On Wed, 19 Apr 1995, David Carment wrote:

> I have often wondered about the purpose of putting a tach in a Vanagon-
> putting one in the KG was hard enough since the top end is rarely above
> 4500 - though it does provide a sporty look. A tach is very useful for
> setting the idle. 

Oh come on now David, a tach is much more usefull than a big clock :)

> I am wondering if the length of wire running from
> front to back creates significant resistance and if so does this disrupt the
> ignition system? DC

Well, when I put the tach into my '72, I guess I didn't tighten some screw
or other for later that day... I was driving in downtown Victoria when the
van just died. I was on Vancouver St., right beside McCalls funeral
parlour, creepy. The bugger would turn over but no start. I looked in
back, everything seemed OK. Sat in the drivers seat and studied the
Bentley manual, for solace more than anything else, and glancing at the
instrument panel noticed that the tach had fallen backwards/frowards in its
hole. So I pulled the panel and reattached the tach  and on a whim tried to
start the van, it started up as if nothing had happened. I'm guessing that
the wire from the coil to the tach got grounded and imucked up the
ignition. I'm sorry to say that I haven't done the obvious experiment to
proove this theory.

Alistair