Stealth Rostra Cruise Control Install (1 Viewer)

[zerotreedelta]

Picked up a Rostra cruise control kit a while ago, as the 40 goes on a fair amount of longer trips and cruise is one of "modern" things I missed. Definitely a "nice to have", but my right leg does have a cranky nerve that gets aggravated when sitting in one place like that, so cruise helps take some of that load off too.

Price seems to fluctuate a bit, but I used the universal control (250-1223), and picked up the speedo-cable VSS (250-4153). (It was $313 for both at the time.)
Amazon product ASIN B007ZCQD9SAmazon product ASIN B0089MQ3R0
I also needed a cruise control switch for inside...I wanted it to be somewhat "hidden", so I picked up an old wipe/wash switch to see if I could make it work using the twist somehow.

The VSS, like most, is threaded wrong/incorrectly for our metric threads, but it at least matched the square drive on the upper side of the cable (vs the round drive down on the trans). It's a simple magnetic pickup, so I cut their case apart and 3D printed one that would thread on to the maintenance interval detector - actually worked out as a nice, easy spot. (I also ended up redoing it and merging in a speedo ratio corrector there, but that's another story).

 

[zerotreedelta]

As I had already cut over to the Sniper, the old vacuum emissions controller was no longer on that driver's fender, which was a really good spot for the control box. Also conveniently, I was able to tie into that OEM harness there A green plug that comes out there goes through the firewall to the driver footwell (where the former "brain" lived). There's three wires as well as a 12v switched feed, which is exactly what you need (three for the switches inside, and 12v switched for the brain). From there, you can make a small harness from the plug in the cabin for the switchery on the dash.

I had to make a second harness to cut across to the passenger side, which was the feed for the VSS, the tach signal, and the brake light feed - all are nicely organized as you come across. (I tied in to where the feed runs to the rear for the brake light, vs fumbling under the dash by the pedals). There were existing holes that worked in the fender...and cranked out a TEQ/ND decal just for giggles to make it look a bit more "OEM":

Where I connected the Lokar cable to the Sniper actually had a bit of a pressed "collar" on the throttle linkages, which actually worked pretty well for the eyelet for the cruise cable. The bracket also had a secondary hole already, just below the min throttle cable, which worked perfectly as well with a small 3D printed clip to grab the housing. Hard to see with the master, but no mods necessary:

 

[zerotreedelta]

I did have to rearrange the guts of the wiper switch, but it did end up working - actually works out ok on the dash, too. Pull to turn on the cruise module, and if you're in the "low" wiper position, a twist will SET the cruise. If you want to ACCEL, you do have to pull the switch out to "wipers high", then twist...not quite typical, but 99% of the time you just use SET anyway. It's the price you pay to keep things hidden...they do make stalk switches if one wanted to go that route.

Out of the box, pretty darn smooth...and it does even work nice in town puttering down those stretches of 35MPH roads too. Pretty straightforward install, and most of the time was in tidying up the wiring loom...overall, no complaints.

 

[NCFarmboy]

Wow, awesome work. Would you be able to make this work without the sniper setup, say with a Weber carb?

 

[zerotreedelta]

Wow, awesome work. Would you be able to make this work without the sniper setup, say with a Weber carb?

Indeed, not much is Sniper specific here. The linkage/cable example is somewhat specific, but they give you lots of connection options in the install kit to make it work with about anything.

The tach signal is the other bit that's tied into the sniper, but that's optional as an overrev prevention if you push the clutch in without disengaging the cruise first. You could add a clutch switch instead, or pick up a cheap tach signal generator to tag into the coil....or skip it entirely and just accept the risk.

They do also have a magnet kit that goes on the driveshaft vs the cable driven vss too - likely simpler to install but a bit less hidden/"clean".