Achilles99
Enthusiast
First, my thanks go out to Steve-Indy for faxing me the appropriate wiring diagrams for the PCM. I just installed my new Raptor Shiftlight, and it works FLAWLESSLY. Originally, I was going to mount an autometer shift light, but I decided against it because:
1) Too big
2) Needed RPM pills
I also briefly considered the shiftlight drawn up in the illustrated upgrades. But, that one (VDO) required a separate brain to function correctly. The Raptor is about the size of a Lifesaver's roll, and is completely self-contained. It only needs three wire hookups (tach, power, ground), and is completely adjustable without pills or a separate controller. It also requires no modification to function with our V10's (unlike the Autometer, where you either have to adjust the wiring for V10's, or use staggered pills to simulate RPM's). I installed it in under an hour, and that included tucking the wires, etc. Here are a few pics. The LED's are SUPER BRIGHT. I wondered why they included a "night" cover. Now I know! The lights are so bright, that I might just leave the cover on during both day and night operation. They also included a "black" cover to block out all light. The pictures do NOT do the brightness levels justice. If you've ever looked at an LED flashlight before, you'll know what I mean. The supplier expressed interest in a group buy. Pricing would be lower than the $85 retail, depending on quantity. Finally... no Viper tax!
Here's the unit turned off, with no cover:
Turned off, with cover:
Turned on, without cover:
Turned on, with cover:
<font color="red">Added by Vipermad 2/8/05</font>
2001 Dodge Viper GTS Raptor Shiftlight Installation
(should be similar installation for 1992-2002 Vipers)
1) The package arrives nicely packed, and includes the shiftlight, two covers (one black, and one color matched to the LED color you choose), and a set of instructions.
2) Remove PCM cover on driver’s side, under the hood. It is held on by four 8mm bolts, and two regular Phillips head screws. Then, remove cover on leftmost plug (C1) by depressing black tabs.
3) From the inside of the car, velcro the shiftlight to the top of the steering column. Then, feed the wires to the fusebox by tucking it behind the dash panel (show below, with three screws removed in order to tuck wires).
4) At this point, cut a small 2-5 section of the conduit (do NOT cut wires in half… ONLY cut the conduit cover that is around the wires. A small knife may help.) that is located by the fusebox in order to expose the black ground wire and red power wire (do NOT cut the green wire at all… you will feed this through the firewall to the PCM). You can tap into the fusebox for power, and ground the black wire to one of those screws that are touching bare metal in the fuse panel (see above picture).
5) Next, locate the grommet located just in front of the drivers side windshield, under the hood. Guide a coat hanger through the hole and into the fusebox area. Tape the green wire (which should still be in the black conduit) to the coat hanger, and pull through the grommet in order to bring the conduit with green (tach) wire into the engine compartment.
6) You can either solder or use a wiretap to attach the green wire to one of the ignition coil wires on C1. On a 2001 GTS, Pin 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 are all the coil wires. I used Pin 1, which is a yellow wire with gray stripe. If using a tap, try and install as low on the wire as possible, in order to have room to replace the plastic cover for C1. If you are unsure of which wire to tap into, please run a search on the VCA forums for clarification of the tach wire.
7) You’re done! On the shiftlight, set toggle switch 1 to OFF, 2 to OFF, and 3 to ON. This will put the shiftlight into 2-cylinder mode (which is appropriate for our V-10’s, since each coil powers two cylinders). Set RPM dials (first one is in thousands, second is in hundreds. Thus, to set at 5,000 RPM’s, set first dial at “5”, and second dial at “0”). Start car, rev engine and make sure that light functions before putting all the panels back together. Enjoy!
Comments from The Wizard: "wires at the PCM MUST BE soldered and use heat-shrink on your soldered connections!"
1) Too big
2) Needed RPM pills
I also briefly considered the shiftlight drawn up in the illustrated upgrades. But, that one (VDO) required a separate brain to function correctly. The Raptor is about the size of a Lifesaver's roll, and is completely self-contained. It only needs three wire hookups (tach, power, ground), and is completely adjustable without pills or a separate controller. It also requires no modification to function with our V10's (unlike the Autometer, where you either have to adjust the wiring for V10's, or use staggered pills to simulate RPM's). I installed it in under an hour, and that included tucking the wires, etc. Here are a few pics. The LED's are SUPER BRIGHT. I wondered why they included a "night" cover. Now I know! The lights are so bright, that I might just leave the cover on during both day and night operation. They also included a "black" cover to block out all light. The pictures do NOT do the brightness levels justice. If you've ever looked at an LED flashlight before, you'll know what I mean. The supplier expressed interest in a group buy. Pricing would be lower than the $85 retail, depending on quantity. Finally... no Viper tax!
Here's the unit turned off, with no cover:
Turned off, with cover:
Turned on, without cover:
Turned on, with cover:
<font color="red">Added by Vipermad 2/8/05</font>
2001 Dodge Viper GTS Raptor Shiftlight Installation
(should be similar installation for 1992-2002 Vipers)
1) The package arrives nicely packed, and includes the shiftlight, two covers (one black, and one color matched to the LED color you choose), and a set of instructions.
2) Remove PCM cover on driver’s side, under the hood. It is held on by four 8mm bolts, and two regular Phillips head screws. Then, remove cover on leftmost plug (C1) by depressing black tabs.
3) From the inside of the car, velcro the shiftlight to the top of the steering column. Then, feed the wires to the fusebox by tucking it behind the dash panel (show below, with three screws removed in order to tuck wires).
4) At this point, cut a small 2-5 section of the conduit (do NOT cut wires in half… ONLY cut the conduit cover that is around the wires. A small knife may help.) that is located by the fusebox in order to expose the black ground wire and red power wire (do NOT cut the green wire at all… you will feed this through the firewall to the PCM). You can tap into the fusebox for power, and ground the black wire to one of those screws that are touching bare metal in the fuse panel (see above picture).
5) Next, locate the grommet located just in front of the drivers side windshield, under the hood. Guide a coat hanger through the hole and into the fusebox area. Tape the green wire (which should still be in the black conduit) to the coat hanger, and pull through the grommet in order to bring the conduit with green (tach) wire into the engine compartment.
6) You can either solder or use a wiretap to attach the green wire to one of the ignition coil wires on C1. On a 2001 GTS, Pin 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 are all the coil wires. I used Pin 1, which is a yellow wire with gray stripe. If using a tap, try and install as low on the wire as possible, in order to have room to replace the plastic cover for C1. If you are unsure of which wire to tap into, please run a search on the VCA forums for clarification of the tach wire.
7) You’re done! On the shiftlight, set toggle switch 1 to OFF, 2 to OFF, and 3 to ON. This will put the shiftlight into 2-cylinder mode (which is appropriate for our V-10’s, since each coil powers two cylinders). Set RPM dials (first one is in thousands, second is in hundreds. Thus, to set at 5,000 RPM’s, set first dial at “5”, and second dial at “0”). Start car, rev engine and make sure that light functions before putting all the panels back together. Enjoy!
Comments from The Wizard: "wires at the PCM MUST BE soldered and use heat-shrink on your soldered connections!"
