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Are shift lights or aftermarket tachometers considered OoS?


jjgrow

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16.2.2 Factory instruments must remain intact. Additional gauges may be added. It is recommended the remainder of the dashboard and instrument panel remain intact. ADVISORY: It should not be necessary to remove any part of the dashboard to meet minimum weight.

 

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Sounds to me like you must keep the stock gages in the stock locations, but can add anything else.

 

I know that Dan Webb added an aftermarket oil pressure gauge and disabled the stock one. Since the stock one was in the main cluster on 85.5 and later cars it stayed in the car.

 

the 83-85 cars and the 924S have the factory oil pressure gauge in the center console. Since the console is typically removed this gauge is relocated. I put mine in the center speaker grating high in the dash.

 

Shift light should be fine anywhere you can put it.

 

My guess is aftermarket Tach is legal, but you need to keep the stock one.

 

You have an early 85 car so you can do what I did. I moved the tach to the center hole in the dash and turned it so the "6" was on top. I moved the speedo to the old tach hole. It was a little hard to hook up the speedo cable, but I got it done.

 

Not really sure if you can remove the stock tach and replace with an aftermarket. My guess is no. You might be able to pull the tach and replace with aftermarket if you keep the stock tach in the car somewhere. This might be legal, but it all depends on what "intact" means. It is definetly questionable thing to do. I guess if you added the aftermarket tach to the car, and kept the stock gauge cluster then it would be legal. Only issue is there is no good place to put a tach.

 

If I were you I'd just wire in a shift light and swap the stock tach with the stock speedo in the stock cluster. If you need an aftermarket tach to trigger the shift light, put that tach in the center speaker grate, but still use the stock one for most driving. The stock tach is electric so it should be no probelm to get both working.

 

Disclaimer: The views stated above are my opinion only and do not represent any official statement with respect to 944-spec rules compliance. Anyone follows the above advice and get told you are "Out of Spec" is your probelm not mine. For an official rulling please contact Dan Webb.

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Yeah, in my 85.1 car I've already swapped the tach and speedo and added additional oil and water gauges. I think the tach is still hard to read, given its location and colors. Actually, I'm thinking of trying to bring it forward towards the steering wheel and out of the "hole". Only problem is the plastic dome. What would be perfect is a bright, easy to read tach that is mounted flush.

 

The shift light would help, especially since I have a chip with a 7k rev limit. A shift light's cheaper than a new chip.

 

The whole issue is not that big of a deal though.

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Well,

I have a 924S gauge package. These use black background with white letter and "red" redline vs the 83-85 all yellow on back.

 

I have never had a problem knowing when to shift. In fact I mostly do it by feel. I can feel and hear when the car is going over 6k.

 

Shift light is probaly the best thing. The ideal place is probably on the top center of the dash with a little lipstick camera style.

 

You could also try to get a little green - yellow- red light deal like the Prototype and F1 guys have on their steering wheels, Just put that on the dash.

 

I found this one at racer wholesale

 

swlite.gif

http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/stewarn1.htm

 

I'd also bet you could change the gauge face on the stock tach. You can probably go to rennlist for speedo shop that can do the swap.

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UP Racing also has this stuff

 

Helmet mounted shift light

 

e00ae1191608954e1bceda01f135faf6.jpg

 

http://www.upracing.com/index.php?page=shop/normal_product&category_id=98307633890ebb28e0acb6f29057c5a0

 

and this small one too (63x60x21 mm)

6953309127ba49c2fdfca037800ac90c.jpg

 

http://www.upracing.com/index.php?page=shop/normal_product&category_id=983076338

 

 

Seems to me there are few options for shiftlight and small tach's that can be used in conjuntion with stock.

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Actually, the tach, while sub-optimal, isn't my biggest problem. The times I forgot to shift were during red-mist passing sequences. Maybe a big fat light would help remind me. Another option is to connect the hot lead from the last shift light to my ...

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......to my Ah-oo-gah!

Yeah, Jeff. I hear ya. I think my biggest difficulty in that dept is that the steering wheel the car came with is too small in diameter. It blocks alot of the tach. So I've learned to listen to the pitch of the exhaust note, which while effective most of the time, is totally ineffective on the starts when you're surrounded by other people's exhaust notes! I know of one time at BW I took the engine to about 7,000 rpm on the starting turns.

Brain fart!

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Since I have moved the tach to the center hole in the cluster I have not had any issues with seeing my gauges. The again how high you sit and how far back you sit can play a role. so YRMV (Your results may vary!)

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I think my biggest difficulty in that dept is that the steering wheel the car came with is too small in diameter. It blocks alot of the tach.

 

Perhaps so you can drive with handcuffs...appropo for the convict car, don't you think?

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