[wulbert]

Any one ever retro fitted a cruise control. It seems that few 9000 have 'em as standard. I'd really like one for lazy drives home from work.
( i'm in the middle of looking for a new 9000)

Any idea of cost/ complexity etc.

Give us a link if you know of one

thank you ,
Wul

 

[cdcarlsson]

I know it's possible but I don't have first hand experience myself. I'm (almost) certain it was a dealer fit option, and as such there would have been kits availible with the usual high quality Saab instructions, I wonder if any are lying about in the back of a main dealers stockroom?

 

[slidejules]

Neither have I had first hand experience of doing it myself, although I did have it retro-fitted by Neo Bros. Cost was something like £235. To get it done by saab you're looking at c£400 thesedays. It used to be cheaper but apparently the kit went up in price a few months back. Best bet is to get the bits from a breaker such as 2stroke and either get them to fit it or find a saab specialist near you who will fit it for you.

I remember asking this question before and being told it's only about a 20 minute job. Neo Bros took nearly 3 hours so I'm not sure whether my original advice was misguided, or whether it just reflects badly on Neo Bros. For a few other reasons I can't see myself using them again (such as quoting me the price based on CC parts for a 9-5 - much cheaper because it only needs a new indicator stalk, the innards are already there - quote £80, cost £235 GRRR) but that is another story.

Hope that's helpful!

Jules

p.s. I must say though that on the plus side, the cruise control works like a charm and is an absolute boon on late night motorway drives.

 

[adrian]

I've retro fitted cruise to a 900 and 9000. But only the early type with vacuum pump. Its straight forward to do. The later electric motor type system looks even easier to fit.

What year is your car?

 

[wulbert]

I'm looking to buy a late'97 or '98 model, pref a 2.0l LPT CSE, probably manual. They seem very expensive though for good ones.
Prices are way higher than Parkers price guide
(eg £7495 for a '98 "R" 2.0 CSE , 40k FSH)

I thought until a couple of days ago that cruise control could only be fitted to an auto-box car but a Saab dealer told me they can be fitted to manual boxes. Is this true?

Thanks for the info folks. It seems easier (and cheaper) than I thought. I had envisaged mad Saab prices.

 

[sj]

They certainly do fit on manual cars as well, they just have an extra cutout switch on the clutch pedal as well as the brake pedal.

 

[djtaylor]

Jules, probably a bit late now but if Neo Bros gave you a proper quote (ideally in writing) then that's binding and forms the basis of a contract.

If on the otherhand it was an estimate then you're stuffed.

David.

 

[scallywag]

I was looking at this myself. I have a 2.0 Manual 1993 9k. It is supposed to be easy to do and I found a breakers that will actually sell the cruise control itms as a complete kit for about 80+vat which is very reasonable.

Hope this helps.

 

[wulbert]

Thanks for all the useful info people.
Scallywag what's the name of this breakers?
I'm actaully quite far down the line of buying a 2.3 Anniversary CSE LPT but it's an auto.
I assume that retro-fitting the cruise will still be fairly straight forward on an auto.
I'm sure i would use the thing as I sometimes do actually dawdle home, oncein a while at a steady 50per, usually to see if I can get the mpg reading above 30mpg, sad eh? ( it hovers at about 24mpg running on LPG)
I'm awaiting an AA report on the car ( it's 180 miles away so probably worth the exorbitant £252 they charge for the check , to save me a wasted trip) and am now in that stage of Saab purchase where I-don't-want- to-hear-anything-bad about- the- car- just-gimmeee....now !!
This is quickly followed by the don't-read-any car-ads-in-case-you-see-acheaper-one phase. ( and also the don't talk to any "sensible" friends who will say " I don't know why you keep buying these ,expensive to run, dinosaurs" WUL.

 

[cdcarlsson]

[qb]I did have it retro-fitted by Neo Bros. Cost was something like £235.
I remember asking this question before and being told it's only about a 20 minute job. Neo Bros took nearly 3 hours so I'm not sure whether my original advice was misguided, or whether it just reflects badly on Neo Bros.

Jules
[/qb][/b]

I'd be surprised if anyone could fit the system in 20 mins, even a Rally mechanic would be pushed! There are quite a few bits to the vacuum system that I'm (slightly) familiar with, including an electric (vacuum) pump, diaphram and chain that operate on the accelerator, various pipes to vacuum switches above the brake and clutch pedals plus the column stalk with the cruise control switches upon it to name but a few! If Neo did it for £235 (inc' parts) I'd say that was quite fair as long as you're happy with it's operation now.

Nick.

 

[GarethBray]

As I'm the guy who fitted a cruise control in about 20mins, I guess I should answer Nicks comment....

There are different types of cruise control for different years of car, the later models (my 97 2.0 lpt uses this type, I think the change is from about 1995) have an electronic system that cosists of just a control box with a cable that pulls the actuator on the throttle body, a new indicator stalk, two electric switches for the pedals, and a short wiring harness to connect the pedal switches to the main wiring loom.

Fitting this type of cruise control is easy and quick, you just have to make sure you have the little wiring harness for the switches as it doesn't come in the main kit. I agree that fitting the vacuum system sounds a lot harder, and may take the two hours Neo Bros wanted.

I asked Two Stroke to Turbo in Hatfield about a cruise control for my car around two years ago, and they gave me a £200 for bits + 2 hours labour estimate to fit one I think. Whereas the dealer gave me a written quote with a much higher price for the kit and 0.2 hours for fitting which came to about the same money. At that price I thought I could live without one, and I did untill I got a "sell-out" kit from another dealer and fitted it myself.

I think how simple this job is depends on what car you are fitting it to, and I wonder if the Neo bros/Two Stroke guys actually do fit the older vacuum system to the newer cars as I guess they will have more stock of the vacuum systems than the electronic ones.

-Gareth-

 

[wulbert]

thanks Gareth;
Where would I get the .."the little wiring harness for the switches"

Is this a Saab part as well

Wul

 

[GarethBray]

Wul,

The "little wiring harness" comes from the dealer, costs about £16 if I remember right. I think there are 2-3 versions of it, one for a rhd manual, one for a rhd auto, and perhaps one for one of the lhd variants (rhd manual part number 453 7775).

-Gareth-

 

[Mark B]

I deleted this as I decided it would be better to start a new post on a slightly different theme. Apologies.