Aftermarket Cruise

[at_the_junkyard]

Curious if anyone has went down the road of installing an aftermarket cruise system on their fox ?

It seems Rostra (and others) makes a universal kit using a motor/cable system that looks pretty intriguing.

[KevinK]

Ford had a dealer installed kit available. I bought one a while back to put on my car but cruise is not useable in CA traffic.

[at_the_junkyard]

Yeah I never really cared about cruise back in the day when I was 19 but sure is a nice option on any longer highway road trips. I don't think I could live without it on my daily driver nowadays

[Tigger]

My family had aftermarket cruise installed on some of their cars back in the day. They worked ok but they were nothing like what the factory had in my opinion. I would almost look at installing an OEM setup if you can?

[qikgts]

The new Rostra kits are really good. At some point I'll swap out the Ford aftermarket one for a Rostra and keep the turn signal stalk controls I currently have. It will take some work wiring wise, but not having a aftermarket looking set of buttons tacked on the dash will make it worth it.

Some good info here.... http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...cruise-control

If anyone is curious, those stalks are still around. There are several on ebay for less than $50 shipped.

[at_the_junkyard]

Yeah thanks good info !!

I'm not sure the 84 style stalk switch referenced would be a direct fit for my 80. I think the turn signal switch setup was different from 79-82.

However the Rostra 250-3032 switch assembly looks like it would be a close option for a stalk control. Just have to figure out how to fasten/modify to fit to existing turn signa rodl. Agreed I like that rather than a switch box mounted on the dash somewhere.

On my 80 you push the turn signal lever in for the horn whereas the later models had it in the steering wheel I believe.

[qikgts]

Isn't the "switch" for the horn part of the combination switch, not so much as the stalk? I say that because I don't recall a button on the end of the stalk. I thought the whole stalk pushed in toward the column to activate the horn.

Actually, now that I think about it, I've see those cruise control levers with horn icons on them. You'll have to track down the right PN though.

[at_the_junkyard]

Yes exactly you push in the whole turn lever rod to activate the horn switch. As a result I think the multi function switch for those models has an extra set of contacts for the horn and is a different model than 83 up. I always found that a kind of weird way to activate the horn and maybe why it got changed in the later years.

It takes a little bit of a push to activate the horn so I believe I could retrofit that rostra control switch on the end of the turn lever fairly easily. My guess is it should be a lot less resistance to push the coast button rather than push it in all the way in to activate the horn etc. I suppose in the rare event you need to lay on the horn with the cruise control on it would put you in coast mode lol.

Overall I think it would be the best place possible to mount the controls for my 80 and probably wouldn't look that out of place at all. I also have a speedo cable from an 86 with the VSS sensor which should be directly compatible with the rostra unit from what I read.

Now that I've done some research I am probably going to take the plunge and get one of the rostra units.

[qikgts]

Yes exactly you push in the whole turn lever rod to activate the horn switch. As a result I think the multi function switch for those models has an extra set of contacts for the horn and is a different model than 83 up. I always found that a kind of weird way to activate the horn and maybe why it got changed in the later years.

It takes a little bit of a push to activate the horn so I believe I could retrofit that rostra control switch on the end of the turn lever fairly easily. My guess is it should be a lot less resistance to push the coast button rather than push it in all the way in to activate the horn etc. I suppose in the rare event you need to lay on the horn with the cruise control on it would put you in coast mode lol.

Overall I think it would be the best place possible to mount the controls for my 80 and probably wouldn't look that out of place at all. I also have a speedo cable from an 86 with the VSS sensor which should be directly compatible with the rostra unit from what I read.

Now that I've done some research I am probably going to take the plunge and get one of the rostra units.

I say DO IT!!!!

[at_the_junkyard]

Well ended up getting one of the Rostra units and installed. Happy to report it works pretty good so far !!

The control switch looks right at home and you can push the coast button easy enough without tooting the horn. I still need to play with some of the gain settings as it hunts around at lower speeds but higher speeds (4th and 5th gear) it holds good. Never had cruise on a manual car before so not sure how they behave on a factory setup etc.

I wired in a clutch switch to disengage as recommended. There is also a tach input feature that disengages if it sees a sudden RPM spike (such as being knocked into neutral or if your clutch switch doesn't work etc)

[qikgts]

Nice job! That switch does look like it belongs there!

Enjoy it!

[at_the_junkyard]

Thanks !!

I took it for a long cruise the other night and it holds in there quite well. I had to go with the lowest gain settings or it got a bit erratic and started hunting but it is really easy to change/tune via dip switches. It might fluctuates plus/minus 1-2mph (when it gets a bit hilly) but no worse than our 2012 Buick once I really started paid attention to it lol. The Rostra also has a diagnostic mode so you can test all your inputs (brake, coast, accel, speed sensor, tach etc with an LED inside the box)

It certainly makes the car a lot nicer to drive on the highway hands down. Not sure how I got along without it back in the day

However the whole project also got me curious so I started researching the Ford factory cruise systems and found they are quite common and interchangeable. Lots of 80's fords used the same stuff and the parts are very plentiful in the junkyards for cheap and probably wouldn't be a big deal to retrofit. The biggest issue is the buttons for the earlier foxes that didn't have the cruise steering wheel like mine.

I also discovered that the dealer installed cruise and the factory systems used different control switches/control modules all together. The factory system used a three wire resistance changing buttons wiring scheme whereas the dealer installed used on/off switches...so I don't think you can intermix them very easily without doing some mods. A lot of the stalk control switches on eBay appear to be for the dealer control units.

Knowing all this I am going to attempt to retrofit a factory system in my son's car (80 cobra same as mine). I'm thinking the biggest issue will be mounting the vacuum actuator under the fender and making holes for the wires/hoses etc. Other than the vacuum hookups it seems very close to the Rostra unit which is all electric and made for a universal application etc.

Cheers

[qikgts]

Good info there. I knew the Rostra stuff worked well but not much feedback on installs using the gain settings. I flipped through the instructions a few times and it seems like there is plenty of flexibility switch wise and you can turn on led's etc. The Dakota Digital cluster installed on my car has a "Cruise" light so it would be nice to tie that in.

I don't think the dealer installed/Ford aftermarket stalk I have is on/off, pretty sure it's resistance based and if I remember right, the control unit was made by SCS/Frigette. They have been out of business for a long time so no real support. In my install, I had a "period correct" one installed for a few years and it worked ok until it didn't. Then I bought another Ford AM kit for another application and it wouldn't work consistently either. Next stop on that project list is a Rostra unit for sure.

[at_the_junkyard]

Well I should have done some more research before I spent a bunch of $$ on my rostra system. I was able to source and install all the factory cruise controls (servo, amplifier, buttons, brackets, vac lines etc) from an 86 mustang and 84 T-bird at the junkyard. Cost me a total of about $25 (no kidding) and about 10 hours of install time...and wouldn't you know it I went for a drive and it also works quite decent !!

The only thing with the factory setup is how to mount the control switches so that it is convenient in my case. I would need (prefer) a stalk control (similar to my rostra switch) that uses the three wire ford factory resistance system etc. Right now I just have the factory switches hanging loose for temporary etc.

Anyone know of a ford factory type cruise switch out there that could installed to fit the bill ?

I checked all the ebay stalk switches but they appear to be for the dealer installed systems. They usually have four or five wires coming off them and the colors all match up with the wiring for the dealer installed amplifiers (also shown on ebay) and they are quite different from the factory amplifiers etc.

I was thinking I could maybe splice in some resistors to a dealer switch but the ford factory system uses all momentary buttons whereas the dealer switches look to use a combo of fixed and momentary etc...so not the easiest.

If I can figure out something with the buttons that is suitable my son's car might inherit the rostra system lol

Any suggestions out there ?

[at_the_junkyard]

Well I decided to get creative. I could not find anything that would work for a stalk switch with the factory controller so I decided to make one.

Basically I cut apart and grinded away on a couple of 85 wiper arms, mounted some rocker switches inside (power pedal switches from a later Taurus) and black epoxied the whole thing together with wiring. I added the proper ohm resistors on the external wiring. It was quite a project !!

Turned out decent I think. A little bit clunky but very functional at your fingertips and out of the way. It works good !! Better than trying to mount buttons on the dash or console somewhere.

[qikgts]

Nice solution! Truly fingertip speed control!

[scenarioL113]

Well I decided to get creative. I could not find anything that would work for a stalk switch with the factory controller so I decided to make one.

Basically I cut apart and grinded away on a couple of 85 wiper arms, mounted some rocker switches inside (power pedal switches from a later Taurus) and black epoxied the whole thing together with wiring. I added the proper ohm resistors on the external wiring. It was quite a project !!

Turned out decent I think. A little bit clunky but very functional at your fingertips and out of the way. It works good !! Better than trying to mount buttons on the dash or console somewhere.

I will tell you what....that bears a striking resemblance to the dealer installed unit I have on my 86 SVO.

[at_the_junkyard]

Yes I was looking at buying one of those stalk switches but they are for dealer installed units and not really compatible with the factory controller. It works really well and even though it is not lit up you can easily feel your way to it when driving at night (or day) etc. Very happy with the way the factory cruise works now. The Rostra will be going into my son's car at some point.

I actually made another homemade version of stalk switch that is a little cleaner. I'll post another pic when I get a chance.