Shift Light

[quantumracer]

My crew chief spent yesterday relocating my shift light.

Not sure what Suzuki was thinking when they located it low and left. They sure as heck weren't thinking about anyone actually using it.

Pics....light off; light on:

 

[BlueHaya]

 

[Schism]

looks great! i agree suzuki should of placed the shift light in the top center in line with your sight.

 

[UncleSteve]

Definitely agree, it should be moved. Would you mind posting the mod?

 

[badazgtp]

 

[Ludicrous Speed]

A friend of mine did that on his 05 1000, but he put the led inside the end of a small maglite and mounted that, worked great!

 

[quantumracer]

Definitely agree, it should be moved. Would you mind posting the mod?

crap....didn't take pics. I will have to wait for my crew chief to get back before I can take pics to show how this is done. It was SUPER SIMPLE!!! You may have to wait until the week of March 7th for pics, based on our travel schedule.

take the windscreen off. the lower dash panel off, the upper dash panel off, disassemble the dash (just some screws). turn the disassembled dash over to reveal the solid state board. Use solder wick (pulls solder out... very cool stuff) to remove the solder from the LED. Then solder wire into the holes. next, Test the positive/negative on the led before you solder them. To do this, just plug the dash back in, hold the wires on the led, turn the key on. If the shift light comes on....solder them in. if it doesn't, switch the wires and try again.

we will post pics and better instructions when the REAL mechanic gets back!

 

[macon454]

That is nice and bright

 

[quantumracer]

That is nice and bright

I haven't made any runs with it installed yet. I am hoping it is bright enough to catch my attention! Based on my normal racing position, I feel like it will allow me to stay in the groove and still see the light. We shall see!

 

[quantumracer]

Ok, so I am on a flight from Atlanta to San Diego. I took some pictures of the mod before I left for this conference. I am heading to Fresno tomorrow morning, then off to Durango, CO tomorrow afternoon. When I get to Durango...and get some DAGUM sleep, I will upload the pics I took. If you have questions after the photos...please ask. I feel confident that I can help you get this done easily.

HOOYAH!!!
The Rocket Jockey

 

[GsxrBots]

Nice!

 

[quantumracer]

Ok...here are the pics:

First step:
Remove the windscreen, the upper dash panel, the lower dash panel and the dash itself.
(no pics for this one)

Second step:
Once the dash is out, remove the screws from the back panel. The outer 'ring' of screws hold the face plate the inner screws hold the solid state board. They are all the same, and all of them have to come out. *NOTE* This picture was taken after the mod was completed. The black and red wires are part of the mod, so you will not see them yet!

 

[quantumracer]

Step three:
Once the back panel is off, find the shift light LED posts. They are located next to the wire harness plug. *NOTE* The red wire I am pointing to is your power wire; the black wire is ground. Don't solder them in backwards then try to blame me for problems with your dash not working....k? Thanks!

 

[quantumracer]

Ok...gotta run. Will post the rest later. It's gonna be one of those days!

 

[quantumracer]

Step Four:
Use solder wix and a hot soldering iron to pull the solder off the shift light. Then solder your wires into place. (pic above)

 

[quantumracer]

Step five:
Hopefully you have already decided where you would like to mount your shift light. Since there are a number of different places to mount it, I won't bore you with how I drilled the hole Just pay attention to the back of any panel you want to drill, so that you don't drill into a spot that has a clip in it.

 

[quantumracer]

Step six:
Leave enough wire for future work! Here's a pic of what we did. Connectors at the mid wire point; installed in reverse so even I couldn't connect it wrong! These little gems are important because they allow us to remove the dash without having to remove anything else.

 

[quantumracer]

Last thing to do before you button up the dash and body panels:
Put the solid state (guage) part of your dash back into the front cover. Then route the wires you soldered into place through the back panel so they exit at the wire harness spot. There is plenty of room for the wire, with no pinching. Then button everything up and go test it out.

 

[quantumracer]

Sorry for the delay....but that's it. Simple mod that works very well in my opinion!