ryanwright.com: DeLorean: CCS-100

DeLorean CCS-100 Cruise Control Install

The Audiovox CCS-100 is most likely the least expensive method of adding cruise control to a DeLorean. Below are the details on my installation.

Warning! The installation of any cruise control system can be dangerous. If you choose to follow these installation instructions, you do so of your own free will. These intructions are provided free of charge and do not come with any warranties or guarantees of safety or suitability to any vehicle.

With that out of the way, let's get started!

Where to buy?

The CCS-100 can be purchased at many retailers. Mine was purchased from Brandsplace.com for $80.95. At the time of this writing, this is absolutely the least expensive place to buy this kit. You can also buy it at Shucks & other auto supply stores, not to mention various other Internet retailers, for $90-$110.

Installation

One of the first things you'll want to do is find a place to mount the control unit. I mounted mine on the left side of the engine bay in an existing bolt hole. Please note, the mounting brackets holding the unit on are included with the CCS-100 kit, however, they have been custom modified to fit this location in the DeLorean. This is easy to do, read on...

The gold colored bracket was originally straight. I first bent the end into the shape you see above using a simple table mounted vice and a pair of pliers. I then enlarged one of the holes with a drill and the same vice so that the existing bolt would fit through it. The now modified gold bracket bolts right to the (unmodified) silver bracket that is on the CCS-100 main control unit.

Interfacing with the throttle linkage

The control cable is routed from the CCS-100 to the throttle linkage (pictures of the exact routing method are further down) and attached in the manner you see here. The existing throttle cable is routed around the barrel, and putting the cruise's cable in there with it can be a safety hazard. If the cables bind up together, your throttle could stick, potentially causing an accident. Therefore, I chose to mount my setup on the back end of the barrel. This prevents interference with the throttle cable and also prevents the cruise control from pulling WOT, both of which are pluses in my book. You will still be able to cruise at nearly any speed the DeLorean is capable of.

Simply remove the bolt on the right of the barrel, stick the wire for the cruise through it, and tighten it back up. It should be noted that the "cable to bead chain interface wire" (I don't know what else to call the thing) is also "custom". Several variations of this are included with the CCS-100 kit for interfacing with a variety of throttle types. Unfortunately the DeLorean does not fit any of them. Therefore, I simply cut off the end of one of these cables to make it work as shown.

Question: How do you prevent the original throttle cable from unwinding and falling off the spool when the cruise control pulls the spool?
Answer: You don't. Try turning the spool from the back end and watch the cable. The cable is stiff enough to not fall off, and the spool itself has some little metal tabs to help keep it in line. I played with this for quite some time and could not get the cable to fall off the spool without direct intervention. At the time of this writing (5/2/2005) I have driven some 20 hours with the cruise in various levels of engagement for various lengths of time (up to 2 hours non-stop) and have not had any problems whatsoever.

Cruise throttle cable mounting bracket

Of course, we need a mounting bracket on the "pull" side of the cable. This is also included with the CCS-100 and required slight modification - a little bend and an enlarged bolt hole (drill bit & a vice, easy as pie). It was also mounted into an existing bolt hole -- the left side of the engine cover latch. If you're seeing a theme here, you should know that it was premeditated: I do not like to drill holes in my DeLorean and attempt to "reuse" holes wherever possible. This makes the installation completely reversible.

Simple. Once mounted, you can connect the appropriate amount of bead chain between the throttle linkage and the cruise's throttle cable. Don't make it super tight - leave a bit of slack as specified in the CCS-100 installation manual (which I hope you are following along with!)

Cable routing

By now you should have figured this out, but here it is for your reference. Try to keep the bends in the cable smooth and gradual. No sharp bends or kinks, or you will damage the cable and/or prevent proper operation - perhaps to the point of compromising safety. Notice the zip-tie back there; this keeps the cable's bend smooth and also keeps it away from belts and hot surfaces.

Vacuum

The CCS-100 requires a tap into your car's vacuum line. Thankfully all hoses and taps are included. You see that thick, lone cable exiting the left pontoon right in front of & underneath where the control unit is mounted? That's your vacuum line. Cut that baby, install the included T, and connect a piece of vacuum line from the T to the CCS-100. This does not interfere with the rest of your vacuum system assuming it is working properly.

Electrical: Dip switch configuration

Again, this is simple. First you want to set the dip switches on the CCS-100. Follow the installation manual on how to do this, and use the following settings:

Switches 1 & 2 control your pulses per mile (PPM).
If you are using the included magnet kit (I did), you will set this to 2,000.

2,000ppm setting:
Switch 1: OFF
Switch 2: OFF

Switch 3 is your speed signal. The CCS100 does not work properly on the DeLorean in tach only mode (I could only get a lock above ~3,000rpm, too high for cruising in 5th even at 70mph), so you will need to set this to VSS&TACH.

VSS&TACH setting:
Switch 3: ON

Switches 4 & 5 control your sensitivity. It seems most people want to set this to LOW; I think that's due to the "Light vehicles w/high horse power" text. Everyone wants to think their vehicle is light with high horse power. Most of them aren't, especially not a stock DeLorean. Setting this to LOW will result in sluggish cruise control performance. This means it will be slow to lock in and accelerate via the control panel. I set this to MEDIUM, and it's much more acceptable. If you find the cruise is too responsive for your tastes, then you can set this back to LOW, but I doubt you'll want to do that. (I did try HIGH. It was nice, but a little excessive for my tastes.)

MEDIUM (most vehicles) setting:
Switch 4: OFF
Switch 5: OFF

Switch 6 tells the unit what type of control system you are using. It should be turned off if you are using the control panel that came with your CCS100 (normally open).

Normally open setting:
Switch 6: OFF

Switch 7 controls the source select for the tach. This should be set to COIL.

COIL setting:
Switch 7: ON

So in total, you have:

1: OFF
2: OFF
3: ON
4: OFF
5: OFF
6: OFF
7: ON

Make sure you remove the black jumper located to the left side of dip switch #1, as specified in the installation manual, if you have a 5 speed. (Leave it in for an automatic)

Electrical: Wiring

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Magnet installation

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Last updated: 5/15/2005