Cruise Control

I recently purchased my first Volvo - a '90 740SE Saloon. Although I have never really been a fan of Volvos I have always loved the shape of this car.

Several trips to my local breakers has helped me replace several items of broken interior trim, repair the seat belt reminder stuff and the heated seats.

My current project is to install ECC/Air Con, so far this is going well!

Anyway to cut a long story short I was thinking that maybe after that I would look at fitting Cruise Control however during my several visits to my local breaker and surveying numerous 700 series, I have not come across one with Cruise...my question is therefore - is it as uncommon as it appears (I have also not seen any reference to it hear)was it something that was fitted to UK spec cars? Anyone got it and don't want it? :)

Thanks
James
Suffolk

As far as I am aware, the cruise was an option on all markets. It is possible to buy as a retro fit kit from Volvo for a few hundred pounds. It is also possible to buy a third party cruise control. The cruise was very common on cars in the States, whereas I suspect finding a scrapped car in englnad with one is more difficult. When I can afford to, I am buying the retro kit. I would, in turn, be very interested in getting AC in my car. Any ideas? What have you done?

George

Resident near Leuven in Belgium

'87 745 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler
'88 745 Turbo Intercooler

Hi James

I got a chap in the states to get me all the bits from an US scrapyard and then fitted the system to my 740 Turbo - works very well indeed. The only thing which doesn't fit is the US wiring (which is usually already built in to the harness - ours is an additional cable. If you get an American to get you the bits, make sure he gets all the connectors (including the connectors to the foot-pedal switches) and make up you own harness - it's not too difficult provided you follow the wiring diagrams. You will also need the small steel switch mounting plate which is rivetted onto the aluminium pedal box (the holes are already drilled in our pedal boxes) and you need to rivet (or bolt) it onto your pedal box (no need tyo take pedal box out of car!) - you will need more vacuum pipe than the US system has (I bought about 12 foot of new pipe for about £10 in UK). The only marginally tricky part is setting up the pedal switch(s) (2 if your car is manual) - but even that is merely a case of screwing the switch in or out to get it to make contact and seal the vacuum at the correct place. My enitre system cost $75 for the bits and about $40 for insured postage (round about £75) and took me about 2 hours to make the cable harness and 3 hours to fit - e-mail me at steve_long@ntlworld.com if you want more info, want a helpful American contact or want to discuss parts etc.
Steve

[tonyflynn1]

I looked at fitting cruise to my T5 but still haven't got around to it. Here's a couple of links for diy cruise kits, hope you find them useful.
http://www.ecwuk.com/auto_aids/cruise/index.htm

http://www.conrad-anderson.co.uk/cc.htm

Thanks for the replies guys, I am having to put cruise on hold as I am moving house and my partner is expecting soon! The air con project is slowed to a halt mainly cos I sourced all parts from a couple of 760's. Because of the different engine I am missing the compressor brackets for my 740 and am at present at a loss to know where to get them - I haven't tried a dealer yet cos I was hopeing to get something secondhand.