I have an old tack that I want to use to set my dist curve.i has green ,red ,white and black wires.i have a 6al ign.i don't care about the lite.can I just hook up the green wire to the tach post in the 6al box or do I need to have the red and black wires going to batt. and ground.i just don't want to fry it.

i believe the tach needs the red & black to be hooked up to work. the green wire, i believe, is only the signal wire. it may, or may not require a tach adapter to be used with the 6al box. hope this helps.

ive heard that in some apps you need some kinda tach adapter .hopefully someone with first hand exp. will chime in.

Red and black are 12v + and -. Green is the trigger. I also believe that those tachs need an adapter to function correctly on the MSDs. Hook it up and try it. If it's way off, you need the adapter.

If accuracy is important, perhaps a higher quality, more up to date instrument would be a better choice. Not sure how much I would trust that old tach. A used Autometer or other modern unit should be easy to find for a good price.

Yeh I guess ill just hook it up and see,if it explodes im not out much.just tryin to make a tool for setting my curve.

If it's really an old one and it works ok, guys will buy those for old muscle cars and period correct old race cars. If it's one of those with the American flag design or a "Big Daddy Don Garlits" model, throw it ebay and get a good tach for distributor machine.

how can I tell how old it is?i think ive only had for MABEY 20 years and it was used when I got it.its just made out of plastic.

It will NOT work without a tach adapter

Some people confuse the original Sun SST tachs with the Sunpro. They only look similar and that's where it stops. The original Sun tachs came in several different models. Some needed the tach adapter and some didn't. The easiest way to tell on an old Sun is to look at the lugs. If one is marked "trigger" it does not need an adapter. The ones that do will say "series transmitter" on the tag. To the best of my knowledge Sunpro didn't make tachs that required an adapter/transmitter but I could be way off on that. Sunpro was a tach manufactured in China by the Actron Corp. since 1988 which has since been acquired by Bosch.


From an article about Actron -
"Since the 1980's, Actron has used acquisitions to advance its market position with significant additions: In 1986, Actron acquired the KAL Equip Company, a maker of professional automotive diagnostic equipment. And in 1988, Actron licensed the rights to the Sunpro tachometer and gauge business from Sun Electric/Snap-On.
Meanwhile the company was years ahead of all other industry players with the implementation of its "right-sourcing" manufacturing strategy and the establishment of a factory in Yantai, China, in 1989."

Some people confuse the original Sun SST tachs with the Sunpro. They only look similar and that's where it stops. The original Sun tachs came in several different models. Some needed the tach adapter and some didn't. The easiest way to tell on an old Sun is to look at the lugs. If one is marked "trigger" it does not need an adapter. The ones that do will say "series transmitter" on the tag. To the best of my knowledge Sunpro didn't make tachs that required an adapter/transmitter but I could be way off on that. Sunpro was a tach manufactured in China by the Actron Corp. since 1988 which has since been acquired by Bosch.

From an article about Actron -
"Since the 1980's, Actron has used acquisitions to advance its market position with significant additions: In 1986, Actron acquired the KAL Equip Company, a maker of professional automotive diagnostic equipment. And in 1988, Actron licensed the rights to the Sunpro tachometer and gauge business from Sun Electric/Snap-On.
Meanwhile the company was years ahead of all other industry players with the implementation of its "right-sourcing" manufacturing strategy and the establishment of a factory in Yantai, China, in 1989."

After further investigation I understand the difference between the Sun transmitter adapter and the need for the MSD Tach Adapter. HemiRick is correct. It doesn't specifically say Sunpro but according to the 6AL installation instructions -

I used an old Sun super tach in my car for awhile for the 'period correct' look. It DID require an adapter that cost about $80.00 from MSD to work with the 6AL. I later saw where Sun makes NEW tachs that DON'T require an adapter that look like the old Sun tachs.

this is the tach in question.

My one of those did NOT work w/o an adapter

Yep....that's the one I used too. Needed an adapter box.

No MSD= no adapter?
I.E. MP box?

Yup.
Back in the early 80's I tried to run a new Sun Super Tach II with an MSD box, and even with the adapter it did not work. Gave up and bought an autometer.

Just saw the pictures super tach II, it's pretty much garbage.

The tachII that was in my 69 Dart read low , 400 at idle , 1500 at 5000.