Tach has fallen away from the instrument cluster

[coupelady]

Drew,

In looking at the pictures (very valuable BTW thank you very much) I would like to verify that the cluster picture on the red shop rag showing the back side of the gauges. the gauge with the most wires coming out of it on the left is the gas/temp gauge and the one on the other end is the clock? That would make the tach the second from the right?

 

[jefflit]

See attached photos @coupelady -- hope they help. You are correct wrt to most wires on temp/fuel and clock at other end. Speedo is easy to recognize due to cable fitting. Hopefully you can visualize how the tabs fit under the knurled knobs and how, if they aren't tight, the gauge can rotate just a few degrees out from under the knobs and be set free. Also note that the knurled knobs have hex heads on them, which allows a socket to be used if any are too tight -- but that's rarely the case -- usually they are too loose, as in your case. You might wish to use a socket when tightening back up -- but not with such brute force as to bend the tabs.

it gets a bit crowded back there with wires so I included a shot with the harness attached so you can know what to expect back there. As someone else already mentioned, it might be easiest to reach up there and loosen the clock knobs first, as they are easiest to reach. Then reach in the clock hole to get to the tach knobs.

Not your problem, but note that sometimes, especially with rebuilt clocks, the body of the gauge, and thus the tabs, and the face of the instrument can be off, resulting in the tabs not "clocking" properly fully under the knobs when the face of the gauges is properly "clocked" to 12:00. I had this with my clock. See https://e9coupe.com/forum/threads/school-me-on-clocks.32360/post-300882

 

[Drew Gregg]

Amy--@jefflit has answered your question with his post and pics. I didn't notice the orientation of the tabs until my tech showed me how to rotate the clock back into position. That's when we noticed that North Hollywood Speedometer had placed the clock face 180 degrees off--or otherwise upside down. Now my lamp is at the top of the clock face instead of at the bottom. When we wired up the cluster to see how it looked,all of the gages were evenly lit up. N. Hollywood Speedo had repaired the clock back in 2006 for the previous owner. I decided not to return the clock since it was easy to place a small washer on the slightly off-center stud and tighten the knurled knob down. The shop had replaced the original clock with a quartz movement in 2006 and that's what is in there now,keeping accurate time. You will be able to tighten all of those knobs to insure the gages don't rotate slightly and fall in during your repair. This whole project has been another example of how these cars were hand-assembled some 50+ years ago. Drew

 

[coupelady]

My multiple BMW owner son-in-law came over for lunch with his family and looked at the pictures and then the car. We'll see if we can collaborate further later on. He said the same thing about the great help the net is, as his 88 M5 board is so helpful for him too. What did we do in the old days? (Yup old lady, just got my 40 year BMW CCA membership pin a few days ago) The restoration seemed not too long ago.....Thanks again it is so much more understood. Can you imagine how long it took to build these cars with all it's beautiful trim especially.

 

[mulberryworks]

My multiple BMW owner son-in-law came over for lunch with his family and looked at the pictures and then the car. We'll see if we can collaborate further later on. He said the same thing about the great help the net is, as his 88 M5 board is so helpful for him too. What did we do in the old days? (Yup old lady, just got my 40 year BMW CCA membership pin a few days ago) The restoration seemed not too long ago.....Thanks again it is so much more understood. Can you imagine how long it took to build these cars with all it's beautiful trim especially.

The dash is especially time-consuming to build. This is one reason besides the tendency to rust that BMW didn't have Karmann build more cars. If you've watched modern cars being built on the assembly line, they will have a large robot arm swing into the car carrying the entire prebuilt dash assembly which is bolted into place in a few seconds. The E9 dash must be constructed in the car.

 

[deQuincey]

join your question into this thread for clarity and follow up