Gentlemen and Ladies,

I'm currently in the wilds of Pennsylvania thinking vacation like thoughts. 
Noneless, I offer a few responses to the questions raised here. See the $$ 
marks.

In a message dated 7/11/02 5:55:16 PM, rayreinhard@SBCGLOBAL.NET writes:

<< I would be interested in putting one of these cruise control units in my 

'86 TiiCo Westy. Being a total novice at such things, however, I found some 

of Frank G.'s description of the installation procedure to be a bit too 

cryptic for me to follow.

$$ True, he was trying to be terse but indicate that it can be done at 
several levels ranging from the quickie to the anal retentative. I just don't 
have time to document everything for the novice. Not a negative statement, 
just a fact.

Specific questions:

�       Frank G. states that one needs to cannibalize a "Hall pickup" from 

a Golf/Jetta instrument cluster. Does one have to replace the entire 

Vanagon speedo with the one from the Golf/Jetta? Or does the Hall pickup 

attach to the existing speedo? Any particular Golf/Jetta model year?

$$ False. Never said have to. Said I did, and you could. As I think I said, 
there is a black molded plastic cover on the back of the vanagon speedo case. 
Has to be broken out. If broken out, you will see the magnetic drum hub 
below. By inspection of any G/J cluster with speed control, you will see that 
it will mount right up. Same gap as the G/J and same screw points. You will 
need the Hall sender and the foil. Don't know the years, but any of the A2 
cars use the same Hall sensor. All cars with factory speed control include (I 
think) the tach and the MFA. Never said replace speedo. Never! But you could 
use a speedo from a vanagon junker with cruise if you prefer. If these 
comments are confusing, go to the standard magnets on CV joint approach 
utilized by all universal cruise control kits.

�       He also says that he was able to wire the Rostra unit up to the 

Vanagon cruise control/turn signal switch. Can one retrofit an OEM VW 

cruise control/turn signal switch to a van that did not already have 

one?  (I'd like to do so, if possible...)

$$ The answer is yes. Beyond the question asked. The bolt (screw) circle for 
the turn signal and ww switches are common to a wide range of VWs. The 
switches for the cruise stalk or the MFA come to unused areas of the switch 
connector block or are separate wires. The angle and length of the cc and MFA 
stalks from the G/J group are slightly different from the regular vanagon 
commodity. I like them better than the vanagon au regular, so I use them on 
my system. Swap these things around to your pleasure at least for the 
vanagons and the A2 cars.

�       I'd also be interested in hooking up the MFA features as he did. 

Can we get any more detail on exactly how he did so (and modified the 

Vanagon clock)? Again, any particular model year for the Jetta components?

$$ Now this is a bit trickier. Involves good knowledge of the vanagon and G/J 
Bentley wiring diagrams, a bit of fearlessness, some experience with kludging 
PC boards and soldering experience. During my Saturday morning 
constitutionals at the local pick-a-part yard, I have accumulated more than 5 
foils and clusters from all the victims here noted. I worked with a spare 
vanagon unit a spare G/J unit and a rainy weekend. PITA but worked as 
described. 

Good Luck,

Frank Grunthaner