Laid my '96 E down the other day & the speedo & gauge housing got messed up. I was going to order OEM parts, but that would have cost me over $200 just for the speedo! So I went on ebay & ordered a whole new gauge setup from an '07 F for $125. I saw that the back of the tach didn't have a female end for a mechanical tach cable, so I expect I'll need to swap my old tach for the new one & drill a hole in the back of the housing. Any other backwards compatibility issues I should be expecting? Here's the link to the ebay listing: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330470354469&crlp=1_263602_304642&ff4=263602_304642&viewitem=&guid=877a60ed12b0a0266695c455ffff1246&rvr_id=150712221373&ua=M*F%3F&itemid=330470354469 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330470354469&crlp=1_263602_304642&ff4=263602_304642&viewitem=&guid=877a60ed12b0a0266695c455ffff1246&rvr_id=150712221373&ua=M*F%3F&itemid=330470354469)
As far as I know there's no difference between E and F instruments, but there was a change one year from mechanical to electronic tach, as you have discovered. Maybe put the electronic tach back on eBay, you might end up with a cheap housing!
Yeah that's what I had planned on doing. When it comes in I'll also post it on here, in case anyone is on the market for just a tach. Can't wait to get my bike back in decent condition! :)
you can use the newer tach. you just need 3 parts to plug the old tach cable hole, and run 1 extra wire. When i made the change i noticed a significant change in response and accuracy.
before I went with the vapor gauges, I had put a newer set of gauges on my 89. I ran one extra wire to the cdi box, and just removed the tach cable. it doesn't leak oil from there, and doesn't allow water in there. if you do end up just using your old tach, the numbers on the gauges wont match.