cruise control.. now smooth as butter

[treed2 at wsu.edu (T. Reed)]

This summer I fabricated linkage to install vw (hella?) cruise control on
my 16v. I was pleased with the results, but found that the 2l 16v has a
little too much throttle response for the aggressiveness of the cruise
computer. It was getting on and off the gas every second or two, causing
the car to lurch forward and back noticibly. It wasn't -terrible-, it was
much better at 60 mph than 30 mph.. but you could tell when the cruise
was activated with your eyes closed.

There are no adjustments on the factory cruise box, so I figured the best
way to smooth things out would be to make a vacuum restrictor for the
actuator. The cruise system takes timed "breaths" in and out (effectively;
by running the vacuum pump and modulating the vent solenoid) and if I
could make it breath through a straw instead of a snorkel tube, smaller
changes in throttle position would be the result.

Today I got out to the shop and made a vacuum restrictor on the metal
lathe. I used a piece of brass rod, cut the O.D. down to 0.300" and
drilled a 5/64" hole in the center, all the way through (if I did it
again I might try 1/16" or 3/64" instead for even more restriction).

After cutting it off of the rod and installing it inline with the vacuum
servo, I went for a test drive. Much smoother..! Now the cruise works
quite well at 30 mph and at 60-75 mph you'd never know it's even on. It
holds speed much better than before as well. All in all, a winning
modification.

While I was in the shop I went ahead and relayed my reverse lights to
hopefully prevent the damn switch from burning out (again). They're
brighter than before, and the relay is neatly hidden in the little rift
between the DPR and strut tower.

The other thing I did was fix my rattling sunroof (at least the most
noticible rattle). Turns out the metal indoor trim panel (the one that is
hinged and flips up when the roof is tilted) was bent in such a way that
it was just barely contacting the larger trim panel below. I was able to
jam my hands in there and bend it up slightly.. after that I was unable to
reproduce the rattle. _Very nice_ to have that gone! Sometimes little
things can drive you mad.

Now I'm all set for the big 320 mile/5 hr drive tomorrow.

-Toby