if you notice in videos of the sti, there is a small red led shiftlight in the center of the tach. i am just wondering if it would be possible to build your own. i have electroics experience and will try to design a circut. if anyone has any knowledge of shiftlight design, maybe they could help me do this, as im sure it would be something people would be interested in...

Neutz,
You are in luck! I in fact just installed an Autometer Pro Shift light (go to www.jegs.com for pics). I've got the whole process on a power point file with pictures, links and DIY directions, if you want it. Unfortunetly I left all my pics and the .ppt file at work, but I can email them to you Monday if you'd like. The whole deal took me about 4 hrs, but I was bumbling around. I"d figure more like 3. Email me for more info!
Loren

yeah i saw your install, nice job...
what i was thinking of was one that looked oem...
if you look at the sti dash...there is a light in the center of the tach itself...it is small.... i guess i could steal the circutry from a mass produced shiftlight and replace the bulb with a red led...that would probably be the best option....

there was a video of two sti's driving around and i noticed the shift light...

Oh yeah, I sent that .ppt to a few people, forgot you were one of them. I think the circuitry may be a little tricky for that job. The pinout for the RPM sensor is labeled as having a "waveform" output. So I assume as rpm changes, you get either an amplitude or a frequency shift. I would bet it's frequency tho, that seems to make more sense. You could concievably build a 2nd order counter (rate) to count the peaks, which would relate to the rpm, then build a diode board around it that would pop 12V at a given rpm, maybe use different pinouts from the diode board for different rpms. That's just a guess as to how the rpm signal works, you'd really need a o-scope to figure that one out. I think you may have a better idea with just using the guts of another shift light. There's actually enough room to mount up that shift light on the steering column, it would only block off part of the trip meter. That wouldn't be as subtle as the shift light you had in mind, but it could be a compromise. Hope it works out!
Loren:monkey: