Installed 70s/80s Cruise Control & It Works!!

[pjmoreland]

I bought the controller, wiring, brake switch and lever out of a 1979 Chevy van and bought the controller bracket, actuator and actuator bracket out of a 1983 Chevy Caprice. Threw it all in my truck, and tried it out today. It works great! This will be nice for road trips.

An added bonus was that the 1983 Caprice had a 700R4 transmission, so it was a piece of cake to hook up the TV cable for the 700R4 I put in my truck. I also snagged the vacuum kill switch out of the Caprice because it had an extra electric switch on it that I used for controlling the torque converter clutch. I mounted the vacuum kill switch on the top of the plate that bolts on to the bottom of the brake pedal assembly (covers the steering column). You can see the two 1/4-20 holes in the plate that I added to hold on a mounting bracket I machined for holding the switch.

I removed the wiring harness that controls the solenoid that opens the carburetor slightly when coasting down the road, and the van cruise control harness fit perfectly in the hole left in the firewall. I lucked out there. I ran the cruise control harness inside the fender where the headlight harness runs.

Here are some pictures: