Audiovox CCS100 Installation on a '94 BMW K1100LT.

Here is a complete writeup of what it took to get this cruise control mounted on my bike. Besides the actual unit, here is what I had to acquire:

Additonal 6 feet of 3/16" vacuum line

7" of 2" PVC tubing plus 2 end caps (to make vacuum cannister

Vacuum check valve - NAPA #2-970

2 MIP 3/16" fittings for the vacuum cannister

1 package of spiral cable wrap from Radio Shack #278-1638

3/16" and 1/8" heat shrink tubing (I soldered all wire connections where I had to do any soldering and used this tubing for a more secure connection)

So you can see where you are going, here are pics of the finished install:

The actuator installed (side view):

A view looking down to see how unobtrusive the actuator is (look closely):

A view of the control pad installed. I did seal the back of the pad with clear RTV silicone and left the bottom open in case of moisture drainage.

First, I had to figure out where to mount the actuator. I chose to put it on the right side in front of the shock. It is out of the way, even for a passenger, should I ever have one.....

Here is a picture of the actuator mounting bracket modified to work in this application. I used the bracket from the kit that was bent L-shaped, cutting off the "L", grinding some clearance for the shock and drilling the holes for the shock mount and to attach the actuator. I attached it to the inside of the upper shock mounting bolt with a spacer to get it out from the shock for a bit more clearance.

This shows the actuator firmly mounted on the shock stud.

The "J" bracket on the actuator had to be reversed. Just before I attached the actuator to the bracket, I set the dip switches as follows (I also pulled the jumper since we clearly have manual transmissions):

SW1 ON
SW2 OFF
SW3 ON
SW4 ON
SW5 OFF
SW6 OFF
SW7 ON

I then started running the wiring cable from the actuator up to in front of the fuse box in the area where the connector for the motronics to the instrument panel. The gray and black wires (Vehicle Speed Sensor - VSS) were cut off at the actuator so the blue wire is the only speed sensor and it is tach or coil based. I opted for the tach. The following picture shows the blue wire and it connects to the single green wire at pin 11 in between the red/yellow and the blue/red wires. I checked with Audiovox and they confirmed that I could shorten the blue wire as long as I retained the noise suppressor (despite what the instructions imply), so I took out about 3' of wire. Sorry for the fuzzy picture. I was too close, even in macro mode but was trying to get the detail. I then wrapped these wires in the spiral cable wrap to clean up the install. The spiral wrap allows one to split off individual wires as needed so I separated out the black ground wire and ran it to one of the bolts holding the coolant reservoir, again shortening the wire for a clean install. I also separated out the purple stop light wire and ran it back to the tail light and connected it in.

At this point, I decided I wanted to put the kit connector in this same proximity. The way the wiring worked out the connector would have been up around the steering head. This meant I had lots of wire left over in the loom from the actuator and not enough from the control pad.

I then installed the control pad to determine just how much more wire I needed to get to the actuator connector. Determining that, I cut the excess off the actuator wires and added it to the pad wires. This meant cutting the pins off both sets of wires but the color coding lined up so I just cut about 3" back on both sets and proceeded to transplant the wires from the actuator to the control pad wires. I staggered the cuts on both wire sets so that the soldering would be staggered but the resultant wire lengths for each wire in a set would be the same. On the control pad wire set, I tied the gray (pad illumination) wire to the red wire so the light would be on with ignition since our bike lights are "always on". I spiral cable wrapped the control pad wires like the actuator wire set separating out the black ground wire and running it over to the ground stud in the "V" of the frame. I attached an eyelet to this wire to make sure I was not trying to attach stranded wires to a ground stud. These eyelets I also soldered, not just crimped!

For power, I ran the supplied fuse into the fuse box and tied it into one of the accessory plug green/red wires (and I marked my factory wiring diagrams to indicate the connections). Here again, all connections were soldered and heat shrink wrapped. To get the wires into the fuse box, I took a small pair of forceps (sp?) and punched a small hole from the inside out, in the rubber gasket that seals the factory cable system to the fuse box, grabbed the wire I was trying to feed and pulled it through, sealing the wire by that same gasket. I did the same for the wire from the actuator as well.

That completed the wiring. I tucked everything in neatly and wire wrapped the wires to the bike where appropriate. Actually, when I ran the vacuum line up to the cannister, I left the wire ties loose so as not to pinch the vacuum line.

The vacuum cannister was made to fit in the bottom of the right fairing pocket taking up minimal space. I tried a couple different locations and sizes but this seemed to be the simplest and best arrangement. It really takes very little space in the pocket. It remains to be seen if it will have enough vacuum reserve on the long hills in Arkansas and Colorado. The two lines go to the throttle body and the actuator. It is made of 2" PVC and is about 7" long.

In the next pic, you can see the vacuum lines coming out of the fairing pocket. The vacuum check valve goes in the line to the throttle body. Make sure it is installed so the throttle body can suck the air out of the cannister. I chose to put it here, away from heat and easy to access in the event of failure. I ran this line over to the #2 throttle body by routing in on top of the plastic plate that sits up against the "V" part of the frame that holds the cable systems up off the engine and protects them from the heat off the engine.

Now comes the mechanical part of the install. I routed the actuator cable up to the "V" frame like I did the wiring except it sits on top of the plastic plate mentioned above. There was sufficient space to route it that way without kinking it. I then routed it over to the throttle body side of the engine and there was space to drop it down to the throttle body without kinking it. When you get it routed, before attaching it to the engine, slide the cable back and forth in the sheath to ensure no binding.

Here is the bead chain and small bolt/nut to attach to the throttle. I put it between cylinders 1&2 where there is a hole in the plate to attach the bolt (see next section). The bolt/nut came with the unit and the bolt has a shoulder that allows the throttle lead to pivot on the bolt.

Here it is attached to the throttle with the bead chain cut so one bead sticks up above the support bar. Notice where the bead comes out between the throttle bodies. This gives the chain the right angle to pull on. You will see what I mean when you get it attached. You can see the bolt and nut attached to the plate. You can also see where I filed a notch in the bar to ensure the beads had clearance.

Now comes the tricky part, mounting the cruise control cable to the throttle body. I tried a couple different things but finally made a bracket matching the throttle cable bracket only longer. I took the throttle cable bracket off and used it as a template to make the cc bracket only it needed to be longer because of the length of the cable extending beyond the end of the sheathing. Notice the cable is adjusted all the way up. There is only a slight amount of slack when in the "rest" position. This ensures quick action of the cc unit when engaged.

In case you would like to make one, I simplified your life by making a template. click on this link to download a full size of the template. When you go to print it tell your computer to print full size and NOT scale to fit the page. I did not mark the holes however. What worked best for me was to use the existing throttle bracket as a template, clamp the two of them together and use the existing bracket as a guide for drilling the new one. I have never had a lot of success marking, center punching and drilling. They always are a bit off. This way they right. The easiest way to get the existing bracket off is to wedge the throttle bodies open. The cable will then slip right out. You may find it easier to undo the injector connectors and rotate them (no need to remove etc) to get clearance to remove and re-install the bracket screws. In case you have not messed with them, you push down on the wire retainer to release it and pull upon the injector connector. They just snap back on.

When you connect the cruise control cable to the bead chain cut enough off so you can adjust the cable using the nuts on the end of the cable to get the right slack. If you want the cruise control to respond quickly to the "set" command, make sure there is just a little slack in the cable at idle. The more slack, the more unit has to pull before engaging.

That should about do it. If you have any questions, you can contact me at norm@normgrills.net and I will try to help.

Similar cruise control installs (for additional reference:

Honda PC800

Another K1100LT install

Honda ST1300