$15 ECO Friendly Cruise Control in 30 min.
 

OK, judging by the title you can see where this is going.
Before we start let me say that this may be illegal an I am not responsible for your actions! I have seen people talk about this on forums, and seen it used in off-road trucks, but never a wright up on how to actually install one. Technically this is a throttle lock and while it may work on automatic cars it will be much more effective on cars with a manual trans.

What in needed:
-1 universal choke cable $7.99 (or 9.99 for one with extra mounting hardware) at Autozone
-1 package of 3/32" cable ties (contains 3) $1.98 at Home Depot
-A few zip ties I used 7 (will vary from application to application)

Tools:
Wire cutters
Flat blade screwdriver
Drill with bit
Razor blade or die-grinder (A.K.A. drimmel tool)


My car is a 1994 Honda civic dx without factory cruse control.

First I removed the little switch panel that has a blank spot for a button and and the rear defrost button.

Second I separated the blank panel form the defrost switch (it un-clips).

Third I drilled out the center of the blank panel and removed one of the 4 sides on it so that I could tighten the nut that holds on the choke cable.

4 Install the cable through the previously discussed hole.

5 I fed the cable through factory holes in the dash and firewall.

6 Re-install the panel and your new curse control nob.

7 Route the cable to your throttle cable and throttle body .
(For me I ran it along side the factory throttle cable and zip tied it in 7 places to keep it from moving.)

The next part is very subjective to application, what i did was wedge a bottle in my floor bored to hold it at W.O.T. (to make sure were I placed the cable clamp it would not bind at any throttle position.

8 Attach the clamp as a shown using a second clamp so that the choke cable only will act in one direction and can be overridden by normal throttle control.

9 From here on out how long to cut everything will be all up to your discretion and application.

Lastly install a small clamp or choke cable retainer so that it will not pull through the other clamp on the factory throttle cable, And cut off any excess!

Take a look at my pictures, let me know if you have any questions or comments. :D

Side notes:

~You WILL need to set the throttle with your foot. The spring is too hard to overcome by hand.
~ Also, for me the spring is just slightly to strong to just pull the lever out, and let off the gas. If I keep just one finger on it (almost no preasure) the friction from the cable and its sheath will hold the throttle where I set it. still trying to figure out how to fix this "safely".

Sorry, I could not figure out how to put the pictures in the post with the text...

Nice write-up. I can't wait to have a manual car again so I can do this.

To anyone questioning the safety of this, your car's brakes should be able to overcome your engine at full throttle, this is barely any throttle. And there is the clutch in a manual and neutral in an automatic. I'm not saying I would trust the average driver with one of these, but if you have a plan and pay attention, it shouldn't be an issue.
Still probably illegal to get caught using, though. :P

My first response in an emergency situation is the kit the breaks AND the clutch.. just makes it rev a little, no harm done.

+1 for use of brakes and clutch. Some of the newer cars will let the gas override the brakes. Thats why we had quite a few runaway cars this past year in the news. I guess too many brake fires from people riding the brakes was the reason behind that? :eek:

personally I wouldn't do it ,asking for trouble , how about an electromagnet near the throttle linkage to hold it in position until you hit the brake shutting off the relay powering it, cant be a heck of a lot more, good your experimenting but seems unsafe to me.

I'm also not sure if this is worth the risk. I mean, unless you use your right foot for texting while driving, is there a true need for this that can outweigh the potential "what-if"s?

In all honestly I havent used the cruse control on either of my vehicles in the past 3 months. Traffic is soo heavy out any more and there are soo many crazy unsafe drivers around me when I am on the roads. :eek:

If I had a project regarding cruse control, it would be the radar one to track the rear of the vehicle in front of me and keep the distance to prevent people from cutting you off and aid in drafting/slip streaming. :eek:

Radar would be awesome. And yes there some shortcomings, but for me , I do almost 30k miles every spring time. A 15 hour drive (almost 98% highway) is horrable without cruse. I will look into the electromagnet idea.

Also cusecontrole in traffic is just asking for problems.

you've got some pretty smart guys here, just remember run all the power through a fuse first, maybe somebody could draw a schematic to release the current when the brake lights activate. two relays should do it , if the current flows through the brake light it activates a relay the contact of which open to turn off your magnet till you re trigger it, on the magnet side of it you could even wind your own and maybe add a small steel plate on the throttle plate arm to mount it . Good luck.