| Tach Cable Worm Gear Finally Gave Up The Ghost on the '71 |
Subject: Tach Cable Worm Gear Finally Gave Up The Ghost on the '71 by xccter on 2009/9/20 18:43:43 I have the distributor out of the '71 since the the Tach quit working and it's the drive gear on the end of the cable that is stripped. Better than the head unit going up though. I noticed the Tach getting irratic intermittently while I had it down at Ocean City, MD in May for the big pre-'76 car show. The teeth on the worm gear were on their last legs. It finally quit all together in June. What a PITA to remove the chrome ignition covers and associated stuff to get to the base of the distributor. You guys would have laughed watching me try to hold a mirror inside the car to see if the Tach needle was moving while I spun the end of the cable with my other hand. Kids were all busy, so no helpers. I guess I could have done it without removing the distributor, but after seeing the metal shavings all over what was left of the worm gear, I'm glad I didn't just stuff a new cable drive gear in there. The shaft bushings are both still nice and tight, so nothing to replace except points while it's on the bench. Just clean it up and reinstall it. I marked everything, so it should just drop right in and fire up. Gotta look for my Dwell meter after I finish this. Also replaced the compression fitting on the oil pressure line on the back of the intake while I had it all apart. Had a minor leak. So if your mechanical Tach starts to get irradic, plan on replacing the worm gear shortly. |
