sender unit for tachometer

I don't think you can, sadly. Unless you are determined to make this work, I'd probably just have the tach converted to modern electronics.

If you are bound and determined to keep the original "pulse drive" mechanism you may want to see if you can borrow a sending unit from a '56 Golden Hawk to see if it will fit. I believe that those used Auto-Lite distributors, and there's a chance that it may fit the later Prestolite units. However, I've never had a 56J and an R-motor in the same place to try this, so I can't say that it will work. I'm guessing, since I've never heard of this being done, that there's some reason why it won't work, but I don't know what it is.

good luck,

nate

Does anyone here have any experience with a modern tach that would work inside an R2 Hawk 6,000 rpm canister and retains the factory face plate?

I have modified a tach from ?? to fit a 63 Avanti. Worked great. I just kept shopping till I found one that was a near perfect match, except it was slightly smaller in diameter. I fixed that by placing a "mask" in the inside of the tach glass, and mounting the tach head in foam rubber inside the stock can.

One had to really look to detect the difference.

jim

I wonder if it would work if you did away with the R2 distributor and used something like a pertronix unit to boost your spark. I assume a dual spark distributor is a dual point distributor. The only purpose of dual point ignitions was to get a longer dwell period. electronic ignitions can do that without dual points.

Still wouldn't solve his problem, the Stude factory tach senders were designed for an early non-window Delco distributor. They won't physically fit the Prestolite housing.

nate

Alex Magdaleno wrote:

What about the tach sender off a '62 Hawk. The wireing seems fairly generic. I did not say simple. It hooks up at the coil. What say you my brothers in Stude addiction?

Tony in Austin

That will only work with a 62-64 GT Hawk tachometer. The 56-61 (and '55 Speedster) tachs are basically mechanical tachs (really a speedo with a different face and no odometer) driven by a synchronous motor on the back of the housing. The "sending unit" is just a spacer that goes under the distributor cap that holds three brushes that alternately make and break the signal on two wires to the tach head so that the motor stays in sync with the rotation of the distributor. The 62-64 Hawk tach is an electronic type, although not the same as most of those currently sold. The "head" is a meter movement and the sender converts the RPM signal from the coil into a voltage to operate the meter.

Here's some info on the old "pulse drive" tachs:

good luck,

nate

OK, same solution. Get rid of the R2 distributor and get an early Delco.

You might check here. I have a 1960 Hawk and had a Sun Tach that I always thought was stock. Well it was not. The distributor was replaced with a delco style distributor and the tach was replaced as well. I found this. SW-