OEM cruise install

[trickyrix]

Well, I made a little bit of progress today. The master dash switch is in (a 5-minute job), and the cruise control computer is in. This, however, is not quite a 5-minute job.

Suffice to say that Mazda decided to mount the cruise control computer in an almost impossible place to reach unless you're a trained capuchin monkey with tiny little monkey hands. I guess it would also be easier if you took the dash all the way out of the car, but that's not exactly a practical option. See, it's wedged up in the driver's kick panel area, smushed between the clutch pedal and the fuse box, and conveniently pinned in behind the hood release cable. I'd take a picture, but there's really not room for my head and a camera. As an added bonus, the plug for the computer has almost no service loop. The instructions I found say to simply cut the tape around the harness to free up the loop. That probably works if you can get a knife in there to slice the tape without cutting something vital. I managed to open it up a little, but not so much that it made things any easier. Thus, installation requires three hands: One to hold the box in place against the kick panel, one to scooch the box around and line up the bolt hole, and a third hand to repeatedly drop the 6-mm bolt under the carpet. Scooch. Drop. Cuss. Repeat.

However, one hour and 15 minutes later... great success. I'm going to go soak my hands in Bactine now.

More to follow...

[jsforrest]

I'm assuming you had to replace your turn switch lever, I'm about to have to do that myself, is that what took about 5 minutes?

[trickyrix]

I'm assuming you had to replace your turn switch lever, I'm about to have to do that myself, is that what took about 5 minutes?

Haven't replaced the steering column combo switch yet, but that should be easy. The master switch is the one on the dash, to the left of the instrument light dimmer knob. It just snaps in place.

[trickyrix]

First order of business this morning was to pull the steering wheel and swap the combo switch. Needless to say, this was a much easier job than wrestling the c.c. brain into place the other day. My only holdup was that I misplaced (lost) my 21mm socket for the Jesus nut on the steering wheel. I had to go buy a new one (for SEVEN effing dollars).

Since the OEM cruise uses a different gas pedal, I took the entire pedal assembly from Todd's car, and planned on swapping the gas/brake unit as one piece. Unfortunately, this would have required dropping the steering out of the way and removing a bunch of crap under the dash for access to one of the nuts. So, on to Plan B.

To add cruise, you need to swap the the gas pedal and the brake light switch - the rest of the pedal assembly is the same. The easy part was to swap the old brake light switch for the new one which incorporates the cruise kill switch. The extra plug is already under the dash where it needs to be, so this took no time at all.

Swapping the gas pedal looked to be a little more daunting task, however. Space is tight, but the job was pretty smooth and easy. The cruise pedal is identical to the standard pedal, but it has a secondary "baby arm" that hooks to the cruise servo cable and works the gas pedal in a see-saw action when that cable pulls back toward the firewall. Anyhow, all of the holes and bosses are on the standard pedal assembly, so it was just a matter of pulling all the necessary pedal parts off the cruise assembly and transferring them to the existing assembly in the car. Once the throttle cable is released from the top of the pedal, then a single e-clip is the only thing holding it in. Of course, that would be right up next to the steering column, where it's a little tight. Miraculously, however, I didn't lose any little bits, and the old pedal came out with ease. Then, transfer the baby arm and its bushings (2) to the car, and secure it with an e-clip. One note, there's a little rubber bumper that catches the pedal when you take your foot off of it. It needs to come out so the baby arm will slide into its hole. Now stab the pedal into place, making sure to locate the upper pin through the slot in the baby arm. This should be secured with a flat "tricycle" nut that presses on over the tip of the pivot shaft. Reattach the throttle cable and the car should now drive.

Next step, the servo... I'll have to find a new route for my Sirius antenna wire, since it currently occupies the hole for the cruise servo cable.

More to come... the hard part's done (unless, of course, it doesn't work and I have to figure that out).

[Titus]

the hard part's done (unless, of course, it doesn't work and I have to figure that out).

No worries... I offer a 72 hr money back guarantee.

[Keifersmith]

Next step, the servo... I'll have to find a new route for my Sirius antenna wire, since it currently occupies the hole for the cruise servo cable.

Maybe you don't need to worry too much about that....
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/te...1radio.html?em

[trickyrix]

Maybe you don't need to worry too much about that....
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/te...1radio.html?em

Fingers crossed...

[trickyrix]

and...




IT WORKS!!!

[Radio-Active]

Congrats!

[channelmaniac]

Sweet!

Now I need to have you come over & help me.

Do you like smoked venison sausages? I can throw some on the grill.

[Titus]

Sweet!

Now I need to have you come over & help me.

Do you like smoked venison sausages? I can throw some on the grill.

I'll offer up my shop for the job if you are willing to fix the pinball machine while here.

[channelmaniac]

Sweet!

Just don't touch the windshield!

[Titus]

Sweet!

Just don't touch the windshield!

And bring the sausages... we can fire up the grill!

[channelmaniac]

I'll bring those and the Italian ones...

[trickyrix]

When do you want to do it? I could probably offer some insight... or at least some beer/sausage consumption guidelines.

[channelmaniac]

I talked with Todd tonight, he's going to figure out some weekends that would be good for the use of his shop.