At a recent club event, noticed one of our members had added an after market cruise control to his wife's C2 4 speed. It was a nice small control unit on the console and completely un-noticeable under the hood. He said it worked like a charm and obviously made cruising much more pleasurable.

My question is, how difficult would it be to acquire and add the factory style parts or would the after market type be the better route? The factory route would entail tearing into the T/T steering column which will make the job much more difficult.

Anyone have any experience with either?

The car details are in my profile, but to save a couple clicks: '78 L82 4 speed.

 

The aftermarket kit would be the easiest and probably work better

 

I added cruise to mine using late style parts. The '93 (or therabouts) up cruise box only requires a 4k pulse to operate. You could add a pulse generator to the speedo output. I like these because they don't use vacuum. You can get a stand-alone harness from a pickup.

 

Iwould like to add cc to my 73 auto any suggestions on aftermarket suppliers. Thanks

 

JC Whitney has a few options. That is where the initially mentioned after market kit came from. ~$110 - $140

 

Mark, did you have to replace your turn signal lever? Any additional details would be greatly appreciated.

 

See my pictures of my cruise control addition for my 73 at:
http://www.supermotors.net/registry/16143/54522
It took a while to get the parts at the local junkyards. I had to get the regulator/servo support bracket from a Corvette parts supplier.
Another fella, CD Castle I think, installed CC on his early 70 Corvette. After looking at his installing I decided to forgo the aftermarket unit and try for a correct period look. Cruise control was not available on Corvettes in 1973.

I have installed several after market units in my cars/my parents cars in the 70's and 80's. Most of the units were made by Dana Corp. That division of Dana was sold off and is now called Rostra Precision Controls Inc.. Go to www.rostra.com to see their products. I believe you can direct order from them.

Roger

 

Do these aftermarket units also react when you touch the brake - clutch pedal, horn etc and disengage ?

 

If a person had a 4k pulse generator, I wonder if a early to mid 90's Caprice/Impala unit would work? It appears to be a stand-alone unit and probably only has a couple of wires to connect. It would require a GM cruise turn signal stalk though. I might do some checking at the local pick and pull to determine the feasibility of the swap.

 

I don't even use cruise in my daily driver why would I want it in my vintage Vette? Just saying not bashing.

 

You wouldn't... but others might use their car differently.

 

A friend bought a 72 coupe that a PO installed an aftermarket kit in. I do not know how well it worked but instead of a lever mounted to the steering column it had a touch pad that controlled it. Very small and sat on the consloe within easy reach.

 

There is another thread [going at this time] regarding a J.C. Whitney "Audiovox" cruise control similar to what you are describing. Check out that thread for info/details.

 

I install cruise in my 78 four yrs ago. works great works off the turn signal arm. Do a search Rostra Precision cruise.com.. The hard part for me was snaking the wires down the steering column. The control box is just left of my distributor in my avatar. Nice,neat.

 

Sorry I didn't see your question sooner. If I had a car that had it available on the stalk, I would replace it. I just bought a small box at Radio Shack and put 2 toggle switches in it. You need an on-off and a double throw, momentary on. I used a 4-wire Weatherpack connector so it is removable. You use 4 wires: 12v to the switch then 1 to "on", and momentary connections to Set/decelerate and Resume/accelerate. I made my own harness and wired it from a '96 Caprice Shop Manual. If you had a factory style turn stalk with resume I believe it would plug right in to a late 80s truck harness. These have a stand-alone cruise harness and are set up for throttle body so the cable length should be pretty good. I'm really not sure what my unit came from, I think Vortec truck because it has a long cable. I mounted the unit below the brake booster. You need a brake switch for am later car, the truck is fine and it will go in the C3 pedal bracket fine. You do have to swap ends or make a pigtail to interface with the original. The basic cruise units are used on most GM cars from the late 80s to at least a few years ago, if not present. I have done this to my 'Vette and also my '83 pickup with TPI. In fact, I use the same activator/switch box in both. PM me if you have more questions.

 

i use a rostra electronic cruise control in my 69. it works great. the only problem i ever had was when going up a steep hill the car would downshift out of overdrive(700r4) and the rpm rise was enough to cut out the cruise control. i just disconnected the tach wire and the problem went away. i have the drive unit mounted on the left fender under the vacuum can. i am using a deville wood/leather steering wheel with built in switches that control the cruise control and other things so my wiring is a bit diffferent than the rostra factory setup.
for a while i used a cruise control out of a 69 camaro that i got from the junkyard. it worked well but was not as versital as the rostra unit. most of the parts for it can be found on any old chevy/buick/olds at the junkyard. the hardest parts to find will be the cables for the transmission to control unit and the cable from the control unit to the speedo. i also was never able to find a stalk that fit the tilt/tele turn lever, but they are easy to modify. running the wires through the column is not dificult. there is actually more room inside there than you might think.