DIY DIY: How to install a shift light

DIY: How to install a shift light

It's well known that street racers have the big tachs with the shift lights installed in their dash. Well, I'm not into that. I have a need for a shift light because I have a 2004 1zzfe engine on a 2003 ECU installed into my 1998 Corolla. Therefore my tachometer reads redline at 6000 RPM instead of the 6500 RPM or whatever it really redlines at. A shift light would help me focus on the road instead of counting the little red lines I go over redline before I have to shift.


I wanted a clean installation, the air vent seems like the most logical place. I tested this and it does not block the air vent much at all.


Here's how it's done:

1) Ordered this 1.6" diameter shift light from SummitRacing. Took of the bracket it came with. I jammed this bitch inside my air vent. Yeah..it fits so tight it's a perfect fit. Bitch won't move so I don't need no glue yo. fo shizzle!





2) There are 3 wires coming out of the shift light. The Green wire goes to the tach signal which I tapped into the wire harness of the speedometer. It's the solid black wire.



3) Then the red wire is power which I tapped into the solid grey wire of the clock. This grey wire is ACC switched so it makes the shift light flash twice whenever I turn the car on. And the black wire is the ground which I tapped into the white wire with black stripe also coming from the clock.



4) Now I that's it for the installation. There is a knob on the back of the unit that I can adjust the RPM for the light to go off. It's adjustable from 3000 RPM to 12,000 RPM! Works really well and accurate.

Here's a vid of the car getting turned on:



And finally here's a vid of the shift light at work:

Only if I 'have to' :burnout: :driving: