C2 Tach Needle Stalls at 3500RPM

[Tim E.]

The tach needle on my '66 327/300hp is steady at idle and operates smoothly up to about 3500 RPM as I accelerate briskly. At that point the needle "stalls" or "pauses" and then suddenly "frees up" pretty violently.

The drive cable is the original 24" cable that I've cleaned and relubed. It does have one minor kink at the coupling where it attaches to the distributor that I've straightened back out. The distributor drive gear is in good shape with no visible wear or lash.

I bought a replacement tach cable from Paragon but it's 27" long (can't seem to find a 24" replacement). I was able to fit that cable in but wasn't happy with the tight bends the extra 3" caused. With the replacement cable, the needle fluttered badly at idle and still "stalled" and violently "freed up" above about 2500 RPM. I relubed the original again and replaced it with the same results above 3500 RPM.

Does it sound to you like the problem is in the distributor drive, the cable, or the tachometer itself?? Are tachometers that sensitive to minor kinks or excess cable length?

Thanks, Tim

[Bob R.]

Re: C2 Tach Needle Stalls at 3500RPM

When my tach cable started to jump around it was not long until it broke. The break was near the distributor. I bought a speedo cable repair kit and it worked well for about a year then broke again. My 63 has a grey cable and I didn't like the look of the black replacement cables. At Carlisle this year I found someone is making a replacement cable in the grey color. I can't remember the name of the vendor. It is the correct legnth but I haven't gotten around to installing it yet.