wkb@ada-uts.UUCP (08/29/85)
I hate to take people away from the Radar Detector debates but I have a question. Does anybody have any experience with non factory-installed cruise controls? I didn't have cruise control added to my car when I bought it but now I'm itching to have it put in. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks. Warren Berger cca!ima!inmet!ada-uts!wkb
sja@rduxb.UUCP (Sam J. Anastasio) (09/03/85)
> > Does anybody have any experience with non factory-installed > cruise controls? > Yes, I installed a Sears (made by Dana) unit several years ago in my then car, a 79 Honda Accord. The installation wasn't difficult, but it was time consuming. It took about 8 hours, if I remember correctly. The unit performed flawlessly for the 30 odd thou miles I had the car. I still have the unit because I removed it when I sold the car and have had factory units in my recent cars. The bottom line is, I was very happy with it and in the absence of a factory unit, I would recommend the purchase of same. Sam Anastasio AT&T Bell Labs Reading
doug@prime.UUCP (Douglas Hamilton) (09/14/85)
> > > > Does anybody have any experience with non factory-installed > > cruise controls? > > > > Yes, I installed a Sears (made by Dana) unit several years ago in my > then car, a 79 Honda Accord. > The installation wasn't difficult, but it was time consuming. It took > about 8 hours, if I remember correctly. > The unit performed flawlessly for the 30 odd thou miles I had the car. I had a similar (but not quite as good) experience with the Sears unit on an 81 Accord. Installation time was roughly the same (despite the claim by Sears that it should be around an hour or two,) but I did run into some trouble "debugging" the thing. You have to mount a cable thingie (technical term (-:) onto the carburator; in doing so, I had somehow bent or otherwise affected the adjustments such that the car would no longer idle at all. (It'd immediately die as soon as you let your foot off the gas.) Being far from a real auto mechanic, it was a lot of trouble to find out what was wrong especially since there were only skimpy debug instructions. (To fix it turned out be a simple adjustment of idle screw on the carb.) My experience with the unit since then has also been good but not outstanding. I'm now on my third "control box," the little panel with the set & resume/accelerate buttons, because the first two failed at 15,000 miles (give or take) due to cheaply-made switches. (Perhaps coincidentally or perhaps because of the cold, both failed in the middle of winter.) Also, I'm not all that happy with the linkage to the clutch & brake pedals. You have to mount a little pulley on wall behind these pedals with a chain running to each. On one pedal, you mount a switch assembly such that if you step on either pedal, the switch causes the cruise control to turn off and the same time, releases the vacuum from the solenoid pulling via the cable on the carburator. The bottom line is that with all this junk down by the pedals (all of designed to mount on anybody's however-odd-shaped pedals) it can be rather crowded. If you have either big feet or a pension for wing tips, figure to get a few gouges in your shoes now & then. Also, it can be easy to kick the wires loose. Finally, I notice floor mats have a tendancy to ride up against the pulley & chain. I've never had it prevent the unit from disengaging (thank God!) but I have had to reach down and pull the mat back to get the unit to turn on. All in all, would I do it over again? You bet! Cruise control is the greatest thing going for avoiding fatigue on a long drive, avoiding tickets due to your speed accidentally creeping up and generally making the drive more pleasant. (Incidentally, I find 55 to 60 mph very tolerable with a cruise cntl given that the drive is so much easier that I am less hell bent to get where I'm going so I can be done with it!) -- Douglas Hamilton Prime Computer,Inc. 617-626-1700 x3956 Video Products Group 492 Old Connecticut Path Framingham, MA 10701 {seismo,ihnp4,allegra,ut-sally}!harvard!prime!doug
mberns@ut-ngp.UTEXAS (Mark Bernstein) (09/16/85)
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I, too, have had experience with the Sears cruise control installed
in an 81 Honda Accord. The system works beautifully, but the under-dash
assemblies have presented problems. Some points worth mentioning:
1) It is all-too-easy to kick off the vacuum hose leading to the
switch unit which is mounted on the clutch or brake pedal arm.
On mine it was only a friction fit. A small screw-type hose clamp
solved that problem.
2) The wires leading to that switch flex constantly under normal
driving conditions (my switch is mounted on the clutch pedal - not
the best choice according to Sears, but the most sensible one given
the layout of the under-dash area. My unit had been installed
by Sears). I've had one wire or the other break off at its spade
lug several times. Some soldering to beef up that connection point
took care of that.
3) Watch for the chain assembly linking the brake and clutch arms
and the switch. If improperly routed, the chain can "hang up" on
various protrusions and/or cables near the floorboard, causing
erratic operation of the automatic cruise control release function,
and possibly the pedals themselves.
Any of the conditions described above will lead to non-functioning of
the cruise control. For anyone with this unit, in case of malfunction
it would be worth checking these points before deciding to bring it
in for repairs.
Despite these relatively minor (and correctable) problems, the Sears
control performs its job quite well.
Mark Bernstein
UT Austin, Dept. of Speech Communicationtoma@tekchips.UUCP (Tom Almy) (09/23/85)
Somehow I never got around to sending this... I installed a Cal-Custom Hawk unit in my Volkswagen Vanagon about a year ago. Because of a sale plus factory rebate plus price mismarking the unit cost $40.00 (they deducted the rebate from the price of the unit giving a double rebate!). Installation took 3 hours with lots of help from a friend that installed a unit before. Installing the unit in the Vanagon was complicated by the fact that the wiring harness doesn't fit a rear engined car so a new cable had to be fabricated. Space is also at a premium. Installation in a conventional car could probably have been done in half the time. Some features that make this unit superior to others mentioned (and why I decided to bite the bullet and install one). 1. Speed is sensed from the ignition coil rather than from magnets on the drive shaft (ugh!) or mechanical connection to the speedometer cable. (O.K., with an automatic, this may not be so hot, but it works fine for a stick!) 2. Brake is sensed from connection to the brake light. Clutch is sensed by a sudden engine speed change using sensor (1). 3. Throttle servo works from manifold vacuum rather than electic motor for much faster response. 4. Control has Set-Accel Resume-Decell buttons like the factory units. The unit holds the van speed to within 2 mph. I'll never have a car without one again. BTW I have been driving that Vanagon about 22,000 miles a year. Tom Almy