75 TS Cruise control doesn't work

[jazig.k]

Hi guys,

in my 1 hour of day light every night I try to get something done... I hate the darkness coming at 5:30 and can't wait to have a shed!

My cruise control doesn't work. I'm not sure if it's Alfa/dealership fitted or a home job but it looks like a 3/4 slab friday arvo type of job...

Anyone know what unit this is?
Wiring diagrams?
What I should be looking for or testing?

[colcol]

It looks like one that i had on the Sud, 33 and VL Commodore, it was purchased from K-Mart for about $100 about 15 years ago, actually work very well!.
The biggest problem with these vacumn cruise controls is ..lack of vacumn from the motor, i always used to put a vacumn tank in and they worked much better.
On a front wheel drive, they use 2 magnets on the drive shaft, on a 75 rear wheel drive, they use 1 magnet, and the gap between the rotating magnet and the pickup coil is about 4mm or 5/32 inch.
The brand is Command, the model could be AP50, years ago, the agents were Command Sydney, tel, [02] 97140900 and Autron 1300368882, contact them and see if you can purchase an installation manual or these days you might be able to download one from their website.
There is a computer module box, about 100mm wide - 50mm deep - 30mm thick and that usually and should reside inside the car away from heat and moisture.
Check that it has power going to it from an ignition source and make sure there is a good earth going to it, there is also a brake light wire going to the brake switch, it is a twin core wire, one side is 'hot' and the other side is 'cold', this is to dissengage the unit when you touch the brake pedal.
You can also get a clutch kit with them, a electrical pad on the clutch swith that dissengages the unit when using the clutch, i have never actually used one.
There is also a over rev switch so if the actuator is pulling the cable and say the car jumps out of gear, it cuts power to the unit to stop engine blowups, they can be a coil sensor on the spark plug leads or a wire going to the coil.
The computer box has some dipswitches that consist of Automatic or Manual and sensitivety, so for low powered cars like a Niki, you put it on Max, so it accelerates the cable faster or for Buggatti Veyron's, you would put the sensitivety to Min, so you don't go thru the windscreen.
The computer box also has a self diagnostic setting, so you can see if the magnet pickup is working and all the switches are working.
Try to get a manual for instalation, Colin.

[jazig.k]

Awesome, thanks. I am a little concerned you remember so much about the unit though...
I'll do the google hunt for a manual.

[colcol]

It may not be a late model AP50, it might be an early one, try and find a model number on the computer box or actuator and do a google search, they are so cheap these days, when one fails, you just get a new one, Colin.

[jazig.k]

Well it's not a Commander.  I couldn't find a switch that looked the same. I also remember the car having a purple box under the dash so Googled 'purple cruise control' and found it! HAHA, now I know what that box.

Someone selling one on VW Vortex -
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?3530580-Period-correct-aftermarket-cruise-control

'The Protector' 250-1026, apparently the linked one was from 1981! 

I think I remember seeing the blue/grey wires bundled up and shoved behind the fabric firewall cover thing. I presume that'a gonna be a good starting place! Other than basic checking like the switches and power etc. Hopefully I can get it working.

[colcol]

This was the first cruise control we installed in the Sud, i remember the purple box with all the sensitivity adjusters, stuffed around with it for ages and never got it to work any good, this was 1984.
Then took car back to place where the cruise control was purchased from, United Car Sound in Elizabeth St. Melbourne, told them to fix it and we would pay for it to be installed so it was working.
Got it back and it didn't work any better, so we gave up on it for a few years.
After we installed a cruise control from K Mart on special for $100 on Volkswagon, i worked ok, but hit upon putting a vacumn tank in it and it worked terrific.
Purchased same cruise control from K Mart and put it in 33 and with vacumn tank, worked a treat.
You may get yours to work, but its old tech, the new ones have a better computer in them and work much better and are heaps cheaper.
When mine give up the ghost, rather than get it fixed, i just buy a new one, as they are hard to get parts, and the new ones are new, not 10 years old.
But you might get yours to work, it will be an interesting project, but you will need to get an instruction manual, even the 3 litre VL Commodore needed a vacumn tank even more than the Sud and 33, i would have thought that a big 3 litre engine would have enough vacumn, but i was wrong, Colin.

[colcol]

The blue/grey wires may be for the overrev function that connects to a spark plug wire, it has a piece of iron that is 'U' shaped and or it might be for the speed sensor that has 2 wires going to a magnetic 'pot' that senses the magnet going around the drive shaft, Colin.