In the interest of having "all mod cons" on the E28
https://www.youtube.com/embed/hdXUIoDWwfI
Friday I did a nice little 200 mile trip, hung out with Burrito and got to experience his 128 (which is awesome BTW) But along the way I found myself bemoaning the fact that someone removed the cruise control previously in the cars life. Particularly on the trip home when I found my speeds creeping way above the legal limit, that car just wants to cruise in the triple digits.
If I remember correctly the CC in my E30 was pretty crude. It was always hunting if it wasn't a perfectly level straight road. I don't want that, so sourcing the parts to return it to OEM is out.
I have found the Rostra kit which seems well reviewed. Servo operated instead of vacuum. Any experience with this kit?
I have installed vacuum based systems in vintage cars for customers and they were pretty bad. I don't want the surging and slowing on hills they all seem to feature.
What have you done and what did you like?
A cruise system that uses a vacuum motor to move the throttle isn't necessarily a bad thing. The stock cruise setup in my Jeep is a vacuum servo controlled by the computer (it has solenoids to feed and release vacuum to adjust throttle). And it works very well. Doesn't hunt for speed, stays within a 2mph window (doesn't slow on hills) and is pretty smooth.
One thing that's important for any system that uses vacuum as a power source is that it must have a big enough vacuum reservoir (with check valve) to avoid the cruise not having enough vacuum under heavy throttle.
I put an aftermarket CC kit on my old 240sx. It was servo controlled. Easy enough to hook up, but the thing was very finicky and only worked when it wanted to. After a few months it stopped working all together and I removed it from the car.
Yeah, a friend of mine had one on his poverty-spec '03 Sentra. As Stoolpigeon said, "finicky" was the best word I would use to describe it.
I had a few rostra units over the years. Never any trouble until mountains, and then only because it couldn't downshift (manual transmission ). I'm putting one on the duster.
