Are there any tips or suggestions for putting on a new tach strip?

Walt the PS2 Upgrade Manual on the protosound2.com website has a instructions with photos on p. 22 (diesel manual).

Here's the text "

Installing Tach Tape Onto Motor Flywheel

-Clean the flywheel with a cleaning

solution and then install the tach tape

(FFF) to the flywheel diameter and

select proper tape). If the tape is

wider than the flywheel, trim with a

razor and straight edge before

installing. Apply tape end with the

largest white portion first, wrap the

tape around the flywheel until it

overlaps.

Wrap the tach tape around the flywheel by

starting with white end first.

22 PS-2 Upgrade Kit Installation Guide  "

For really wide flywheels, center the tape.  Tach tape size is determined by the flywheel diameter.

The big trick with tach tapes is to trial fit it and make sure you don't have two white or two black stripes butted together at the joint. There must be an equal number of black and white alternating stripes; ie 48 standard.

If your paint is affecting the diameter of your flywheel (and causing the tach tape to not fit right) you should try sanding it off.

The tach tape sheet in the kit is self adhesive and sticks pretty well as long as there is no oil or grease on the flywheel (including body oils). Clean with alcohol to be sure.

I have made custom tach tapes (to correct scale speed) by using the enlarge/reduce option on a standard photocopier, and then just fastening the two ends around the flywheel with transparent tape.

Works just fine.

If you want to email me off the forum, I can send you a consolidation of PS-2 upgrade tips and notes that I have compiled. It may give you some ideas and save some grief.

Rod

Thanks Susan.  That might have been where I read about it years ago.

Rod: sure I'll take you up on that offer!  All advice is welcomed in my world!

- walt

I don't know about replacing the tape, but I changed gear ratios in my Hudson and wanted to retain sound.  A little math told me how many stripes, and as I recall, all I had to do was paint every third stripe with white paint.  The digits only count stripes, and apparently do not care whether they are even, or paint, or tape.  I wound up with four chuffs at exactly the right crankpin locations.

I replaced the strips today.  I was lucky in that while I THOUGHT the original fly wheel had painted stripes they weren't - actual tach strips were on the fly wheel.

I got luck and was able to remove them in one piece.  That made deciding which one of the 5 that comes on the sheet easy to figure out. 

I measured first but none on the measurements listed on the sheet matched to what I measured!!!!  The smallest one listed was 27mm and I measured 26mm, but when I matched up the original with the 27mm one it was a perfect stripe by stripe match.

I also did something unusual that worked: I was able to get TWO strips out of the one on the sheet.  The ones on the sheet are WAY wider than my fly wheel.  I cut one the exact width of the original one and applied it.  That left me with a strip that was just a hair less wide than the original.  I figured that I have nothing to lose by trying it so I CAREFULLY placed it so that it was positioned where the reader would see it all the way around.

One other thing that I did was to NOT use the full length of the extra long white part.  I cut it off but made sure to leave a bit still there which allowed for a small overlap.  They stripes mated up perfectly.

thanks everyone for taking the time to not laugh at me for making a bit of a big deal over such a simple task.  But, as with many things, until one tries a task one doesn't know.

- walt

Glad it worked out for you Walt.

Rod

Thanks Rod.  I felt better about doing it after reading the tips document that you sent to me.

Sadly, it didn't solve my lashup issue that was the SOLE reason for doing this.

- walt