Advice: Adding a tachometer to a base variant's instrument cluster

Reason I'm asking is that a friend of mine is willing to import a cluster for a Chevrolet Spark which has a tachometer on it from Europe for his 07' Spark LT.

BHPian IronDrago56 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Hi,

Just curious. Would it be possible to "Upgrade" an instrument cluster?

For example, someone owns a Swift LXI which only has a speedo, can the temp and fuel guage added to the cluster from a VXI which has a tachometer?

Reason I'm asking is that a friend of mine is willing to import a cluster for a Chevrolet Spark which has a tachometer on it from Europe for his 07' Spark LT. This is from a 2013 Chevrolet Matiz (Which I believe is the Spark but renamed for the EU markets). And the speedo is marked in kph.

Would like some advice on this, thanks.

Here's what BHPian DicKy had to say on the matter:

Sure.

We have a few threads here of BHPians with Ecosports doing DIY stuff. For your reference: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3.

Also came across this shop upgrading stuff for base model Innovas.

For basic instrument clusters that have only a tacho as extra, guess just have to look at the connection for engine speed reading. More of digital stuff clusters will need software tweaking.

Here's what BHPian audioholic had to say on the matter:

This depends on the interface the instrument cluster has with the rest of the car. If the instrument cluster reads individual signals from the vehicle through separate connections, like a separate vehicle speed signal, separate engine speed signal and so on, then you might have to also take care of the wiring part. However if the instrument cluster mainly communicates with CAN, then there need not be any additional wiring done. Given that this is a 2007 car, I doubt this hence you might have to check the wiring schematics as well.

Most probably the engine speed signal is obtained from the ECU till the BCM of the car and the wiring to the cluster will be absent. From the BCM the ESS signal would be distributed to some other components like the power steering controller or ABS if present. I believe none of the Chevy spark variants had a tacho in the cluster from factory, hence this link to the cluster might be missing.

Here's what BHPian Blooming Flower had to say on the matter:

Yes, you can add it. Irrespective of the instrument cluster having rpm signal provision or not, you can add it by tapping the rpm voltage signal from the ECU or PSU. I have done it recently for my car without any issue and the instrument cluster does not have any rpm signal pin. Picture attached:

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