Factory Shift Light? Or what else could this see?

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/67223DSC01699.JPG

The box right next to the thumb, outlined in white. What is this? It has an upward pointing arrow in it, but it never has lit up. I'm kinda thinking its a factory shift light, I was wanting to know if anyone else had it. Its an 88/89, and the cluster itself is outlined in white like that, I didnt add that.

wow, thats weird. mines not like that altho it would be cool if it was a shift light. let us know if u find out

I'm going to pull it out tomorow and see if the bulb is burned out, and see what wires the bulb leads back to. But I'm thinking its a shift light, but I'v never heard of a factory one on our cars.

it'd be kinda cool to hook it up that way even if it wasn't setup to do that - us cars with tachs it's kinda pointless to add a tach - we just need a shift light - it'd be tight to put a bright ass bulb there so it flashes in your face at a certian rpm. I'd do it

yea that is defidently a factory shift light, my brother's old saturn had the same up arrow light in his cluster.

That cluster is defidently an HF model.

fuck it, I'm going to go pull it out and see if the bulb is just burnt, I'll post what I find..

Ok I pulled the cluster, the bulb is good, but the bulb isnt like the others, it has two wires comming off it that go into a white box looking thing attached on the back of the cluster. The white box thing has a blue plug on it with 5 prongs in the plug. I dont have anything to plug this into comming out of my dash though. Its a small plug, less than 1 inch square. The box is factory, and only thing it says is "NST718"

also, this box isnt wired to anything else on the cluster except that bulb, so I guess what ever plugs into that box is what makes it work. Anyone have any cluse as to what plugs into it or how I could wire it up?

Personally - I'd rewire it, like you said in your pm - it's set to go off at 2300 rpms if it's hooked up. What i'd do is put a high intensity bulb in there, and wire it up to some rpm activator and set it to the rpm that you want. That's be pretty nice - very stealthy and hidden.

The white box is i believe your VSS (from your description anyway). The wires go to the ECU. the HF ECU has a special output for the shift light, and it may just run through that connector.

the only easy way for you to make it work is an RPM activated switch. I suppose you could use Turbo Edit and a PS9 or equivilent.

Yeah I'm just going to use an rpm activated switch, probably set it to around 5500rpm. Found out the five prongs, two are signal, two are wired to factory dimmer and the fifth one is not used.

wouldnt it just go off the tachs signal tho? or does it have to go thru the ECU?

it has to go through the ECU. For te HF honda basically used a reprogramed PS9. It has different maps, EGR control, and instead of switching the auto-trans lockup solenoid it flips on a shift light.

crazy
so do all the clusters have a shiftlight or is it just HF specific clusters?

I think its just hf, I'm going to buy a rpm activated switch probably, anyone know how much they run?

its meant for the best economy when working to factory specs right?

would putting a bright bulb in an unused location and wiring it from an external source be a problem, could it melt anything in the cluster and cause me to have to buy a replacement. my cars not fast enough to where I cant watch the tach but it would be cool to hide one, I was thinking of hiding my autometer monster tach from my civic under the dash in my teg and then just run the wires to the shift light on the A pillar or on the side of the column or something liek that.

yeah it comes on at 2300 rpm. Putting a bulb in an unused spot shouldnt be a problem, shouldnt melt anything unless its like a huge bulb.

ok, I just know that the stock brightness of my dash's warning/belt/ABS/etc lights dont seem like they grab my attention when Im racing.

I gotta find a couple empty locations, I am gonna make the VTEC light as well, I know its been done lots and isnt really necessary at all cuz you can hear it perfect when it crosses over but I think its kinda cool to have, I only know one person with it and they didnt do it and wouldnt know how.

vtec light how-to (http://home.earthlink.net/~civicex95/vteclight.html)

When i first got my car which is the hf model with the si swap, it had the shift light with the HF ecu..... the SI ecu (pm6 i believe) doesnt set it off tho

Only the Hf ecu will make the shift up light work. The dx and the Si ecu dont use that part of the ecu its disabled in the programming.

heh, who wants to shift at 2300rpm anyway? When I get some spare cash I'm going to buy an rpm switch and wire it up to it, nice hidden shift light that looks factory.

I think Im gonna use a factory style bulb in there, since its an unused location but still has the curcuit on the plastic board type deal. maybe plug has wires to tap into or I can add some to the harness in those 2 locations, tap it into the wiring at the ECU and follow factory harness and make it look like its OEM stuff. I will just use black model paint and brush the word VTEC on the red/clear film and not have to cut anything/try printing on divider tabs....

heh, who wants to shift at 2300rpm anyway? When I get some spare cash I'm going to buy an rpm switch and wire it up to it, nice hidden shift light that looks factory.

Sounds like a winner... My old 944 had a factory shiftlight and it drove me nuts. Either it burnt out or that's the reason I sold it... *Note: I'm not a fan of shift lights* :wink:

Yea, I have an HF and I was wondering what that was also, never even botherd to look close enough to see that it was an arrow though. Even when my car was stock I don't think that thing lit up.

I have a big VAFC that shows a big "ON" when the vtec kicks in (supposedly) it's purrrty.

you can put one in the cluster, there are already sockets molded in, just need some spare bulbs. if your really interested i could try and do a writeup

would give me a good excuse to buy a better digi-cam.

I I know I can do it, if I can install alarm/remote start and windows I better be able to do this, just not sure if the empty sockets circuit trail on that flimsy circuit board on the back of the cluster leads to an empty spot in the harness or not? I might just have to add wires

yes, you will have to add wires, i dont believe there are even circuit trails. the easiest way is to modify bulbs so they are like the one that has wires runnng to the top light, then just run the wires to whatever.