[DIY/Review] Gizzmo Dual Stage Shift Light (Pix/Vid)

[CRXer]

Disclaimer: The following is provided as a GUIDE ONLY, and neither myself nor Ozhonda take any responsibility for the outcomes of someone else doing the following. You follow these steps at your own risk!



Aim: To blind yourself with pretty flashing lights while hitting 8krpm at the
top of 3rd at night

Application: This install is done in my '91 CRX with DC2R cluster installed.
Easy for the DC2 guys to just copy,but u will find the principals &
wiring colours will be similar for most hondas.

Need: Phillips head screwdriver
Wire strippers/pliers
Soldering iron/solder
Insulation tape/heatshrink
Double sided tape(if u dont want to screw into dash)
Coupla ales & a pack o ciggies.

Time: 30 mins - 1 hour


I decided to get this clever little device after bumping the limiter quite regularly during the fast paced action of a rapidly rising vtec needle & wanting to know what was going on around me,like cornering,dragging(WSID of course),etc.Would be great for keeping your head `up at the track as well & not having to constantly watch your rev needle for those perfect shifts.

Install: First of all,the instructions for the gizzmo leads u to believe u have to run the wiring all the way back to your ECU.This is not the case,as seeing though u are going to mount it right next to your gauge cluster,why not just wire it straight into the tacho.
Its an easy 3 wire install & all the wires u need are already wired into the back of your tacho;
power(12V)-red wire
ground -blue wire
signal -green wire
My ECU has already got a few things cut into it like wideband O2,meter,engine swap cuts,etc,so i didnt want to cut into any more wires there & besides the ECU is mounted all the way on the other side of the car.

Start by choosing where to mount it:

Here?


What about here??


Or maybe here???


Too much wiring hassle on the A pillar,bit too bling on the hood cover,I think I'll mount mine on the steering column,should be able to see it in my peripheral vision from there.

Once youve decided on mounting position,time to gain access to the gauge cluster by removing the hood(a few screws) or however else u gain access to your cluster like removing fascias etc(DC2?)




Then remove cluster(a few more screws) & unclip the plugs from the back of it.




Looking at the back of the cluster,u will see 3 screws that hold the tacho in & also serve to make the necessary contacts with the circuit board.




U will find one screw is IGN +:


One is Ground -


The last one is tacho signal from the dizzy:



When u trace these 3 points back to the respective plug,u will find on the DC2 that all 3 wires are connected to the left blue plug (as viewed from the front).From there u will find that the wire colours are:

IGN+ 12V - yellow wire
Ground - black wire
Tacho signal - blue wire

Most hondas will have the same colours but if u use the principal of reading where the tacho screws are & tracing the circuit back to the plug,u will find what is actually correct for your vehicle application.

Next,expose some wiring on the plugs by removing some tape(I took all the tape off & chose to connect at the point where i had previous joins from my cluster swap)




Now u will see where i have connected the red,blue & green wires from the gizzmo to the yellow,black & blue wires of the cluster wiring respectively.
More clearly:
Gizzmo>>>>>>Cluster
Red wire>>>>>Yellow wire
Blue wire>>>>>Black wire
Green wire>>>>Blue wire




Now just loom up all the wires & insulate all the joins carefully.




When thats all done time to screw your cluster back in & put the hood/fascias back as well.

To mount thge gizzmo is easy,it comes with 2 brackets that it just clips into.I chose to use just one bracket cos thats all it needs plus less holes in my trim.
Just screw(or double sided tape,i think will work)bracket into place:




Then just clip the gizzmo in & sit back & admire your work










Setup: Seting up the gizzmo is quite easy.It has 2 buttons,one is for the prestage light(yellow light) & the other is for the shift light(red light).
For example,setting up the shift light,if u want to say shift at 8000rpm,u just turn the engine on & while sitting in neutral,rev the engine to half of the rpm's u want(so 4000rpm) & press the button for the shift light on the gizzmo.
It will then flash red at u saying it is set.THe procedure for the preshift light is exactly the same.


Review: Its quite a bling little device,adding a touch of 'race' to your dash & very easy to install as well.
With the operation of it i find it blinks a little on the yellow light sometimes which throws u off a bit,but only sometimes,& the red light is always solid & consistent at the desired shift rpm.
In regards to mounting,i will probably be very shortly relocating it to the top of my gauge hood(as shown in pic above).At night its hard to miss it no matter where u put it as its quite bright,so it works well on the steering column at night,but in the day time u tend to lose it from your peripheral vision a bit more,so i would like to get it up a bit more in my line of sight.Plus i could imagine it getting obscured` by the steering wheel where it is when your turning on the track,possibly.
I must note it has also failed to start up on me once,causing me to bounce the limiter quite hard in 1st when it didnt come on.This was rectified by turning the ignition on & off & it then worked.It blinks at u when u turn the ignition key to on,so if your going to do any hard `driving make sure u see this blink saying its ready to go.


Video: Heres the vid,sorry bout the quality,it was done with my point & shoot,its also quite difficult to film something with one hand & trying to control & shift a B series which is spinning all over the place with the other hand.Its a pull to the top of 3rd gear done on my own private road.Try to view at full size for better quality.




Where to get it: I got mine from autobarn for $189 (not cheap!).

Heres a link to there website for some more info & where else u can buy it,have seen them on eGay for $235 shipped which is a total rip.

Gizzmo click here

They also have a dual stage light with tach recall function for about $280 that flashes blue on shift(i wanted a red one),which integrates with a launch controller that they sell seperately as well,but i didnt need all that cos i got a hondata s300.



Happy shifting