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Disclaimer: If you don't like stories with photos of no people, then you should just bypass this letter because that is all it contains.
After much threatening, I finally decided to purchase and give a go at the installation of a aftermarket cruise control for the Bronco. Call it laziness - or something else, but I have grown accustomed to the wonderful throttle control algorithms offered as an additional cost on new vehicles. The bronco that I purchased was an "XL" model (which I have figured out means that it is the basic model offered) and as such it doesn't have cruise control. Most likely the reason it is an XL model is that I was looking for something that was a 5-speed manual transmission and had manual windows and manual door locks. This vehicle does, and so is the basic model offered. That also means that there is not cruise control. (Now all that being said, Wyatt can correct the inaccurate information if he so desires). |
| It took a while to locate a cruise control kit that would work with this vehicle. What I really wanted to do was to go to a junk yard and pull it off a similar vehicle and then put the factory switches in this car. I tried every junk yard between Vicksburg, MS to Monroe, LA to Little Rock, AR (the ArkLaMiss area) - and none of them cared much to help me on my quest. So I went to the internet and found a company that specializes in aftermarket control systems - Rostra.com was were I ended up. This kit (pictured above) uses electrical servo motors to control the speed of the vehicle (as opposed to the typical vacuum control systems). I played with it in the house for a while before I attempted the installation and it looked like it would work. I also purchased some switches from ebay to install into the steering wheel such that it would have a factory look.
(Sorry for the people in the photo... Terra took the picture) |
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This past Saturday I spent the majority of the day working on the project. Here is a view of the engine compartment prior to the installation of the cruise control. The first step was to mount the black box somewhere under the hood that is easily accessible to both the wiring harness going inside the vehicle and the throttle control cable reaching the throttle body and in such a way that it doesn't overheat. This is easier to do than it sounds like. I suspect that the newer the vehicle the harder it is to locate any real estate under the hood of the car. For some reason, this space is becoming scarcer and scarcer. |
| I ended up finding a nice place next to the air filter. As I have already modified the air filter for this vehicle the new one I installed was smaller than the original factory one and I used this location for the control box. It also is a cooler location than anything located next to the engine and I considered that a good thing. |
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Once installed and mounted in this location, I ran the throttle control cable over to the throttle body, and modified the bracket that held it such that I could add an additional cable. The hooking up of both cables went better than I had anticipated and actually looked pretty good when complete. The bracket modification sticks up higher than it needs to, and given enough time I may fix it. Actually when I am doing something else later in life and cut my hand on this bracket extension then I will be properly motivated to alter it, until then it just looks odd, but seems to work all the same. |
| Then I moved into the interior of the vehicle. Once here I started by trying to fit the purchased "stock" cruise control switches into the "stock" steering wheel only to find that it is actually a different "stock" steering wheel that contains the crusie control switches. So I had to go to plan B, and call Rostra and get their custom switch for the custom cruise control kit. (Anything with that many "customs" in it costs too much for the average Joe to purchase without taking some ant-acids first...) Then I continued by removing the air bag out of the steering wheel such that I could install the cruise control in the steering wheel. I selected a spot that would and prior to drilling any holes in it, I checked the rotation of the wheel, and found that no matter when I was to locate the new lever, it would interfere with the blinker switch. This wouldn't work, because any time your turn the wheel your blinkers will active. So I put the air bag back in the steering wheel and then selected a location on the shroud behind the steering wheel. It was pretty straight forward to install it there, but I would still have preferred it be inside the steering wheel. While I was in there, though, it looked real easy to replace the steering wheel for this car if I ever decide that I want to do that in the future. |
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(another photo taken by Terra. I tried to keep all of the peopling out of the pictures) |
The hooking up of the wire was much more difficult than I had planned. I was able to hook up everything just fine with the exception of two wires: the vehicle speed sensor (that tells the cruise how fast the car is going) and the tachometer (which tells the cruise how fast the engine is going). These two wires cause me hours of frustration. Finally I gave up and waited until Monday and then called the tech support line and found where the were on the connector that hooks into the computer, and it was actually easier to get to them under the hood. Once I hooked up both of those wires, everything functioned beautifully. I gave it a test drive, and had no problems. I was quite proud of my self for that feat, then I got in the Mazda to go and get the kids from school, and guess what - there is another bearing failing again. Once the car gets up to operating temperature the chirping noise seems to go away, but when the car is cold is very prevalent. I let the car cool down and then started it and crawled in to listen to what might be going out. Guess what - It would appear that the same ideler tensioner pulley for the timing belt is again about ready to give up the ghost. I have replaced this pulley twice and it shouldn't need it again. I called the local parts stores and to get this pulley ($110) it has a day delivery time, so it wont be in until tomorrow afternoon. In addition to that a new timing belt kit cost $210 and comes with a belt and two pulleys. |
| The forecast is for rain the next three days (tonight, tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday). Firday (when I have an appointment with the Mazda and the Freeway) it is supposed to be clear. So now the dilemma: what to do? I could just purchase the parts and throw them in the Mazda and hit the road hoping for the best and if the bearing fails I can change it or I just go out there in the rain and suffer through the 4 hour change out time. Looking back at my excel spreadsheet of the last time this thing failed, I changed the water pump hoping to solve the problem in October 2009. That didn't solve the problem and I continued to drive the car (knowing it wasn't the timing belt pulleys because I had just change them 25,000 miles prior). When the timing belt failed and I replaced it in February - I put an additional 6,585 miles on the car between the water pump and the timing belt. This means that given the same failure time in pulleys, I should be able to drive to AZ (around 1,500 miles) and then to work and back for a week before having to mess with it again. What do you think? Can I actually out-smart Murphy at his own game? |
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In other news since we are selling our house and since it has to look good for potential buyers, I have been told that the banana tree can't come inside because it is too ugly. So it is outside and now the weather is starting to turn cool. I think that the cooler weather is killing my tree. Terra doesn't seem to be to concerned about the death of the tree. She has actually been wanting to get rid of this plant for some time now. I just don't understand what makes a plant pretty or pretty ugly.
I have been looking forward for sometime now to actually eat a home grown banana. Now with the murder of my tree (think poisoning by environment - and since the tree can't physically move itself to the warm cozy environment just six feet toward the west inside our home) I am once again stuck to purchase my lousy bananas from the store like everyone else around here. |