[Runningriot]

So I bought a shift light indicator for my MS6. Mostly just for the "coolness factor", but I'm curious to know what you guys think or if you've ever used something like this.

You plug it into your cigarette lighter and it counts the pulses generated from the ignition coils that bounce around through your electrical system. You rev your engine to the desired RPM you want it to turn on at and then turn the dial until the light comes on. From then on the light will come on at that RPM.

I'm crossing my fingers that its not just a gimmick.

[Click here to see it]

 

[Elicious]

I don't see how it could be a gimmick. It will probably do exactly what it says, which is pretty simple.

 

[yomama69]

Personally I don't see a point. Shifting is different depending on the driving conditions and type of driving you are doing. It should be done by engine feel, not by a response light. Some people find it useful I guess.

 

[Runningriot]

Personally I don't see a point. Shifting is different depending on the driving conditions and type of driving you are doing. It should be done by engine feel, not by a response light. Some people find it useful I guess.
[/b]

You're right. The shift light is only useful when you're driving "very hard" and want to know where the end of the line is in power. Its usually easy to hear but I did say it was mostly for the "coolness factor".

Mine would be calibrated to light at 5700 which is usually where I shift when I'm driving very hard.

 

[yomama69]

You're right. The shift light is only useful when you're driving "very hard" and want to know where the end of the line is in power. Its usually easy to hear but I did say it was mostly for the "coolness factor".

Mine would be calibrated to light at 5700 which is usually where I shift when I'm driving very hard.
[/b]

Yeah, coolness factor. Where are you going to mount it?

 

[schudel5]

A couple vehicles I had had shift lights built into the instrument panel and they were pretty useless. Maybe for drag racing if you could program the shift point rpm's into it that would be useful.

You know what I wish the Speed6 had is a red digital LED indicator for what gear you are in. I could have sworn I saw this in the regular Mazda6 with the ATX I test drove with the man-u-matic (or whatever they call it).

So many times I have looked down and noticed I hadn't shifted into 6th yet! :doh:

 

[ninecoronas]

It looks sweet but its def. not for me. My shifting points vary as much as the weather up here. Some days I'll be looking for a casual drive, shift at 3.5k to 4k rpm, others I'll be looking for casual yet a touch more engine, 4.5k to 5k, and other days when I know theres no cops, or I just feel the urge (and highways) I shift between 5.7k to 6k, the top of the powerband in my opinion.

So to me, it'd just be a cool factor.

Which is why I'm not dropping money on it till I get everything I really want.

 

[VelocityRacer]

Having a shift light is perfect if your do a lot of racing. Seems like a lot of hardware and wires just for a shift light in my opinion. If you must have a shift light I would rather spend some more cash and get one wired in the right way... this way you still have your cig. lighter. Get some pics up after you install it.

 

[DimSumInABox2Go]

<cough> Rice <cough>

 

[tunerjetta29]

^LOL

I have a feeling it will be pretty much useless. Auto companies have tried their best to get rid of that electrical pulsing throughout the electrical system. I know when we install a lot of stereos at my work that have the built in RPM gauge they have a hard time getting an accurate reading because there is little to no pulsing. Now if you had an older car im sure it would work ok.

 

[BigBens6]

It will work, but with every dyno I have looked at, and with out power band, your shift point is not the same between 1-2, 12-3. 3-4, or 4-5. It is 1-400 rpm different depending on the gear change which means the light only helps in 1 or 2 shifts... seems silly to me.

 

[PerfectXtreme]

Like he said.. and like shift-lights are designed for... and like the WHOLE purpose of the thing.... Has nothing NOTHING to do with driving conditions.. rain.. snow... traffic... nothing...

The WHOLE point of a shift light is to remind you to shift.. because you have NO more power past the point you're at. If you shift before the light goes on.. great.. if you shift after.... you've lost speed/power.. and wasted fuel...

Shift lights are awsome if they can be mounted somewhere you'll notice them. When drag-racing... there isn't much you need to be paying attention to.. other than driving in a line... and shifting at the correct points... which most people can do w/o a light...

HOWEVER when on a track... twisties.. traffic... illegal street racing... whatever (non drag racing situations)... there are MANY other factors you gotta pay attention too.. the road.. the turn.. other cars... bla bla bla... and people can easily miss the correct shift points.... but a big blinking light usually helps remind them....

Thats what its for... to remind you to shift... at the correct time... when your attention is on the road.. and other things around you....

As for this exact device.. I find it hard to believe it will be very accurate... I'd think a stereo truned up pretty loud would cause it to malfunction...

Anyway... in my civic... I often had trouble remembering to shift untill it was too late (when driving on mountain roads... or passing people on smaller roads)... A shift light would have been really nice.... And considering the speed6 loses boost early... Shift light is even nicer =)

 

[yomama69]

The shift light will basically tell you the same thing as a boost gauge....yo out of boost, sucka....SHIFT!

 

[sbspeed]

It won't work - they've cleaned up the pulses so well on this car you will never get an accurate signal from the cigarette lighter or anywhere in the car for that matter.

The only way something like this *might* work is if you connect directly to the alternator.

I went through all this bullshit when trying to get my g-tech shiftlights working.

 

[Road Rage]

i hope it works for you. if it does please tell us how you ended up hooking it up.

 

[Runningriot]

Yeah, its really not for daily driving.

I'll try it out and if I find that it is accurate I'll wire it behind the dash and not waste an outlet.
If it doesn't work at the outlet I may try a direct connection to the alternator but if still no luck, I'll toss it and consider myself $45 wiser!

As for the "Rice" comment, I really don't have anything against "Rice Rocket" look. If done well, a ricer car can look pretty nice, IMO. No if you do a really bad job like some ricer cars I've seen then yeah okay it looks like crap, but that's just because the guy through cheap kragen parts and bondo at his car.

 

[hawk1500]

A couple vehicles I had had shift lights built into the instrument panel and they were pretty useless. Maybe for drag racing if you could program the shift point rpm's into it that would be useful.

You know what I wish the Speed6 had is a red digital LED indicator for what gear you are in. I could have sworn I saw this in the regular Mazda6 with the ATX I test drove with the man-u-matic (or whatever they call it).

So many times I have looked down and noticed I hadn't shifted into 6th yet! :doh:
[/b]

um...do they have ANY MTX that have gear indicator? Maybe...but definitely not common. The one you drove was an auto with the manual mode, that's why...cause you can't tell what gear you've locked it onto since the position of the shifter never moves.