Cruise control feeler

[Stonejag 10]

I'm still working on my setup and I'd say £120 is very much on the cheap side. Using all new OEM parts you could quite easily spend £300, and an original VW stalk is £95ish on top...

 

It's really easy to add though - the main sticking point for me is the mounting brackets as the C is my daily driver so I can't really remove the pedal cluster to work on it. You need two brackets (one to hold the vacuum actuator and one to bolt onto the gas pedal linkage where it pulls on the throttle cable). The rest is just:

 

Cruise ECU

Stalk

Brake pedal switch

Clutch pedal switch (if manual)

Vacuum pump

Wiring harness

Some vacuum tubing

 

- and it's quite easily to throw together. The cruise ECU hooks into switched power, ground and the blue/white speed signal wire behind the fusebox and controls the vacuum pump's motor and outlet valve; when the system's on the valve is actuated to hold the vacuum in, if it needs to go faster then it briefly runs the pump to increase vacuum and if it needs to go slower it briefly opens the valve to let some air in. Pushing either pedal immediately lets air into the system (so the actuator relaxes) and signals the ECU to come out of cruise until you hit Resume.

 

There's tons of info in my cruise thread in the Drivetrain section. All the parts are still available except the actuator bracket and modified gas pedal (from a 90's RHD Passat with cruise, so they're rare as well as discontinued!) so you could buy all new if you were feeling flush. A complete kit of used parts including a stalk and LHD Passat pedal cluster cost me about £240 with shipping from Germany so it's not a particularly cheap option!

 

Shout if you need help, I've done most of the hard parts already :)

 

Stone

[james153 0]

I'm still working on my setup and I'd say £120 is very much on the cheap side. Using all new OEM parts you could quite easily spend £300, and an original VW stalk is £95ish on top...

 

It's really easy to add though - the main sticking point for me is the mounting brackets as the C is my daily driver so I can't really remove the pedal cluster to work on it. You need two brackets (one to hold the vacuum actuator and one to bolt onto the gas pedal linkage where it pulls on the throttle cable). The rest is just:

 

Cruise ECU

Stalk

Brake pedal switch

Clutch pedal switch (if manual)

Vacuum pump

Wiring harness

Some vacuum tubing

 

- and it's quite easily to throw together. The cruise ECU hooks into switched power, ground and the blue/white speed signal wire behind the fusebox and controls the vacuum pump's motor and outlet valve; when the system's on the valve is actuated to hold the vacuum in, if it needs to go faster then it briefly runs the pump to increase vacuum and if it needs to go slower it briefly opens the valve to let some air in. Pushing either pedal immediately lets air into the system (so the actuator relaxes) and signals the ECU to come out of cruise until you hit Resume.

 

There's tons of info in my cruise thread in the Drivetrain section. All the parts are still available except the actuator bracket and modified gas pedal (from a 90's RHD Passat with cruise, so they're rare as well as discontinued!) so you could buy all new if you were feeling flush. A complete kit of used parts including a stalk and LHD Passat pedal cluster cost me about £240 with shipping from Germany so it's not a particularly cheap option!

 

Shout if you need help, I've done most of the hard parts already :)

 

Stone

 

Ah that's some top information mate :) thanks a lot. I'm hoping to get it working in my car over the next few weeks and then ill run it for a month or so to iron out any wrinkles and faults. I'm aiming to make a custom bracket and linkage that bolts above the pedal box in order to allow people to run on their original pedal box. this is as well as a custom loom and a few other bits all of this is going to keep the cost down, but obviously control units and bits will be used parts, because as you say the price would be triple or quadruple if I sourced new bits.

 

All in all some very useful information and ill probably be contacting you to see how yours is going and to tap some advice. Thanks

[Stonejag 10]

There are some aftermarket kits that use servos to pull the gas pedal back and forth - you might want to look into this as well as it would make the whole thing a lot cheaper and less involved (no need to run vacuum lines into the engine bay, and no noisy pump - it'd all just run off the alternator). Then again, using all-original parts means you can quote VW's original type-approval if your insurance company gets twitchy! Having two systems also makes it safer / more redundant, as anything that lets air into the system will prevent the actuator from being able to move the pedal.

 

Also, the OEM control units are utterly notorious for breaking. You'll need to make a bench-testing rig to thoroughly test each one if you're planning to sell them as part of a kit. You can have my LHD pedal cluster for cheap if you like ;)

[Jim Bowen 1]

I'm just really good at keeping my foot still so don't it

[james153 0]

There are some aftermarket kits that use servos to pull the gas pedal back and forth - you might want to look into this as well as it would make the whole thing a lot cheaper and less involved (no need to run vacuum lines into the engine bay, and no noisy pump - it'd all just run off the alternator). Then again, using all-original parts means you can quote VW's original type-approval if your insurance company gets twitchy! Having two systems also makes it safer / more redundant, as anything that lets air into the system will prevent the actuator from being able to move the pedal.

 

Also, the OEM control units are utterly notorious for breaking. You'll need to make a bench-testing rig to thoroughly test each one if you're planning to sell them as part of a kit. You can have my LHD pedal cluster for cheap if you like ;)

 

Ta, its definitely something that's worth looking into, ive ordered a prototype kit that I'm going to have a play with, do quite a lot of stuff with this at work so shouldn't have any problems, I will definitely explore stand alone systems to keep the cost down, that's a good idea. I will keep all updated with my research and developments and will certainly let people know when its nearing completion :)

[james153 0]

Right, Just a quick update, got the whole electrical system working now. Just need to make a couple of mounting brackets and waiting for the new stalks to arrive. Then it's on to a month or two's testing.

 

So it's all moving in the right direction.

 

When I manage to upload pictures to here I will attempt some sort of build thread for this.

 

Fingers crossed.

 

Is there any other looms or gadgets that we would like to see reproduced? Like my heated seat looms..?

 

Will keep you all posted, thanks for looking :)

[nrc 0]

A proper aircon loom would be nice! My setup is a mess with relays all over the place and badly-done splices.

[james153 0]

A proper aircon loom would be nice! My setup is a mess with relays all over the place and badly-done splices.

 

That's good, ill be fitting my A/C soon, so can do a whole loom with relays and fuses. I'll let you know once I've worked it all out :)

[Stonejag 10]

If your brackets come out better than mine I'd be up for a set anyway ;)

 

I only started looking into it as I've half-torn a ligament in my right knee so long stretches at part-throttle are agonising. Would be nice to get it all sorted before it goes completely!

[VR6 Lee 0]

im interested

[rrowner 10]

Just so you guys know that this system is being taken from a P38 Range Rover...

 

The OP got the guys over at this forum to help him out with the pinouts and stuff whilst making them believe it was a system for his vehicle...

 

http://www.rangerovers.net/forum/7-range-rover-mark-ii-p38/45339-cruise-control-bench-possible.html

 

Not nice using people to help you with what they think is a genuine problem, (the cruise control can be finnicky on the Range Rovers... I ACTUALLY own one!) when you're really just trying to make a few quick bucks...

 

You guys might not care, but how would you feel if you were helping someone out who then was using that to make money for themselves... with not even actual credit to anyone who helped??