My car didn't come with Cruise Control, but the 1978 Fairmont 200 cid six did. That engine is my new engine. So the Cruise is going in. The 1978 Ford Shop Manuals all say that the 1978 Fairmont had it in the wheel. This donor had it on the 'tree'. It runs the dimmer, signals and cruise functions, and since my army background trained me to clean out 30 year old switches on old military trucks and tanks, I went at it. Ford had them made by at least two companies, TRW and ROSTRA Precision Instruments. TRW has their OEM Steering Column parts made by Lucas. To make it more like a CSI Forensic investigation, TRW has some made by their Brasilian, Argentinian and Venezuealan subsidiaries. My column switch was made by TRW, the Cruise Control amplifier and vacuum retractor were made by Rostra. Both companies still make these parts for all the Big 3 mfrs, in some adaptable form. In the case of the Fairmont/Zephyr/Cougar Wagons cars whose steering wheels are cracked, the good news is that these column mounted units are the same as the 1981-1986 Escort/Fiesta. The Switch body Ford number is XXXX-13B302-XX, where the first letter is the year decade (My switch number is E0AG-13B302-AA). 1980 model Ford. I used Google to search just 13B302 AA (No quote marks). Up came the Argentinian vendor who lists which cars they come from. And who makes them: Argentinian Automotive Electrical/Control Wholesaler: http://www.repfenix.com/listaArticulos.asp?Tipo=5&cTema=LCT&cSubTema=001 Here's a few links: TRW Subsidiaries: http://www.trw.com/productsandtechnologies/main/0,,9_28154_22_28181%5E4%5E28181%5E28181,00.html Lucas switches: http://www.lucaselectrical.co.uk/switchgear.html Lucas Catalogs: http://www.lucaselectrical.co.uk/technicalinfo.html Rostra makes the Cruise Control Amplifier http://www.rostra.com/ and they have some circuitry here (the last three documents): http://www.rostra.com/technical.htm Here's one guy's DIY page on Cruise Controls: http://www.thorssell.net/hbook/ccmain.html Here's another way, kind of like the Model-T speed control on the column: http://www.ultralightnews.ca/throttle_quadrants/ And as TBird already knows, the 1977 Cougar Wagon Cruise diagram: http://www.cougarsw.flacarshows.com/downloads.htm Anyway, I took the switch apart, soaked it in varsol, then sprayed it with electronic contact cleaner. I'll lube it all up and reassemble it today, and reassemble the Steering Column for reinstallation.
A few more Cruise Control Info sites: http://www.popularmechanics.com/how_to_central/automotive/1272586.html?page=1 This is the 'Lots More Info' page (5) on this site, but you should start at the Introduction: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cruise-control5.htm
I mentioned in another thread that I had tried to refill the lettering on the column mounted Cruise Control switch, but wiped out a major portion of it. I painted the white filler anyway. Didn't work! So I made my own on the printer to bond right over the spot: I just used MSPaint, drew a rectangle in black fill, and changed the foreground for the Arial Font to White, 8 point font, Bold. I drew the switch lines with the line tool. The original text length is 1-5/8". I'll print the final on some transparent film and glue it on, then coat it with clearcoat satin.
Nah, she said she's used this before in her cars in Mexico, in English. It's almost the same, anyway.
