Early 2000TC Tachometer Removal?

Tom Rymes

Tom Rymes

Member
My tachometer is reading a bit high, so I wanted to take it out and see if I could see anything wrong. If not, I thought I might sub in another Smiths tacho and send this one off for service.

My car is an early TC with the tachometer directly to the right of the instrument panel, and the clock mounted in the center of the dash, to the right of the tach. Given that the plastic bits are likely to be a bit tender, I thought I would ask here before trying to attack it on my own. Can anyone point me in the right direction? The service manual and parts catalogue were of no help, only showing the later combined binnacle with the tach in the center of the dash and the clock in-between the speedo and the tach.

Many thanks,

Tom

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That tacho looks to be a non-original part to me, hence not finding it in the manuals, but export cars seem to play by their own rules so who knows.

Export cars don't count.
 
That's pretty much identical to a early NADA TC I had years ago. It is official Rover, or at least official Rover North America. The tach binnacle will turn out to be wooden I expect. I can't remember how it came apart, I think I still have the binnacle in one of the many boxes.

Yours
Vern
 
Actually Harvey these were fitted to US export cars until the end of '66. I don't think they made it onto UK cars even as an extra. If I recall correctly Tom (its been a while since I've worked on an early 2000TC) The tacho pod is mounted by sharing the stud that attaches the left 'ear' of the clock bracket under the dash rail. You remove that and it teases away from the side of the speedo binnacle.

Quick edit: I think these look much better than the later plastic housings they used for tachos. Much more in keeping with the general design.
 
Checked my service newsletters, the later clock & tacho binnacle was introduced November 1966. The binnacle Tom has was introduced in June 1966, and while it was available in the UK the TC was not so I'm not surprised Harvey has never seen one. By the way, it was not specific to the TC, you could install one in a SC just as easily. Part numbers were 601619 for the RHD & 601620 for the LHD cars.

Yours
Vern
 
So, I am resurrecting this thread, as I finally got around to pulling the tachometer. As is so often the case, I stumbled into some blind alleys and it took many hours the first time, but I bet I could remove and refit in under 30 minutes at this point (fine, maybe an hour). Here's the right way to get this out if you, too have an early TC or SC with this tachometer setup (consider yourself lucky if you do, it's so very much more attractive and suited to the cabin's design, IMHO)

Basically, the top of the dashboard has to come off (I'd say fascia, but this was only fitted to export cars, so it's a dashboard! PHLLLLBBBBTTTT!!!) To make this happen, you have to:

1.) Remove the plastic cover for the warning lights by pushing up on the retaining clips (mine only had one for some reason) and pivoting it forward. If the dash top is in the way, preventing you from tilting the right side (LHD) or left side (RHD) forward, you can lift the bottom on both sides and pull it out that way.
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2.) Remove the two screws holding the instrument panel in place.
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3.) Remove the speedometer cable (open the glove box and reach under the speedometer. Towards the back, the cable end pokes though a hole at an angle to the back of the speedometer.
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4.) Remove the rubber mat that sits on top of the shelf below the speedometer. I don't know about the later style, but this car had a mat that was cut to fit a car with no tachometer, so it slides under the tachometer binnacle and essentially wedges it into place.
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5.) Remove the "A" pillar trim by unscrewing two screws on each side. It pulls backwards and out.
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6.) Remove two screws, one from either end of the dash top. These were previously covered by the pillar trim, and are at the base of the pillars.
7.) Pull the speedometer forward. The material underneath it is sponge-like (or was at one time...) and you may need to push it down to get it under the lip of the dashboard. You don't need to disconnect any wiring or remove the instrument completely, just pull it forward and to the left (LHD) or right (RHD) as far as it wants to go.
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8.) The tachometer binnacle should now be loose, and can be slid to the left (LHD) or right (RHD) enough to access the 5/16" nuts that secure the clock in the center of the dash. Remove them, along with their flat and spring washers.
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9.) Remove the remaining two 5/16" nuts that hold the dash top in place. One is behind the instrument panel, and the other is directly in front of the passenger's seat. You can just look up and see it.
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10.) Slide the dashboard toward you, and then wiggle it out, being careful not to harm the foam.
11.) Note that there are four tabs that the dash top slides onto when you put in back into place.

The tachometer is now free to remove, my experience was that there was nothing holding the binnacle in place, other than the top of the dashboard and the upward pressure from the rubber mat underneath it. Refitting is the reverse of removal - don't over-tighten the nuts when you put them back in!

Hopefully, that will prove helpful to someone else in the future.

Tom

PS: Super-annoying that the photos display at such a gigantic size, but I'd rather not resize all of them downwards. Does anyone have a good way to force the forum to show them at a smaller size?
 
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