Lotus Elan +2 Rev Counter

[Frank Howard]

Frank,
do let us in on the secret, what is involved?

Mike,

It's really not that big of a secret. After experiencing some frustration with two of the shops that do the conversion, I sat down one day and thought about it. Pretty much every car manufactured during the past 25 years has electronic ignition. Half of those cars have tachometers. Those tachometers don't seem to have the issues that ours do. So I went down to the junk yard and selected a tach that had the same 270 degree swing from 0 to 8,000 rpm. I then yanked out the guts and swapped them into my tachometer body. Of course, a couple of adapter plates had to be made to allow the whole thing to be screwed together properly. I then wired it as Memnon described above. I've had no tach issues since.

[mikealdren]

Frank,
thanks, I was wondering whether the specialists replace the whole mechanism of whether they simply replace/add a few components. I have a spare unit so I may try myself.

Mike

[Frank Howard]

Mike,

Nisonger modifies the existing components. Their conversion doesn't work. APT Instruments replaces the entire guts. He is 5 miles from my house however he's also a jerk so I won't deal with him. Now you know why I did it myself.

[JJDraper]

Sorry to butt in on the Elan section, but it does say +2 in the title. RVI is a voltage triggered device, RVC is current triggered. I am not an electronics engineer, but the move from points to electronic devices made the voltage 'pulse' at the coil too narrow for older Tachos to read accurately. RVC devices are not affected by the narrow (more accurate) pulse of electronic ignition systems so are the way forward. There are DIY solutions, which I will not detail (because I can't), so I went for a simple 'send it to an expert' solution. Speedycables in Wales, UK (although for some strange reason they keep the 'London' tag in their name) offer a reasonably cheap solution, conversion and refresh (passivated plating and general clean up, including dial). They even included a correct new square section gasket when they sent it back.

Several others do a similar service (Richfield for one - also do ambient temp gauge refills).. What I was impressed with was a guaranteed calibration service, so that an indicated 6,500rpm really is 6,500, not 7,500 (can a DIY conversion offer this?). I suffered with a bouncing tach for 5 years and wish I had spent the money 5 years earlier! Simple problem, simple solution - and cheap compared to many Lotus ills. Not sure what international postage costs are for Speedy cables et al, but it is a simple solution that local experts should be able to solve (without being jerks!).

Google the problem, it is not only Loti that suffer.

Jeremy
PS no connection any suppliers, other than as a user.

[EAN]

Sorry to butt in on the Elan section, but it does say +2 in the title. RVI is a voltage triggered device, RVC is current triggered. I am not an electronics engineer, but the move from points to electronic devices made the voltage 'pulse' at the coil too narrow for older Tachos to read accurately. RVC devices are not affected by the narrow (more accurate) pulse of electronic ignition systems so are the way forward. There are DIY solutions, which I will not detail (because I can't), so I went for a simple 'send it to an expert' solution. Speedycables in Wales, UK (although for some strange reason they keep the 'London' tag in their name) offer a reasonably cheap solution, conversion and refresh (passivated plating and general clean up, including dial). They even included a correct new square section gasket when they sent it back.

Several others do a similar service (Richfield for one - also do ambient temp gauge refills).. What I was impressed with was a guaranteed calibration service, so that an indicated 6,500rpm really is 6,500, not 7,500 (can a DIY conversion offer this?). I suffered with a bouncing tach for 5 years and wish I had spent the money 5 years earlier! Simple problem, simple solution - and cheap compared to many Lotus ills. Not sure what international postage costs are for Speedy cables et al, but it is a simple solution that local experts should be able to solve (without being jerks!).

Google the problem, it is not only Loti that suffer.

Jeremy
PS no connection any suppliers, other than as a user.

Thanks Jeremy, I will be taking the Speedy route for a solution.
Best Regards EAN

[mikealdren]

Jeremy, thanks for the positive recommendation, I was expecting to send my Tacho off (with some of the other instruments) fro refurbishment and recalibration (to suit a Zetec) but I was intrigued as to what is involved in the conversion.

Mike

[alexblack13]

In light of my experience ..Try it 1st. You never know...

AB

[memnon]

Are you converting the Zetec to run off a dizzy? Or are you using the coilpack and ECU?

If its the latter you will be running wasted spark and WILL need to get it converted as per my earlier post.