shift light idea, can it b done?

Hello all!
i was lookin at my gauges and it got me thinkin, why the headlight gauge light? i would think i would figure out if my headlight went out.
so heres my idea- why couldnt the head light gauge light become a shift light. not that i dont know when to shift but i think it would be a cool mod on my already severely modded bike. ( electrical is still stock )
my questions to my fellow kzrs is this- can it be done and how? i have very little experience with electrial so i would need some directions. or is this a bad idea?
any thoughts\ideas?
thanks in advance
-seth

thats a pretty small target to aim for when youre ripping down the road they make regular shift lights that are a lot easier to see,check APE website on links.i used to turn my car tachs sideways so shift point was straight up and down but that would be hard to do with stock gauge. goodluck,happy wrenching!

If you are taking a poll, I would have to vote No. My kid has a crappy '88 Cavalier with a shift light on the dash that bugs the crap out of him. My feeling is that if you can't hear or feel when it is time to shift, you need an automatic. (Honda made an automatic transmission, didn't they?)
Technically speaking, I'm not sure how you could mod in a sensor. I'm thinking you would need input from both the tach and speedo. Sounds like a PITA, why don't you find a cure for AIDS or something?:whistle:

Nevco48, after giving it some thought, i think a shift light would bug the hell outta me too.
i have alot bad ideas and a few really good ones.
this was a bad one:blush: maybe if it had an on\off switch or locate it in the highbeam light.
it could be cool, with an on\off switch.:pinch:

these bikes and cars and boats and everthing else posted on here all start out as ideas,sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt.but if you dont try youll never know!when we did the first red on red kawasaki around here 26 years ago we got the idea from a harley,nobody ever did that with a kaw around here before that,now everybody does it!of course they arent as detailed though!:whistle: so dont ever feel bad about having an idea,because thats what it all starts with!goodluck,happy wrenching!

i have alot bad ideas and a few really good ones.

Hey the main thing is, you have ideas, period! I feel sorry for people with no ideas at all. Keep schemein' and dreamin'.

thanks wireman.
i know it!
it could b cool. it just needs to be switched cuz it would definitely get annoying :pinch:

I know on some vehicles that came stock w/ shift lights (I'm talking early 90s jeeps that had it for fuel economy reasons) the shift light was triggered by a vaccum sensor. When the vaccume reached a certain point a light came on in the cluster. I'm assuming that it was a high vaccume reading that triggered it (meaning that the engine is pulling as hard as it can, which would occur at peak torque)

I havn't checked my summit racing catalogue, but I'm sure that there are programmable inductive pickup shift lights that could be very easy to install.

Do it to be different

thanks for the input pistolpete. i've been searchin ebay for a beat up cluster to experiment with.

the only reason i could think of to run a shift light would be if your draggin w/o a limiter.
i just traded my 91 jeep comanche back for my old camaro.
the jeep had a shift light and i hated it.
if i shifted when it said i should i would have had a top speed of about 45 mph.
nothin a lil patch of elec. tape didnt fix.
........*thinks to self*: p.o.s. 4 banger...........

Hey Wicca, I had the same thought about two days ago! I don't think it would be annoying if you set it up like a drag racing shift light. Your light would be set at your peak HP, right about redline. You wouldn't trigger it unless you were racing it. Aftermarket ignitions have an output for a shift light, which is a lot more accurate than our mechanical tachs anyway. As far as wiring one up to a stock kaw ignition? I don't know about that, but I like the idea a lot!!