I/S Audiovox Cruise control questions? Update IT WORKS NOW! 7-28-2011

[fordmano]

Ok so I finally got my Cruise control vacuum all hooked up.
It works, sort of.
I had trouble hitting the buttons with my gloves on and I will always ride with gloves so I guess this will be just an "I got to get used to that" situation.

Question is I used "ALL" vacuums ports ganged together and it smoothed out the idle and even the very minimal amount of vibration, yes she has always been smooth but even smooth chrome can be polished and made to feel smoother. The brake shut off worked but I had trouble with getting it to hold a speed at above 70mph it would hold at 60mph and hold at 65mph and even at 70mph, but if I ran it up to 80mph and hit set it would just slow down to 70mph again or whatever it was set to last. I did notice that at 70mph climbing a little rise in the highway it was fine very slow easy slope but on the downhill side it seemed to gain a bit (yes like up to 80+mph).

Should I be able to accelerate with the cruise control buttons?
How closely should it hold speed?
Does resume work for you?
Would having 2 check valves in line with each other help control any leakage of one of them( I guess I know this one) ?
Seems like this setup sort of goes against the idea of having less vacuum lines for vacuum leak prevention created by doing the De-Smog, Hmm.

Thanks,
Matt

[Daniel Meyer]

I used two vacuum lines and a reservoir, check valves in the lines. I think the reservoir and check valves are key. The engine does not at all hold a constant vacuum.

Mine will hold within 1mph in pretty much any conditions. Resume/acc does work fine.

Make sure you set the dip switches for the sensitivity you want...I seem to recall everybody thinks "sports car" but that doesn't work. "Large truck" is the one.

[designer]

Ok so I finally got my Cruise control vacuum all hooked up.
It works, sort of.
I had trouble hitting the buttons with my glove son and I will always ride with gloves so I guess this will be just an "I got to get used to that" situation.

Question is I used "ALL" vacuums ports ganged together and it smoothed out the idle and even the very minimal amount of vibration, yes she has always been smooth but even smooth chrome can be polished and made to feel smoother. The brake shut off worked but I had trouble with getting it to hold a speed at above 70mph it would hold at 60mph and hold at 65mph and even at 70mph, but if I ran it up to 80mph and hit set it would just slow down to 70mph again or whatever it was set to last. I did notice that at 70mph climbing a little rise in the highway it was fine very slow easy slope but on the downhill side it seemed to gain a bit (yes like up to 80+mph).

-> (I suspect that you don't have enough vacuum to keep it up to speed above 70)

Should I be able to accelerate with the cruise control buttons?

-> (yes)

How closely should it hold speed?

-> (+/-3)

Does resume work for you?

-> (yes)

Would having 2 check valves in line with each other help control any leakage of one of them( I guess I know this one) ?

-> (probably not)

Seems like this setup sort of goes against the idea of having less vacuum lines for vacuum leak prevention created by doing the De-Smog, Hmm.

Thanks,
Matt

[bscrive]

With mine, if I first set it to 60mph and then try to set it to 70mph, without hitting the brakes or turning it off and then back on, it will retain the 60mph in the memory.  It always did this.  Mine has about a 3mph variation as well.  The buttons all work as any other cruise works.

[NITRO]

Is it possible that your servo is bottoming out? If you have too much slack in the chain that attaches to the throttle linkage, that could be the problem. I tapped into two intakes with check valves and NO cannister and have no problems holding any speed within a couple mph.

Resume works fine, but accel is a little odd. I have to hold it for a bit to get much of a change.

[wd40]

+1 on the possible excess slack.  You need just enough that it will not hinder return to idle.  Too much will keep it from engaging at higher speeds, just as you have posted.  You only need 2 or 3 vacuum ports, and DO NOT need a canister.  You do need a separate check valve on each port you use.  My I/S will hold within 1-2 mph, even two up climbing a healthy grade.  It will engage at pretty much any speed I choose.  Spend a little time adjusting slack, dip switches etc and you'll get it set up good!

[designer]

This winter I'll probably do a desmog and at that time gang all my vacuum lines and see if I can get rid of the cannister.  Looking at doing a good carb cleaning and sending out some of the chrome for a touch up. 

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

Had mine for over 4yrs now. I used 5 vac ports with a check in each one and a cannister. Works perfect' holds speed setting great, resumes works as it should speed is right with the GPS.

[fordmano]

Update!!! as of 7-28-2011..

Works perfect now!!!!

I gave in to the multiple vacuum ports setup; I went with attaching vacuum lines to 3 intake manifolds and installed a check valve in each of them. I also made sure I had a positive vacuum port plug on the other 3 ports.

I can tell you for sure that ganging ALL the vacuum ports together definitely made the FatLady smoother at all RPM's. I tried this setup based on what I read by "DAG" although after talking with DAG, he is NOT running a cruise control unit... So with attaching the vacuum ports together I think it was not building enough vacuum due to the total open space in the intake system that was no created by attaching all ports to each other,,,. One intake will draw vacuum from the others, and not the vacuum line with the check valve in it. Like water or electricity takes the least path of resistance. So even with a vacuum canister the vacuum would pull from the other intakes instead of pulling against the canister or the line to the cruise control unit.


So now that I have it working, this is one of if not the BEST upgrade I have done to my VALK.
It holds steady at any speed from 55 up to 95 those are the only speeds I have tested at, up or down hills as small as they are here in California on regular city highways...


Thanks to all that had suggestions or advise or just asked questions spurring more thought on my part and on others part also....