I have an aftermarket three gauge cluster that came installed in the car when I got it. I have a 1989 spec mini. The issue is that when I got the car, the tach wasn't hooked up. So I finally have time to work on the car, and I REALLY want to be able to monitor my revs. How exactly do I hook it up? I found this article on how to install it. It looks pretty simple and straight forward.



http://www.ocoop.com/mini-dashboard.htm


Is there anything else I need to know? Should my '89 spec mini have the two wires mentioned in step three already wired in? If not, what two wires do I need to connect or install yo make the tach work?

Thanks.

 

I recently wired up a nice AutoMeter tachometer to my '73 Mini, although I wired it into my Painless Wiring harness, not the original harness.

Regarding the tach wiring:
There are most likely 4 wires connecting the tach to the harness; 12v switched power, ground, COIL (can't remember + or - but I can find out if you want), and dash lighting. Also, the tach will have a 4/6/8 cyl adjusment on the back if it's a decent tach. You'll have to make sure it's set for 4 cyl.

If the tach is a name brand tach you should be able to find a wiring diagram online somewhere.

Good luck,
Jeff

 

Your mini should have a wire already in the loom its located behind clock cluster and is a wire on its own and has a bullet connector with a grey rubber moulded onto it ...................

its white with black tracer.checked mine today..........

 

if not attach wire to dist. side of coil

 

I need someone who may have replaced their cardboard dash around the center 3 gauge binnacle without vents. I paid $65 for a leather 2 piece dash replacement from Moss Motor. I can not see how it will fit my 73 Leyland MKIII mini dash. I would like to replace mine before Mini 50 next week.

 

I got it all ironed out, guys. Whoever hooked it up before me hooked it up to the wrong side of the coil.

 

what side of the coil is the correct side?

 

trigga71 -

Looking at a Mini wiring diagram, the tachometer is fed by a White/Black wire from the Negative (-) side of the coil.

 

Thats what i thought. When i hook that wire on the coil the car dies.

 

Then something is set up seriously wrong... the wire leading to the tach is nothing more than a sensor wire. This means that it doesn't feed anything TO the tach, all id does is sense the pulsing coming from the distributor. You should be able to connect and disconnect the wire to the tach at any time with no problems. Are you sure the wire is going directly to the tach and not touching or grounding anything else? And are you sure the distributor is connected to the coil solidly?

 

Ill check to make sure its not grounding on anything else. I haven't ben able to hook the wire up since I put the pertronix kit in, which has been long unpleasant process anyway.