Shift Lights, educate me Options

[stateofidleness]

Ok so im not the best manual driver.. i have VERY limited experience on a kia sportage....


im thinkin one of these things may be for me, at least until i can "hear" when to shift and get experience and "learn" my car well enough to just know when to shift

how hard is it to install one of these? what all is needed? can ya'll educate me on these

i was intrigued by an ad i saw on the speed channel for www.autometer.com

somethin like this: http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail....egoryCode=3342Y

give me the low down

Thanks
-Steve

[SGB]

Is your 914 not running? Its pretty hard not to realize it is time to shift when you can't even hear ANYTHING besides that poor little boxer giving it all it can. You will get the "when to shift" thing for yerself pretty quick. I dunno if an aftermarket type would be very viable for our cars. Aircooling changes the rev needs pretty big, and the gizmo would be wanting an earlier shift.

[TINCAN914]

Go out and drive it, as stated above you will have a feel for shifting in short order.

[stateofidleness]

will do

can you educate me on how a shift light works? (teach a man to fish (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif))

[Brando]

At a certain rpm it comes on basically. You may need a whole new aftermarket tach for one... They're usually configureable.

[McMark]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)

Reach a certain RPM and the light comes on. Simple, don't over think it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) There are only upshift lights, not downshift lights.

You'll figure it out without a shift light. When the motor sounds like it's going to explode, it's time to upshift. When the motor sounds like it's going to die or has no power, it's time to downshift. In about 2 hours you'll have it mostly figured out to the point where a shift light will be worthless.

[stateofidleness]

alright cool.. guess i was overthinkin it
anxious to get the car put back together and driving it
guess some practice is all that is needed

shift lights look cool though (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) lol

[Rand]

Does your tach work? Why not just watch the tach until you get used to the sound of it at different RPM? You don't need a shift light on a street car. I'll shift anywhere between 3k and 5k+ depending on how hard I'm driving it and rarely rev it beyond that. When winding it out hard just keep it under redline. And if your powerband starts dropping off before redline, no need to keep winding it up.

[Joe Ricard]

I have a shift light in my Autocross car. Because it is very loud and I am concentrating on where I am going, I intend to shift around 5800 RPM. It runs off of my Autometer monster tach. I have it mounted right to the side of the gauge binnacle. It gives me a warning that the rev limiter (6250 RPM) is coming up soon.

I seen a really cool unit in the new Summit catalog digital RPM read out centered in a bullet type shift light. It is driven off most any tach signal.

[iamchappy]

I have a shift light in my street driven car because when the boost kicks in, red line comes up fast, with my short geared tranny I have my hands full and my eyes need to be looking straight ahead. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Simple installation, tie into the tach wire, switched power and ground. Mine uses pills
set at different RPM's to adjust.

[iamchappy]

I have a shift light in my street driven car because when the boost kicks in, red line comes up fast, with my short geared tranny I have my hands full and my eyes need to be looking straight ahead. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

Simple installation, tie into the tach wire, switched power and ground. Mine uses pills
set at different RPM's to adjust.

[burton73]

There is a shift light in my 86 Carrera. It goes on at 3,500. You see it as a small arrow in the tack. When running hard you just go past it to red line but if you are babying your car then you can shift there.

Bob
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)