[da judge]

This winter I'm working on upgrading my hood tach area. I'm having my tach face redone and am adding a repo decal and LED bulbs among other things. I would also like to add the plastic push-in holder to my wiring harness and drill the corresponding hole into my hood bracing. Just like it's diagramed in the factory schematic.

I bought my repo hood tach harness many years ago when I added the factory Pontiac hood tach to my car. There's no push-in tab in the harness. Do the current harnesses have the tab? If not, are they used elsewhere on the car or is there a source where I can get one.

[da judge]

Back in the 1990s I acquired a battered and bent GTO hood that had a factory stamped hood tach hole. I brought it out recently and looked it over. I was curious to see if it had a drilled hole for the wiring holder. Yep.

[Ram Air IV Jack]

Originally Posted by da judge

Back in the 1990s I acquired a battered and bent GTO hood that had a factory stamped hood tach hole. I brought it out recently and looked it over. I was curious to see if it had a drilled hole for the wiring holder. Yep.

Hey Rich,
My original DOESNOT have a hole in the hood for that wiring clip. I have both metal clips for the wiring harness like you have pictured but nothing else. Not sure whether that hole and clip was a 70 only deal because in that year GM had a vacuum hose to the hood tach not found on the 69 cars!!

[da judge]

Hey Jack, that is interesting that your 1969 Judge does not have a drilled hole in the hood. The schematic was from a 1970 assembly manual, maybe like you said, the 1969s just didn't have it. I also wanted to find out what type of fastener went into the hole. I believe it was some type of plastic item. Maybe something close to the plastic dash wiring holder that I have pictured with this reply.

So it's all kind of a mystery. Was it in the schematic but was never done that way on the assembly line?

I also dragged out my original Orbit Orange Ram Air hood (kinked on both sides). My car did not come with a hood tach, but I was curious to see if Ram Air hoods also had the hole even if they weren't equipped with a tach. Nope.

[da judge]

Due to condensation, my old dash face had become rusty. And years ago I had painted the badly faded red line tape stripe. R/C Tach Shop rescreened my original face for very little money and it looks good as new.

[Ram Air IV Jack]

Rich,
My carousel red 69 Judge I bought in 1973 with a hood tach didn't have that clip either if I remember correctly! That was a pattern car with no glove box emblem. Just wondering if someone other than the factory drilled that hole and installed that clip? Something we can discuss in person this summer when I see ya!! Take care!!!

[Jason67]

Rich, My early build 70 Judge has the push pin hole in the hood for the plastic wire harness retainer that you show in your pics, and it was not an original hood tach car.

[da judge]

Wow, seems to be hit or miss. Maybe it was specific to certain plants. For what it's worth, the Vedoro Green hood I showed at the beginning of the thread with the drilled hole came off a 1968 (still sitting in the junkyard to this day). I then have a photo of a hood tach from a mostly original Carousel Red 1969 Judge. No hint of a hole there.

[da judge]

I finished detailing my hood tach and tach mounting area of my 1970 Judge. I added a factory tach back in 1990 when I initially restored the car. As you can see from the before photos, it needed some attention. I already posted a photo of my rescreened face. I repainted the under-hood area and tach bottom with semi-gloss, although I don't think the bottom of the tach was originally painted. I replaced the electrical tape with the correct non-adhesive harness wrap, swapped to correct nuts and added the sticker. The plastic locking U on my old plug was broke, so R C Tach supplied a brand new one. I bought and mounted the Ames reproduction wiring harness cowl clip. The switch to LED bulbs made a big difference (also did the dash bulbs).

[da judge]

I didn't drill the .250 diameter hole in the hood for the harness push-in holder the schematic calls for. I'm still undecided on whether to use the harness strap or not. I also opted to not use the aftermarket tach gasket that Ames sells. Ames says their reproduction cowl clip (left) is unique to that application. But the clip under the dash that secures the wires coming from the brake light switch to the large metal dash bracket is amazingly close (right). Also, being a January built Arlington car, not having a drip line is correct (April introduction).

[da judge]

I also completed another small task. I waited 2 1/2 years (intergalactic backorder) for the Ames reproduction 1970 Ram Air pan plug to become available. So, it was nice to have that recently delivered, which I quickly installed. It sure beats many years of masking tape covering the hole.

[Brewster]

So the 1970 GTO did not use a carb spring for wire loom tension like the 69 cars? I have the same clip but also a spring for my 69 car. Weird

[da judge]

I believe the carb spring was used in 1969 for tension on the Ram Air cable and not the tach wiring harness. My buddy's Arlington-built (April 1st week) Carousel Red 1969 Judge did not come with a hood tach. But he had the hole in the cowl edge for the spring.

[Ram Air IV Jack]

Originally Posted by da judge

I believe the carb spring was used in 1969 for tension on the Ram Air cable and not the tach wiring harness. My buddy's Arlington-built (April 1st week) Carousel Red 1969 Judge did not come with a hood tach. But he had the hole in the cowl edge for the spring.

This spring supposedly for the ram air cable has been talked about on this forum for years. Neither of my two 69 Judges had this spring nor was there any evidence a spring was used for the ram air cable. I've never seen this on a ram air car, but someone years ago displayed a factory drawing which showed this spring. Both my Judges had hood tach's but still, I've never seen this spring on a ram air car. Never say never so who knows!!

[da judge]

I was in the "68 - 69 Tech" section the other day and found something interesting. It was a hood tach schematic from the 1968 service manual. It showed the hood tach wiring being affixed to both the hood and the top of the cowl by means of plastic push-in tabs. And it almost appears that there's a third push-in tab on the firewall/fender. Wow, I've never seen the wires mounted like that before. The 1970 GTO assembly manual schematics I posted earlier shows a plastic strap, a metal clip to the hood, a plastic push-in tab and finally a metal cowl clip.

The Vedoro Green 1968 GTO tach hood that I showed earlier had a stamped hole for a push-in tab. I wondered if that same car had another hole by the data plate for a push-in tab, like the 1968 schematic shows. So, I stopped by the junkyard and found the car. I had to brush aside some snow. But other than the holes for the missing data plate, there was nothing.

I also emailed Randy at R C Tach and asked what he knows. He said that while he's seen the white plastic push-in tabs before, he knew of only the metal cowl clip to secure the wires.

[da judge]

I posted this photo earlier of two wiring harness clips, one from the brake lamp switch wire under the dash and the other a repo clip I bought from Ames to attach the hood tach harness to the cowl. They looked amazingly similar. I recently checked my 1970 GTO assembly manual to compare the part numbers (pages 315 & 500). Both were listed as "clip" with the same part number 9797751.
So, the Ames catalog is misleading when it states the original clips are "unique" and 'hard to find" as they are found on every A-body from that era.