I just got a shift light (www.rev-lite.com) and from what i've been seening in the service manual, it seems i'll have to tap into one of the wires that signal any one of the spark plugs to get the signal for it. I came to this conclusion after realizing that the car doesnt use a standard tacho signal but rather a CAN message to tell the dash tach what the engine speed is. Am I correct in this assumption, and is it safe to tap into one of those wires (basically would be something like wire #60 from the ECU which fires off plug #1 i believe...)

anyone install a shift light before? any other info? am I correct, and more improtantly is there an easier way?

 

I was thinking about getting a decent shift light for my Z. The stock one is just too small. The stock one on my R6 is a decent size and bright as hell. People probably think the cops are behind them when it lights up. It would've really been cool if Nissan had put a shift light in the multifuntion guage. Then you could just scroll to a blank screen and the whole LED could light up when it was time to shift. And it's also already in the perfect spot. I've actually had this idea since I first saw that little shift light in my Z. If I see this feature on later model Zs Nissan will own me some money for my idea . Actually, can any here who deals with electronics do this mod to the current Z? I wouldn't mind losing one of the useless displays like the stopwatch or ave speed to get a shift light display.

 

that's cool, i like that light

 

You could try contact MSD as they are the defacto ignition experts and see if they have any ideas of how to interface with our ECU.

From the FSM

"The ignition signal from the ECM is sent to and amplified by the power transistor. The power transistor turns
on and off the ignition coil primary circuit. This on-off operation induces the proper high voltage in the coil secondary
circuit."

Maybe you could tap in there?!?!

 

thats pretty much what i was assuming. the wire i was gonna tap into would be the line-level (12V most likely) wire coming out of the ECU thats used to trigger the power transistor.. i'm assuming that shift lights read a low level signal rather than a high power one

 

The wire going into the existing OEM shift light would probably be the one you would use.

 

the G doesnt have an OEM shift light, and the tach signal is over a CAN line, not a standard pulse line

 

I sent my window switch(PN 8956) to MSD/Autotronic controls at El Paso to get it reconfigure for one cylinder operation, that way you plug it to one coil and it reads the correct RPM.
You could do the same for the Distributorless Tach Driver(PN 8913) in order to use any RPM signal base accessory like, shift light, tach, etc...

 

Could you elaborate a little more on the changes they made? and what do you mean 1 cylinder operation? .. do you know what it was hooked up to eventually?

 

The rpm window switch works out of a normal rpm signal, our cars have some type of a digital signal that the MSD window switch can not read. Only if you connect it to a single coil it will be able to read a signal. The problem is that the switch only works for 4, 6, and 8 cylinder engines. In order for it to read the correct rpm out of one cylinder it needs to be modified for one cylinder operation. MSD will do that for you but of course, you have to ship it in and pay $35 for the mod.
Now for the shift light, maybe you could do the same, call them and ask if they could mod the light to single coil op and just tap the light to one coil.

Good luck !