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The production team at Raptor Performance shipped us one of their shift lights for an installation article.  The shift light that we received is Part # RPSLRSLV013 Red LEDs with silver anodized aluminum finish.

The package comes complete with the shift light, a roll of lead wires and instructions for dip switch setting and how to set the RPM limits for you shift light.  This is so straight forward, it takes literally seconds to do.  The 2002 Ford Mustang comes equipped with a coil pacs of  each spark plug.  For that reason, we only need to tie into any one of the coil lead form any one of the coil pacs.  We chose to run our wires to the factory PCM location where we could splice into the coil lead from coil pac one, get a good ground and tap into a switched power lead.

Before you even enter the garage, take a second and set the dip switch setting to match your application.  Since we are only reading the coil lead from one coil pac, the setting are all dip switches off.  Follow the instruction for your application for 6 cylinder, V8 or even 2 cylinder motorcycle settings.  

We are now ready to move into the garage and start planning for the installation.  Before you do anything, disconnect the batteries negative terminal.  You are eventually going to be disconnecting the PCM or computer brain for you vehicle, you do not want to damage this unit or your pocket book is going to scream.

Sit in the driver seat and look at all the possible places that you might like to have the shift light unit installed.  If you want it discrete, you might want to hide it inside one of the AC vents.  You might want it right in front of you on the steering column.  I chose to mount the shift light on the A pillar with it being exposed.  The aluminum finish matches the billet add-ons that have been made and it made a nice addition to the car.  It is out of the way, yet points directly at your eyes when you are driving.  There is no reflection problems, no is it in the way at all.

With our shift light position chosen, we have to remove the A pillar interior body panel.  I marked the locaton of the mounting clasp supplied so that we can locate it accurately again.  The A pillar panel is held in place by several spring clip retainers and a pin.  At the very top of the pillar, near the convertible top lock is the head of a plastic retainer pin.  Remove this by sliding a small blade screwdriver underneath the head and wiggling it out of it's position.  The top of the A pillar panel will now be free to pull down towards the driver's seat.  There is a friction clip at the very top, then a couple of male spring clips that mate with holes in sheet metal inside.  Carefully work you way down the panel, freeing each one successively until you are able to remove it completely.

With the panel out of the way (put is somewhere you are not going to step or sit on it) we are ready to start fishing the wire leads over to the passenger side of the car.  Start by taping the 3 loose leads together with some electrical tape.  This will make your life easier as you fish it through some of the tight spots.  We went straight down the pillar so that the lines come out right above the hood latch handle.  You may have to have one hand under the dash feeling for dangling wires as you feed with your other hand.  Once you have found the ends, pull them through very carefully leaving enough loose lead near the shift light to allow you to change the settings if required.  The extra length can be tucked behind the panel until you might need to do this.

With the wire hanging down in the foot well of the driver's side, we started routing the line through the access hole in the console.  Some of these holes are punched during manufacturing and have some very sharp edges, expect to skin some knuckles but be careful not to cut your hands up.  When you are fishing the wire from one side to the other, take the time to put it about other wires and supports on the way across to prevent it from hanging down after installation is complete.

Now that the wire leads are on the passenger side, we can concentrate on getting access to the PCM.  This requires you to remove the passenger side kick panel as well as the door sill.  The door sill is held in place by the same friction clips as the top of the pillar panel.  It you have an OEM Interior Panel Tool (pry bar that fits the plastic retainer pins) you can use this to pry up on the sill getting as close to the clip locations as possible.  Some of these clips might stay with the sheet metal, if so, remove them and replace them on the sill or you will never get them lined up while replacing the sill.  This will allow you to remove the kick panel.  There is one plastic retainer pin.  Remove this pins, grasp the panel near the sill location and pull forward, there is a spring clip that holds it in place here.  Put the sill and the kick panel in the back seat, out of the way.  This will expose the location for the PCM.  There are a couple of OEM connectors mounted to a black bracket.   Remove the screws from the bracket, disconnect the fittings and move then out of the way.

The vehicle PCM is now exposed and visible.  There is a bolt that holds the massive plug in place on the PCM.  Remove this bolt.  As you unscrew the bolt, the PCM connector will slow be forced apart.  Once it is completely separated from the PCM, swing it off to the side and look directly at the connector area of the plug.  You will see 2 locking tabs on either side of the plug.  These hold the black plastic wire cover onto the back side of the plug.  A blade screwdriver will release these and you will expose all the wires that feed into the PCM unit.

The Green/White wire that goes to Pin #26 is the coil lead from coil pac one or cylinder number one.  The green wire from the shift light wire harness need to tap into this wire.  Utilize one of the slice connectors supplied leaving enough space between the PCM and the splice to squish the wires into the mass of wires going into the plug.  This will allow you to relocate and replace the plastic  cover and clean the PCM plug back up to stock condition.

Replace the PCM connector and use the bolt to tighten the connector back up.  This will slowly pull the plug together.  Don't over tighten this bolt, there is no need.  Right next to the PCM is a ground connection that we are going to utilize.  Bare about 1/2 inch of the black wire from the shift light wire harness.  Loosen the ground bolt off and wrap the black ground wire around the bolt.  Tight the ground bolt back up and you should a very good ground connection.

The remaining red wire is going to be the power lead that we will tap into a switched 12V line.  The plug closest to the fire wall on the bracket that we removed earlier has the perfect location for this splice.  Splice into the side of the plug that goes up under the dash.

 Reconnect all of the OEM connectors, reattach them to the mounting bracket and replace the bracket.  The wiring work is done and we now need to replace the kick panel and sill plate.  Carefully line up the kick panel so the plastic retainer pin matches up with it's mounting hole.  Tap the pin with a rubber hammer and snug up the panel.  Replace the sill making sure the 2 alignment tabs match their respective holes in the panel near the back seat. 

Reconnect the batteries negative terminal and you are ready to test the light.  The first time you power up, the light will do a self test that tells you how you have it set.  the first series of flashes will indicate how you have the 1000x RPM set.  We had ours set at 5700, we saw 5 blinks indicated 5000.  There will be a pause for a couple of seconds, then the second series of blinks will be the 100x RPM setting.  Ours blinked 7 times, confirming 5700 RPM.  The shift light will only do this test after there has been changes made.

There was nothing left to do but admire and test the light.  We warmed up the car and took it out for a drive.  Got onto one of the collector roads, made sure the coast was clear, traction lock off and hit the happy pedal.  We never took our eyes off the road relying on the fact that this light was supposed to tell us when to shift.  The red LED combination is so bright there is no missing it.  It went off, we power shifted into second and drifted sideways.  The threat of over revving or hitting the rpm limiter is gone.  This is a very good modification for the weekend 1/4 mile racer.  If you are inclined to race, do it at the track where it is safe and controlled.

We are very impressed with this product.  The finish quality if great, the adjustability is extensive and we highly recommend the Raptor Shift light.