Audiovox CCS-100 Cruise Control Installation
Posted: May 23rd, 2008, 8:34 pm
Hey guys, After a couple days of working through trying to install the cruise control, it finally works. I actually have time now to write this so I'll go through what I did so if you have any questions just let me know! Thanks.
In the the kit there are 3 main things, the servo, magnet kit, and control dash switch. The magnet is really only necessary if you don't have a VSS wire (which i dont). There is various hardware that comes with it, half of which I didn't even use.
So first, you need to buy the kit! I bought mine off amazon for 70 shipped which is the best i have seen anywhere. It said it was gonna be back order but it ended up shipping the same day and getting to my house the next day.
First thing I decided to do what decide where I would put the servo. The servo is what controls the tension on the throttle arm. The servo is pretty big, about 10" long and has about a 5" dia. At the end is where the cable exits, and on the side is where you need to connect the vacuum tube to.
The location I chose was right in front the passenger side wheel well. It was really the only place i could fit it. I guess if you had a CAI you might be able to fit it where the filter usually is. In the manual, they don't really tell you how to connect the servo to the frame so they basically just tell you to either drill holes somewhere (not my style) or fashion your own mount. I fashioned my mount with one of the brackets they provided.
Next I had to find a way to connect the servo cable to the throttle. I could have used a provided bracket to attach the cable but Mazda was so nice as to provide me with a second place to put a cable in. I used the beaded chain and one of their links for connecting it to the throttle.
The servo operates using the vacuum from from the engine so you need to put a T adapter that allows the servo to tap into the vacuum. This wasn't really that big of a task.
Also on the servo is some switches that are either on and off depending on the specs of the car. The manual explains all the switches and because my mx3 is a manual and i don't have a VSS (vehicle speed sensor) wire, i had to set it a certain way. Here's a picture of what position they were in:
Coming out of servo are 10 wires. Four of them go to the control dash switch and the other ones go to various parts of the car. Theres a ground wire which i connected somewhere near the servo, Purple and Red wires go in parallel with the brake pedal switch (to turn it off when you depress the break), and the blue wire goes to the negative side of the ignition coil. Also coming out of the servo is two wires encased as one which goes to the magnet kit which i used. There is also a jumber on the servo that needs to be removed if your car is a standard.
Then you gotta find a grommet to get your wires through the firewall, i found one located near the brake/clutch drum.
Next I installed the dash mounted control switch. I put it right next to steering wheel. I could have put it where the cruise is ACTUALLY suppose be but that would involved too much work so i just put it next to the steering wheel, plus i was missing the cover that went there so i killed two birds with one stone!
Coming out of the switch are 6 wires which initially confused me because the manual says absolutely nothing about 2 of them. Three of the wires go to the servo, one goes to 12v ACC and there were two wires left. After some research, i found that the black wire was ground (duh, but I have the motto to never assume anything) and the grey wire was just there because they felt like putting it there so i ignored that one. It may have a purpose but i couldn't think of one.
After that was all wired up, I had one last task to do and I wasn't really excited about doing it because it just feels "shady". I feel uneasy about attaching anything to the drive shaft but it went ok over all.
The first task is attaching the magnets to the drive shaft. They recommend that you put the magnets as close to the transmission as possible to eliminate vertical shaft movement. The big thing to overcome with where i attached it was finding where to place the magnets, the shaft is not a perfect circle which kinda confused me a little bit. After doing what the manual told me to do (taking a piece of paper and wrapping it around the shaft, measure the length and divide by two) it ended up being that the magnets had to go right on the end of where the shaft divots down:
So I attached the magnets using the double-sided tape provided and then wrapped the steel wire around and used an electric drill to twist the wire and tighten it up. I then twisted it around a bit so it won't come undone.
The next big task was finding a place to attach the sensor. The kit comes with an L bracket which you're suppose to find a place somewhere to attach it. The only place I could find to attach it was the frame about 10" to the rear. My own problem was how to bolt it to it. I ended up taking a washer, lock washer and a nut and gluing them together and then putting them in the frame and using a paper clip to align it in the hole. It's kind of hard to explain but the pictures might help.
I then hooked up the sensor to the two wires that came out of the servo. Next was testing it out. I started to drive to a local express way and on the way decided to test out how slow I could go using it and found that I could go about 40 mph and the max speed I have yet to test (I dont feel like getting another speeding ticket) but I have gotten it up to 75 mph. Using a program on my PDA, GPSDash (amazing program), I found the speed stays pretty steady about ±.5 mph on a flat road.
If you don't have cruise control and want it AND you can shell out the $70 to buy it i would definitly recommend it. Like I said before, if you guys have any questions please feel free to post and I'll try to answer.
Much Love
~rEegLer~
In the the kit there are 3 main things, the servo, magnet kit, and control dash switch. The magnet is really only necessary if you don't have a VSS wire (which i dont). There is various hardware that comes with it, half of which I didn't even use.
So first, you need to buy the kit! I bought mine off amazon for 70 shipped which is the best i have seen anywhere. It said it was gonna be back order but it ended up shipping the same day and getting to my house the next day.
First thing I decided to do what decide where I would put the servo. The servo is what controls the tension on the throttle arm. The servo is pretty big, about 10" long and has about a 5" dia. At the end is where the cable exits, and on the side is where you need to connect the vacuum tube to.
The location I chose was right in front the passenger side wheel well. It was really the only place i could fit it. I guess if you had a CAI you might be able to fit it where the filter usually is. In the manual, they don't really tell you how to connect the servo to the frame so they basically just tell you to either drill holes somewhere (not my style) or fashion your own mount. I fashioned my mount with one of the brackets they provided.
Next I had to find a way to connect the servo cable to the throttle. I could have used a provided bracket to attach the cable but Mazda was so nice as to provide me with a second place to put a cable in. I used the beaded chain and one of their links for connecting it to the throttle.
The servo operates using the vacuum from from the engine so you need to put a T adapter that allows the servo to tap into the vacuum. This wasn't really that big of a task.
Also on the servo is some switches that are either on and off depending on the specs of the car. The manual explains all the switches and because my mx3 is a manual and i don't have a VSS (vehicle speed sensor) wire, i had to set it a certain way. Here's a picture of what position they were in:
Coming out of servo are 10 wires. Four of them go to the control dash switch and the other ones go to various parts of the car. Theres a ground wire which i connected somewhere near the servo, Purple and Red wires go in parallel with the brake pedal switch (to turn it off when you depress the break), and the blue wire goes to the negative side of the ignition coil. Also coming out of the servo is two wires encased as one which goes to the magnet kit which i used. There is also a jumber on the servo that needs to be removed if your car is a standard.
Then you gotta find a grommet to get your wires through the firewall, i found one located near the brake/clutch drum.
Next I installed the dash mounted control switch. I put it right next to steering wheel. I could have put it where the cruise is ACTUALLY suppose be but that would involved too much work so i just put it next to the steering wheel, plus i was missing the cover that went there so i killed two birds with one stone!
Coming out of the switch are 6 wires which initially confused me because the manual says absolutely nothing about 2 of them. Three of the wires go to the servo, one goes to 12v ACC and there were two wires left. After some research, i found that the black wire was ground (duh, but I have the motto to never assume anything) and the grey wire was just there because they felt like putting it there so i ignored that one. It may have a purpose but i couldn't think of one.
After that was all wired up, I had one last task to do and I wasn't really excited about doing it because it just feels "shady". I feel uneasy about attaching anything to the drive shaft but it went ok over all.
The first task is attaching the magnets to the drive shaft. They recommend that you put the magnets as close to the transmission as possible to eliminate vertical shaft movement. The big thing to overcome with where i attached it was finding where to place the magnets, the shaft is not a perfect circle which kinda confused me a little bit. After doing what the manual told me to do (taking a piece of paper and wrapping it around the shaft, measure the length and divide by two) it ended up being that the magnets had to go right on the end of where the shaft divots down:
So I attached the magnets using the double-sided tape provided and then wrapped the steel wire around and used an electric drill to twist the wire and tighten it up. I then twisted it around a bit so it won't come undone.
The next big task was finding a place to attach the sensor. The kit comes with an L bracket which you're suppose to find a place somewhere to attach it. The only place I could find to attach it was the frame about 10" to the rear. My own problem was how to bolt it to it. I ended up taking a washer, lock washer and a nut and gluing them together and then putting them in the frame and using a paper clip to align it in the hole. It's kind of hard to explain but the pictures might help.
I then hooked up the sensor to the two wires that came out of the servo. Next was testing it out. I started to drive to a local express way and on the way decided to test out how slow I could go using it and found that I could go about 40 mph and the max speed I have yet to test (I dont feel like getting another speeding ticket) but I have gotten it up to 75 mph. Using a program on my PDA, GPSDash (amazing program), I found the speed stays pretty steady about ±.5 mph on a flat road.
If you don't have cruise control and want it AND you can shell out the $70 to buy it i would definitly recommend it. Like I said before, if you guys have any questions please feel free to post and I'll try to answer.
Much Love
~rEegLer~
