Aftermarket Cruise Control

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Well, basically a cable hooked up the the throttle somehow with a clamp so rather than cruise control by speed it's done by throttle position,

I wouldn't be surprised if a hand throttle turned to be more FE friendly. I have CC but don't usually use it because when climbing, I feel it pushing harder on the gas pedal than I would like. Your mileage may vary.

[Silveredwings]

Originally Posted by theclencher

...net searches turn up nothing except hundreds of thousands of pages of motorcycle throttle locks.

A manual choke cable is almost the same as a hand throttle. In fact, the latest car I had with a manual choke was a '73 MGB. The knob was 'T' shaped and could be locked in position by turning it 90 degrees. This would work very well against the throttle spring. It's about $20 for a restoration quality replacement part at Moss motors, but I bet you could find one much cheaper than that.

Civics from the mid 70s to early 80s had manual chokes as well but they only had a friction lock. Maybe a tractor part would work.

[SVOboy]

Well, I know that at least on my car an automatic throttle wheel would be perfect, it has extra space built in for another cable. I imagine it would have to be all hand activated, which I don't really see a problem with unless you forget about it, but what hypermile doesn't have his or her mind on every little thing every second of the drive,

[SVOboy]

No worries, but, at least on my car, the auto tranny is controlled by a cable from the throttle wheel. This "kickdown cable" tells the transmission when kicking down a gear is needed or at what time to upshift. The throttle wheel can be placed on a stick car, (which would only have the throttle cable normally), so that there'd be an open space for some sort of second throttle cable that could be used as a lock. This is all at the brainstorm stage though as I'm too crappy with fabrication to figure anything out in terms of the actual lock mechanism.

[SVOboy]

That could be done with my idea. Because the throttle cable pulls the opposite way you could just make the release only hold a certain amount of pressure. Wack the throttle and it pops open.

[SVOboy]

I'm saying that the throttle lock would be pressure sensitive, so that if there were enough force the other way it'd release the throttle from the lock. Lemme whip up something in photoshop.

[SVOboy]

That sucks but I hope it helps?

[SVOboy]

The way I imagine using it is I put my foot where I want it, lock it, rest my foot on the pedal and then tap it to release the lock. Iono, I'm prolly never ever going to do it, I'm just putting my thoughts out there.

[Silveredwings]

I agree with your throttle lock idea. If I understand it correctly, I can think of 3 ways you could do it.

1 and 2 would entail a throttle cable hookup next to the existing throttle cable (kinda like this maybe).

1. A simple cable with a friction locking knob. This would have no auto-release. The throttle may need additional spring tension.

2. A cruise control with no speed-following feedback. So when you press the 'lock' button, it samples your speed and the servo sets the throttle in that position until the controller releases it by braking, pressing a stop button, putting in the clutch, or (if you have a gas pedal switch) step on the gas.

3. A solenoid (pneumatic? or electric?) clamps (pinches) the existing throttle cable in whatever position it's in when you press lock. The lock is kept on by latching relay or flip-flop. Auto release could be the same as in #2. Fail-safe mode is off.

[Silveredwings]

Those are some great ideas.