mx5cartalk.com

Just thought I'd share my Shift-I install.

Bought from http://www.ecliptech.com.au/ express post delivery the next day, very pleased with the service and the product.

If you've been looking for a shift light, highly recommended.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigfurry/3514325645/

The startup sequence is very cool too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKCakfJ2 ... annel_page

Thats kinda cool!

So can we get defected for having one of these??

nice job mate, nice and clean.

wun911 wrote:So can we get defected for having one of these??

You raise a good point, i'm not sure to be honest.

I've set it to turn on at 3500 and flash at 6500rpm. So most of the time putting around town, doesn't even turn on.

Looks nice - but perhaps it's just me - I don't understand the point of a shift light.

If you drive a manual car, you know when you need to shift. If you're over revving it, you just know. I don't need a light to tell me that. Isn't that why cars have a tacho?

(and before someone says that if the car is modded it all happens too quick to watch the dials/pay attention - mine is and no it doesn't).......

Uncle Arthur wrote:Looks nice - but perhaps it's just me - I don't understand the point of a shift light.

If you drive a manual car, you know when you need to shift. If you're over revving it, you just know. I don't need a light to tell me that. Isn't that why cars have a tacho?

(and before someone says that if the car is modded it all happens too quick to watch the dials/pay attention - mine is and no it doesn't).......

the only reason i could come up with is, its a peripheral vision que to change gears, if your going fast and don't want to take your eyes off the road ahead to check the tacho...

dunno about everyone else, but I use engine noise as my que if i am driving fast.

looks good by the way

Its exactly that, its supposed to sit just in your field of vision, but obvious enough so that you don’t have to concentrate on it. You don't take your eyes off the road, yet still see the que to change.

I remember reading an article on the creation of the idea ages ago (I’ll see if I can find it once I'm home). Basically it was created for race drivers as it gives a definitive point to change gears. During set up you would obviously find the optimum time to shift

Yes you could do with out, as you could change by the tacho/noise/feel/whatever. I guess its the same logic as you could stop effectively without ABS, or take off without launch control. Yet its a hell of a lot easier to get the most efficient lanch/stop with the technological aid.

So do you guys dyno the car figure out max power output and make the lights light up red accordingly?

I have hit the reve limiter a couple of times on the track. I'm sure thats wasting precious time in some way or another. It would be cool to have it on the track, I think they come standard equipment in lotus elise so maybe its road legal?

Uncle Arthur wrote:Looks nice - but perhaps it's just me - I don't understand the point of a shift light.
If you drive a manual car, you know when you need to shift. If you're over revving it, you just know. I don't need a light to tell me that. Isn't that why cars have a tacho?
(and before someone says that if the car is modded it all happens too quick to watch the dials/pay attention - mine is and no it doesn't).......

I thought so too until after a few track days. At mega warp speed at Lakeside my total focus was the line, steering and more so now - throttle. I think such a device would help with consistency under such circumstances.

If you have a look at the suppliers link they state:

"You can use the Shift-I as a reference to maintain performance targets, particularly when setting speed at corner entry and getting the right line for maximum corner exiting speed. Obtaining and maintaining smooth and consistent laps times becomes increasingly important where endurance, fuel loads and tyres all play key rolls. If you know what you can do and have a reference for what you've done, then you have a reference to maintain your best performance and improve upon."

They also mention its use for staging at the drags, etc etc - read the site for more.

I'm tempted for the above reasons but I wouldn't bother for a daily driver at all.

Peter

They kinda come standard in many other sport car. STI has it but just small dot on tacho, IS250 has the whole tacho change colour from blue to red.

wun911 wrote: So do you guys dyno the car figure out max power output and make the lights light up red accordingly?

For 9/10's of the function and about half the wank value (don't take that the wrong way, I'm a big fan of wank value) there are whole heap of single light options out there that are much cheaper. As an even cheaper option about 18months ago I was talking to a few friends studying electrical engineering, trying to suss out how hard it would be to build one of these myself (ok, I was actually trying to convince them to tell me how to build one).

But yes, ideally you would work off dyno reading to find the optimum shift point.

CapitalF wrote:I thought so too until after a few track days. At mega warp speed at Lakeside my total focus was the line, steering and more so now - throttle.

I too was at lakeside and agree with this statement completely, even at regular warp speed.

Uncle Arthur wrote:Looks nice - but perhaps it's just me - I don't understand the point of a shift light.

It's just you

Group buy anyone?
They give discounts if you buy in lots of 4 or 6.

I reckon it looks really good and it seems to fit well into the dash, and having it in the instrument binnacle, it doesn't look as obvious to thieves as some others I've seen.

You could count me in on that if its a goer - separate thread?

Peter