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Hey guys, back again. 71 240z is running great, but I cant get the tach to work. I have a .3 ohm Pertronix coil and Pertronix Ignitor. I have tried the stock wiring, and various other wiring, but to no avail. I did notice that there is a GW wire, a larger BW wire, and the another smaller BW wire wich is conjoined with a B wire via a coupler. Right now I have the GW on the front side of the ballast along with the conjoined smaller BW and B wires, and the larger BW wire on the rear side of the ballast along with the R wire from the Ignitor. The B wire from the Ignitor is on the - post of the coil and a small B wire connecting the + coil post to the front side of the ballast. Sorry, I know it's alot so I will post pictures if needed. Any thoughts fine gentlemen? Thanks, C

I recently installed the Crane xr3000 and used the 14 gauge wire - per the Crane instructions. However my tach is not steady and it will drop sometimes between shifts. It just generally works poorly. I have heard of a fix for this - anyone know what it is.

Has anyone had success with a tach amp and their stock tachometer? I have a '76 280z with an Electromotive XDi2 ignition. I ran the electromotive tach amp and my tach drops about below 1200 rpm and above 4000 rpm. Has anyone had success getting past this problem? This is an electronic issue with the amp confirmed by the electromotive technical rep not a loose wire problem.

My son has a 1973 240z with stock ignition, weber 40's and headers. We have purchased a MSD 6AL, Blaster 2 coil, and 1979 280Zx e12-80 distributor Does anyone have a good wiring diagram to use? After looking at the directions and searching the internet there seems to be a few ways to do this and we would like the Tach to work. It sounds like some folks use the 8920 tach adapter and some don't. Any help would be appreciated before we tackle the job. Thank you. Eric

This morning i decided to swap the ignitor installed on my 240z and after opening the distributor cap i notice something is missing, i guess it could be the ground wire,so i fabricated one with 2 terminals and installed a new pertronix ignitor model 1761 together with a 40511 new 3.0 ohms ignition coil. The car cranked up fine, but whenever you step on the gas the tachometer does not read correctly. Once it reaches to 5,000 RPM it jumps to 7000 goes back to zero, etc. If you have the car parked and step on the pedal it raises to 5,000 goes back to zero. Bottom line it is not Reading as it used to read with the former ignitor. What could be wrong here? Could i have missed something? I have attached pictures of the original 1761 ignitor and the one i just installed which is giving me problems. Your advice is highly appreciated.

My 280Z uses an MSD 6A ignition. I need to hook up the tachometer, but I don't know what to do. More specifically, the 6A has a grey wire that is related to the tachometer. I imagine the tachometer has some input wire that is looking for a specific voltage. My 6A is in my engine bay on the right side (near the relay box). Is there some convenient way for me to hook this up? I would prefer not having to run a wire through the firewall and splicing stuff onto my tach. Also, I do have the 8910 MSD module that is apparently required for correct functioning. Thanks! EDIT: Here is what I see in the relay box: http://imgur.com/a/0VyHN. I'm hoping I can use one of these. Thanks again!!

Hi all, Could you please help me with fixing my tachometer issue? I have 240z 1973 us version. The tachometer seams working on the first look properly. But it doesn't because it displays only +- half of real rpm. Tachometer can't go over 3000 rpm but the real rpm is on limit. I checked the coil and resistor and boths are ok. I have red coil 1.5ohm and the resistor is 1.8ohm. Thank you for any suggestions how to fix this issue. Thanks a lot. Kind regards, Radim

I am in information overload here and I am looking for setups that have worked for others. I have searched and searched and with all the info out there on all the Z sites I can't determine what actually worked under what circumstances. I mean seriously, you can prove and then disprove the theory of relativity within a post or two in some of these threads. The short of it is that I am in the process of connecting an MSD 6AL with MSD Coil to a 280ZX Distrubutor in a '72 240Z with the original tachometer. The more complete version: I recently picked up a somewhat used Rebello 3.2L with triple Mikunis and have already put it in place... along with replacing the entire driveline... ACT Clutch, T-5, STi R180 LSD, Wolf Creek Halfshafts. The ZX ignition module was not being used in the previous owners setup and it was running the MSD instead. The wiring for the MSD seems pretty straight forward... because there isn't a module the green/purple goes straight to the dizzy which is wired for it. The coil is straight forward. I "think" I need the 8920 Tach Adapter... but in a thread somewhere somebody was swearing up and down they were using the 8910... and then there is the 8910EIS. And in a few spots people are saying 8610, which MUST be a typo because that's CSB crank trigger kit. I'm pretty certain I will need one, but which? I remove the ballast right? Where do those wires end up? Aren't they going to the tach? Is this where the Adapter comes into play? Also, what is this about the ignition signal running through the Tach and if a wire somewhere is disconnected it won't start? I plan to connect the MSD up tomorrow and fire this baby up with or without the Tach, I just want to know that a solution is on the way. I've actually got a brand new Mallory Uni Lite in a box that will eventually find it's way on this motor, but I want to prove the engine works in this car with it's last known good setup before I start swapping parts. Thanks!

Are there any tach upgrades available?? I see some have used Autometer 3990's 5" units. However you lose the turn signals and high beam indicator and the tach is to large to fix the bezel. Any other choices or ideas???????

OK my tach,fuel gauge,temp and oil preasure as well as the choke light have stopped working a few times in the last couple days. Then they just start working again, wow its the magic Z. In any case this magic is not quite as entertaining as it is a pain in the butt. Any ideas what it could be, the car is a 1974 260z. Thanks Glenn

Long time 240z romantic. Sold my optic yellow 1972 240 years ago but still have parts including a new in the box tachometer. Any suggestions on how I could match my extra part with someones neeed would be appreciated. Matt

Hey Z crowd. I just pick up a beautiful dust blue '76 Z last week and already have a dozen parts coming to clean her up (new carpet, power window kit, etc). I have an MSD 6AL controller and Blaster 2 coil from a Chevy 383 stroker that I'm no longer using and figured, why not, throw it in the Z. My research has brought me to understand that I need a tach adapter to make the 5v square wave from the MSD work with the 12v sine(?) wave needed for the tach and fuel injection of the Z. The adapter MSD forums suggested was the 8910. They have about $50 for it. Thing is, if I could get a schematic for the adapter, or a similar circuit, I could simply build my own. I've noticed there are some pretty electronic-savvy people on here, so I joined. So I guess here is the short question: How do I convert the MSD 5v square wave to a 1976 Z's 12v sine wave? Also, do I even have the correct values? Thanks everyone.

Hi- I have a 1972z, and there is a Allison XR700 Electronic ignition with a CraneCams HI-6 Discharge ignition with auto sequence rev limiter in my car, it was installed before I bought the car. The tach is not working, and I was wondering where does the tach connect to with this system. THANKS@

I have been working on my Z for almost 2 years now, and what an experience! I am getting it back to really good condition. It has an electronic/push button start, and the tach is not functional. Anyone know where the tach should be hooked up to? Thanks!

Thought the topic would grab some attention. I've got a 1981 280zx non-turbo, auto tranny, with about 124k miles on it. So for about 3 years now, the car would randomly shut off while I was driving. Didn't matter how fast I was going, what the temperature outside was, the time of day, how much fuel I had, what day of the week it was, what mood I was in... The solution was to just turn it over again and it would start right back up. Usually, I could be doing 70 on the freeway, and it could die, I could put it in neutral and coast while I restarted it. Or I could be sitting at a stoplight and the same thing would happen. Over time, it got progressively worse. It wouldn't immediately start back up, it might take a few tries. Eventually it got to the point where sometimes I couldn't start it back up. I got it towed 3 times, and by the time I got it back to the house... the car would start fine. I could not figure it out... there was no consistency. I replaced the ignition coil, the fuel pump, the fuel filter, spark plugs, spark plug wires, distributor, ignition switches. Nothing helped the problem. After doing all of this, and leaving the ignition switch dangling beneath the steering wheel while driving because I was in the middle of operations... I was driving along, and the car died. I lifted the ignition switch to put my key in to start it, and to my surprise, just by MOVING the switch, the car sprung back to life as if it had never shut off. So I drove around for a year like that... shaking my ignition switch whenever it would die while I was driving. Now... it's worse. Not even that works anymore... immediately. I may have to sit at the side of the road shaking wires beneath my dash for 5-20 minutes hoping that some magic will fix it. And so far, it has... but I predict that the condition is getting worse and soon it won't. Now... onto odd symptoms and things I've noticed. When the car dies, and I attempt to restart it, the starter motor works. There is no spark when it is in the "no-start" condition at the coil. The tachometer does not even jump when the starter is running (it does when it starts correctly.) I have run a wire directly from the BW wire at the ignition switch to the coil, thinking there was a discontinuity in the harness. Did not work. My current theory after running across an unrelated post: the tach might be damaged and is not completing the circuit to the ignition coil... or a wire could be loose. Help? Please?