shift light

[fastblue8]

i want put a autometer shift light in my car so don't have to look at my tach while i race. how hard would it be to install a shift light in a evo?

[Warrtalon]

It's no harder than any other car, but you shouldn't need one to race anyway unless you have a fully-built race car that is running 10s or better. It's really tacky to have one on a regular street car, especially when you already have a tach. Try shifting off of feel instead of picking an exact RPM every time. I have never used a shift light in 8 years of drag racing. It's simply not needed...

[nothere]

warrtalon that may be correct but on a road course a shift light can be a help. afraid to say the first four or five times out with the evo I hit max rpm about once a session. since then I have started shifting earlier but I still get the light going down the straight trying to pass a car.

[Warrtalon]

My rev limiter is at 8000rpm, and I shift below 7000 on the road course. You definitely don't need one for road racing. I can't say I've ever seen a car with one on the road course either...

[turbolarry]

Everybody is different and want different things for their car.
I've never done one, but you might need these;
Power is pin 12 or 25
Ground is pin 13 or 26
Tach wire is pin 58
http://www.roadraceengineering.com/e...-ecuwiring.htm

[fastblue8]

thanks for the help guys

[superflyjmysnk]

I think the big shift lights and monster tachs are pretty tacky, however the my evo was so quiet that I often found myself above 7k when racing cars with moderately loud exhaust.
Even with the BR exhaust I have now it is still pretty quiet and i recently raced a older mustang whos exhaust completely drowned out all my evo's engine noise and exhaust sound.

I installed one of the stand alone shift lights behind the center airvent so its completely out of sight and put a kill switch on it so I can turn it off when its not needed (ie like at night when it is bright enought to light up the cabin and becomes an annoyance).

[turbolarry]

Originally Posted by superflyjmysnk

I installed one of the stand alone shift lights behind the center airvent so its completely out of sight...

Nice. Which one are you using?

[superflyjmysnk]

Its the autometer light that has the little "shift pills" for whatever rpm you want. I'm still on the stock cams so I used the 6200 pill since thats just a little past my peak power according to my dynos.

I was putting in my boost, egt, oil temp gauge and cf housing so I figured I might as well put the shift light in while I was in there.

Heres a pic of the stealth install.

[vtluu]

You can also tap the tach signal at the connector near the center console (right below the stereo/HVAC stack).

I had a F1-style LED shift light installed that way; I replaced it with a gear display/shift light combo which connects to both the tach and speedo signals.

I'll try and post some photos of the connections later.

[nothere]

I am using a little fat crayon sized shift light. Like it a lot.
Another use for the light is checking your technique on the road course.

Lets say you don't know whether you are losing time or gaining it by downshifting coming out of a corner. If you note where on the track your shift light comes on after accelerating out of the turn, then try the other method and see if the light comes on sooner or later down the track. This should work even if you go through several gears to get to that point.

[Fourdoor]

Originally Posted by superflyjmysnk

Its the autometer light that has the little "shift pills" for whatever rpm you want. I'm still on the stock cams so I used the 6200 pill since thats just a little past my peak power according to my dynos.

If you have basic bolt ons you should be shifting around 7,000 RPM, with cams you need to be shifting higher than that.

The lower the gear the more torque multiplication is taking place... so even though you are going past your power peak you will be accelerating faster in 3rd gear at 6800 RPM than you will be accelerating after shifting to 4th gear.

Later,

Keith

PS: Sorry I didn't see this earlier.

[superflyjmysnk]

With my reaction time from the light thats about where I shift anyway

[Fourdoor]

Originally Posted by superflyjmysnk

With my reaction time from the light thats about where I shift anyway

Actually, you do need to take your own reaction time into account and set the shift light accordingly.

Keith