G. that they would corner a lot better then you would think and would actually run away from bigger cars in tight curves!!

It was killed b/c of insurance due to the turbo thing....

pdq67

I am trying to put the image of a suzuki swit/chevy sprint in my head, but I can't. I do know my brother had a suzuki sidekick that had to be the most underpowered car on the planet! anway..
Don't most of the aftermarket tachs work with different cylinder configs? Of course, I am unsure about a 3-cylinder which would matter to the poster. I've never bothered to look at them since I got one a while ago, but I do recall reading they could work with 4,6,8.. Perhaps they can be adapted to 3? Might want to call autometer or something before you jump on another unit. Just a thought, I really wanted to reply about someone enjoying a 3-cylinder! I think the dodge omni we had when I was younger took the cake, but I am wrong..

Matt

Bet the gas mileage is fantastic.

Originally posted by pdq67:
And did you know that the '87/'88, 3-banger Suzuki Swift/Chevy Sprint car came stock turbo'ed!

Yup, I had one. Little thing ran pretty good too. I remember getting something like 45mpg with the A/C full blast driving down the freeway.

I might still have it if a Snap-On truck didn't back into it killing the poor little thing.

all you need to get a tach to work is to figure out what resistor you need to run inline on the tach lead.
in my 76 Vega, i had a factory tach (7500 redline i think) set up for a 4 cylinder work perfect on the 350 i installed by getting a resistor out of another Vega tach and soldering it inline. if you can figure out what resistance is needed for it to work on a 6 cylinder, then all you need to do is set the tach for 6 cylinder and run the proper resistor inline.
hope i wasn't too confusing there.

Yes it is for a metro. It is my daily. I am away at college and the chevelle is in the garage at nj. the thing will not get anyworse than 26mpg. I'll shift bouncing off of the rev limiter and it wont get anyworse than 26. Supposedly on the highway doing the speed limit (even my geo does not know what that is, in fact all of my speeding tickets have been in the geo)it can get upwards of 45-50 mpg. Thanks for the help. Dane

Now nova. I understand what you are saying. but you took a resistor that you knew would work. I have no clue what the resistance should be so I would have to buy tons of resistors. Any ideas?

When I was commuting 180 miles a day some years back, my 1950 pound 2000 Metro 3-banger got right at 50 mpg running 58 to 62 w/o the a/c on!!

Pump the tires up hard and drive like an OLD-MAN and it will do it easy!!

As for my 1500 pound, '87 Chevy Sprint ER, I didn't know it when I had it but the EPA rated the little sucker using their highway driving cycle at 72 mpg OR some such number! (It's on their MPG Archive site somewhere?? I think the Honda 600 was higher??)

And with me driving it got right at 50 mpg running 70/75 mph all day long!!!!

AND they want to sell me a new $22,000, OVERWEIGHT, SOTA, hybrid/electric!! Give me a break!!!

Yes, GM has taught the rest of the car-makers around the world to sell us what THEY want to real good!!!

I'm just waiting for the SMARTCAR to come over here if M/B/C doesn't want $20,000 for it??

But I figure it will probably be an over-priced, high-tech, POS too!!!!

pdq67

was there ever a 3 cylinder car with a factory tach? if so, find one in the boneyard and get the tach from it and styeal the resistor out of it if it won't bolt into your dash.
or call Autometer and ask them what resistor to use.

Guys,
I could be wrong, but with 15 years of electronics as a career before the machine shop ....... A tachometer works by counting "pulses". A resistor in line would not have anything to do with the number of pulses it would see and therefore would not affect the rpm reading. If anything it would make it less reliable because of the decreased signal strength.

Good point. But how does the the tach switch between 4-6-8 cylinders and maintain an accurate reading...there has to be something in there...lol

Yes, they did come with factory tachs.

pdq67