I've recently developed an interest in putting cruise control into my 77. I've found an Audiovox kit on the internet, just wondering if anyone has any experience doing this?

 

IMO, the OEM system is the only way to go

 

i use it and it works very well. atleast in my experiance not a lot of hills that i drive in so idk how it would work in a hilly region.
hope this helps

 

I guess it would work but you should try to find an OEM unit. I have this and it worked great.

 

What years will fit? Would I be able to pull a system from another Ford V8, like an old Mustang, Cougar, Marquis, Crown Vic, etc?? What are all the components needed?

 

I wonder about the availabilty of parts for the OEM system. Anything you find in the recyle yard may need repair due to it's age and neglect.

A unit that uses dirve shaft rpm is preferable over a vacuum contol unit. Especially on a high performance engine.

 

I have a 73 F100. I pulled the stuff from a 78 pick up for my cruise control. The OEM stuff works great for me. Do a search for cruise control threads and you will find everything that you need to know. What model truck are you putting this in, and what size engine?
Mike

 

77 F150 Custom 2WD Supercab, with a built 400......

 

Cruise control was an available option from 1975 on up.
What you take it off of, will depend on exactly what you want.
If you want to keep your original collum, you will need the horn pad with the cruise buttons from 75 to 77. I wanted to go to a tilting collum on my 73, so I elected to use a 78/79 collum. On 75 to 79 model trucks, there are 4 buttons for the cruise control.
On, off, set/accelerate, coast. I used an 80 model horn pad that has 5 buttons. On, off, resume, set/accelerate, coast.
You will need the brake booster bracket that bolts the booster to the fire wall. A lot of people say that you need the whole booster. I just changed the bracket that was on my booster.
You will need the brake pedal from a 75 to a 79 model truck.
You will need the vacume pod that bolts to the intake. This piece needs to come from a 351M or a 400. One from another engine will probably not bolt up with out some fabricating.
You will need the speedometer cable from a cruise control truck. It is a 2 piece cable with a speed sensor between the 2 pieces.
You will need the speed control amplifier which is a little black box located on the fire wall close to the left side behind the dash board. You need to get one from an early 80's model if you want to have the resume feature. If that is not important to you, then get one from a 75 to a 79.
There is a coffee can looking thing that bolts to the drivers side fender well that you will need for vacume. A lot of them I found were rusted out, or had cracks. I ended up buying a plastic one from an early 80's model.
The last thing you will need is the cruise control wireing harness. It's actualy a small simple harness, but it looks complicated.
If you decide to go ahead with this instalation, give me a shout. I can tell you how to do it, and I have a digital camera to send you visual aides if needed. It's actually very simple to install.
One last thing, if you don't have a shop manual, you may give some serious thought to the one that motorhaven sells. I bought one, and it has helped a ton on different things I have done.
Mike

 

Hi Mike, I was reading some old forums, when I came across this one. I was hoping you or someone else could help me out with my problem. I have a 78 Bronco WITH cruise control, and the guy I bought it from said to have "disconected it". Now what do I have to do to conect it? Is there any thing I should look at first in order to fix this problem?
If he just disconected it then is there a "plug-in, type of thing" or something of that sort?

Thanks for any info.

 

The cruise power plug is behind the cluster in the dash.

I have pics

 

I figured it would be back there, but saw so many wires, unsure of which ones were which, and not knowing what to look for in the fist place, sucked.

Some pics would be very helpful. How can I see your pics?

Thanks
Matt

 

MBB, Your the fellow with the Bronco that has a 400, correct? The first thing I would do is verify that all the cruise components are there. I seriously doubt that the P.O. removed the cruise brake pedal, or the required brake booster bracket. Check for the following components, if your not sure what your looking for....let me know and I'll send pictures. Under the hood....check for the 2 piece speedometer cable that has the speed sensor between the 2 cables. While your looking at it make sure it is plugged in to the harness coming through the fire wall. Look at the rear quarter of the intake manifold. There should be a vacume pod. Make sure it is plugged in to the same little harness that the speed sensor is plugged in to. Also, there should be a little chain going to the lever on your carberator from the vacume pod. Make sure it's hooked up.
Now pull the guage panel out. Look to the top left of your fire wall for a balck box that is about maybe 4" x 5". There should be 2 plugs at the bottom of it. Make sure they're plugged in. Last but not least....check out the hot wire and the ground wire for the cruise control. The ground wire will be black with a ring connector on the end that is screwed to the das brace directly behind the guage panel. The hot wire will be a black wire with I think a green stripe. It will have a male bullet connector plugged in to a 3 way female bullet connector. Check that all these things are hooked up and we will go from there. If you need pictures of the components let me know pretty quick. I currently have the dash board out of my truck and it would be easy to get good ones. The question bugging me....is why did the P.O. unplug it to begin with, was it giving him problems or what?
Mike

 

I would appreciate some pics to really know what I am supposed to be doing. The P.O. said he disconected the cruise control, because he was doing something, and it was in the way or somthing like that and he didn't use it so he didn't connect it back.

Thanks for the help,
Matt

 

Look close at the yellow female bullet tri-connector.
That's the cruise plug in it.




There can also be another power Junction connection on the firewall that continues to the Starter solenoid.


That oil pressure you see is at idle for my 480,000km 1969, 429.
Not Bad.... EH ?

It has been a strong engine since I got it