'63 FI tach cable and housing length

[Mike McKown]

It's been awhile since I looked in the parts books I have. I remember them to be not only confusing but also vague about the correct tach cable and housing length to use for a '63 FI car. I believe I remember the vendor catalogues being just as bad as the GM parts book. I don't remember any special listing in the vendor books about an exception for FI.

My car formerly had a 300 hp tach drive distributor in it. The cable in the car routed to the distrubutor correctly and was not in a bind. Now the car has a FI distributor in it and the 300 cable is way too long. No suprise as the FI distributor cable hookup is oriented on the housing differently than the 300 distributor.

I have a number of spare cables and housings but before I pull the dash out, I'd like to have a cable and housing length dimension that I know will fit and not be in a bind or strectched and routed wrong.

[Michael H.]

Re: '63 FI tach cable and housing length

Mike,

There were two cable/casings listed for 63, a 1st design and a 2nd design, but neither were unique to FI. I'll dig out the lengths and post.

[Michael H.]

Re: '63 FI tach cable and housing length

Mike,

Unfortunately, the length of the housing is not given for either 1st or 2nd design 63 housings but the cable length is shown. 63 1st design is 25 1/8" and 2nd design is 22 1/8". I suppose a total of roughly 1/2" could be subtracted to give an aprox length for the housing.

I don't know exactly when the 2nd design appeared on the assy line.

FI distributor tach drive should be in roughly the same position as the drive on a standard distributor? I don't have an FI dist handy to compare but I don't remember any major change in the location of the drive.

[Harry Sadlock]

Re: '63 FI tach cable and housing length

Mike, from a gray 63 cable. As best I can measure. Internal is 25 1/16 and the external is 24 15/32.

Enjoy

Harry

[Mike McKown]

Re: '63 FI tach cable and housing length

Mike:

Actually, gear output orientation on the two distrubtors are quite different. The gear on the 300 distrubutor points rearward at about 6:00 in car position. The FI distributor points about 8:00 in car position. The 300 gear is positioned on the left or driver side of the mainshaft, the FI gear is on the right or passenger side.

As you know, the FI distributor has a locating pin and the main body is not adjustable. I just took some photos of the two side/side. I don't know how to post here. I'll try to email them to you for a look. I'm gonna' go eat a late supper now.

[Michael H.]

Re: '63 FI tach cable and housing length

Mike,

The drive is on the other side of the distributor for FI but the basic location really doesn't change much as far as fore/aft or height. There's about 12" of cable housing forward of the firewall so I would think the bend required for either distributor wouldn't be a factor. Wish my FI car was here so I could look at the exact routing.

I suppose there could be a problem if the cable/housing were too long. That might make it difficult to round the corner. Do you know if the housing is the original?

[Chuck G.]

Re: '63 FI tach cable and housing length

Hi Mike. I think that they're only 19-20 inches long.

Also, there's the eternal controversy as to whether they're gray or beige.

I'm going to try to post 2 pictures.

Pic. #1 is the repro 63 gray cable that was on my 63 FI car. Note where it comes out, and note that the rubber of the casing is under the ferrule.

Pic. #2 is a picture of an original 63 cable that I pirated off of an EBAY auction. Note the beige color, and note that the rubber covers the ferrules, it's not underneath it. Also note how "short" it is.

I "mickey rigged" a 58-62 cable on my 63. It has the correct rubber configuration, but is about 26 inches long as I recall. I have it snaked around under the dash, but with all the bends, it won't last too long. Hope these help.

I'm curious as to the comments of others. TIA. Chuck

[Chuck G.]

Re: '63 FI tach cable and housing length

Hmmm. Won't let me do 2 pix at once, so here's the second picture. Chuck

[Mike McKown]

Re: '63 FI tach cable and housing length

I sent you four pictures last night.

I may have the wrong casing on my tach cable. It's black. I have several black tach cable casings one the shelf, one NOS and one used. They both measure 23 1/2". Same as what Harry posted for his gray casing.

"IF" I assumed the black casing in my car is 23 1/2" long, it's still too long for this application. I guess I could crank a sharp bend in it to hook it up but I'd bet cable life would be short. The cable is so stiff, it would even be very difficult to bend in the "new" required direction as it is different than with the standard tach drive distributor.

I need to research this a little further. I know the previous owner has been under this dash doing a little work. Any possibility he has the tach cable coming through the dash panel where the speedo cable should come out?

Again, "if" my cable is the length of either the first or second design cable, Chuck's number of 20 inches sounds like it's about right.

I have a sneaking suspcion I'm not the only one with this problem.

[Michael H.]

Re: '63 FI tach cable and housing length

Mike,

I agree, Chucks numbers sound close to what the length should be for the 2nd design. The length shown in the book is 22 1/8" for the cable which means the housing length would be in the range of 21"-21 1/2"?

I don't think I've ever actually measured an original 63 housing. All the info I have is from the parts book so it's very possible their numbers are not accurate.

I wonder if Harry's cable would be a 1st design?

[Alan Drake]

Re: '63 FI tach cable and housing length

Mike,
I have a Mar64 FI with (what I believe) an original cable, its the 22 1/8 lenght.
And yes this subject has come up many times with no hard results. PS Still missing info from orignial owner of car from Mar64 to Spring 66.

[Michael H.]

Re: '63 FI tach cable and housing length

Mike,

The plot thickens. Here's a scan of the 63 AIM page. The part number for the cable/case assembly, #6409854, is not the same as that shown in the July printing of the parts book. (#6409536/AC# CC-151) Also, the AIM part number changed to the 6409854 from a 3844016 on 6-3-63. Also, the previous number, 3844016, is too high numerically to have been the first released cable for 63. There had to be another before that.

I have a feeling the part numbers and dimensions in the parts book are not at all the same as those used in production. If that's the case, we can't use the dimensions given. We may have to use dimensions found on original cables.

Harry's cable that's 23 1/2" may be the 1st design?