Neat digital gear indicator

[destrux]

I just installed a trick digital gear indicator on my sportbike (86 VFR700F) and while I was wiring it up I realised that there was nothing stopping it from working perfectly on my eclipse. There are a few companies that make them. They tap into the speedo signal and the tach signal and calculate between the two to determine what gear you're in. There is some calibration needed, but if you can install it you can calibrate it. Very easy. Try searches for acumen or DiGi Datatool gear indicators on ebay. They go for anywhere from $65 to $150. Not a whole lot of use for drag racing or street use, but for road racing it's nice to have the gear you're in staring you in the face all the time. They even come in different colors for the ricer all of us...

The only disadvantage to them is they only work while you're moving, if you change gear while you're stopped it wont indicate the right gear till you move again. (although this really isnt a big deal on a car, it is a slight problem on a bike, where you cant go from 5th to 1st in one move)

Just to clear this up, I dont sell these things, and I dont work for anyone who sells them. I just thought it would be cool to have this in my car and when I searched the forums nothing came up about it. RRE had a similar gear indicator in a 2g that they had installed a one-off sequential shifter into (ala sportbike or F1 car). Now all I need to do is figure out how to copy the shifter idea..... but that's for another thread.

 

[Talesin]

Someone was actually talking about setting up a gear-indicator for those of us with CarPCs (plan to make my own HUD out of an old TFT micro-monitor).. essentially just securing a contact patch to the bottom of the shift arm, and a few springs with foil or captured washers to act as contact plates. Run the output back through a parallel or serial interface. Would allow 'supposed speed' to also be calculated, so any major difference could be used to spot a slipping clutch early on.

Honestly though... with a manual, you really don't need to have a glowing readout of what gear you're in, most of the time. Can just feel it with your hand, without even looking. It might be nice (say if you forget to upshift, as I often do while freeway driving), but I can't help but wonder if it'd be worth the cost and work involved.

 

[RamenPride]

http://www.machv.com/gearindicator.html

 

[KGB Pilot125]

I just installed a trick digital gear indicator on my sportbike (86 VFR700F) and while I was wiring it up I realised that there was nothing stopping it from working perfectly on my eclipse. There are a few companies that make them. They tap into the speedo signal and the tach signal and calculate between the two to determine what gear you're in. There is some calibration needed, but if you can install it you can calibrate it. Very easy. Try searches for acumen or DiGi Datatool gear indicators on ebay. They go for anywhere from $65 to $150. Not a whole lot of use for drag racing or street use, but for road racing it's nice to have the gear you're in staring you in the face all the time. They even come in different colors for the ricer all of us...

The only disadvantage to them is they only work while you're moving, if you change gear while you're stopped it wont indicate the right gear till you move again. (although this really isnt a big deal on a car, it is a slight problem on a bike, where you cant go from 5th to 1st in one move)

Just to clear this up, I dont sell these things, and I dont work for anyone who sells them. I just thought it would be cool to have this in my car and when I searched the forums nothing came up about it. RRE had a similar gear indicator in a 2g that they had installed a one-off sequential shifter into (ala sportbike or F1 car). Now all I need to do is figure out how to copy the shifter idea..... but that's for another thread.

the neat little sequential shifter you speak of uses the stock trans, they reccommend a dog box with a shift kill but you can install the "seqishift" with any cable operated trans.

http://www.seqshift.com/
they reccomend one of these gear sets

http://www.albinsgear.com.au/index.html
if you dont get a dog box and shift kill you still have to use the clutch.