Install FACTORY Cruise Control In Your SRT-4!

I have an '04 SRT-4 with a S1 PCM. I ordered Mopar's Cruise Control Kit (Part #82208100AB) off of eBay (from eBay seller mopar4less ) for a grand total of $184, shipped. The kit is not intended for the SRT-4, but it is for 03-05 Neons. I thought it would be fairly easy to adapt to the SRT-4, but the real question was, will the PCM control it? General knowledge here says that it won't, but it does. Read on.

The kit is complete with the servo, cable, mounts, vacuum canister, cruise switch, clockspring, and even a wiring harness overlay. The wiring is very straightforward. The instructions tell you to drill out the holes in the white PCM (C3) connector, but I found that all four holes were capped off with removeable plugs, so that was real easy. There is wiring that runs above the turbocharger, so use some sort of heat reflecting/insulating material (I had some left over from a PT Cruiser wiring harness). Getting the wiring through the firewall was a bit of a trick. I simply taped (tightly) the wiring to a long screwdriver, and poked the whole mess through the hood release cable grommet from the engine compartment side. The interior stuff was very straightforward. All of the mountings for the switch are already in the steering wheel. Do just as the instructions say.

Picture of the Cruise Control Stalk as Installed

Under the hood, mount the servo, as per the instructions.

This is the point where the instructions are no longer helpful. First, vacuum lines. The vacuum canister will not fit where the instructions want you to put it. I used a different canister, and mounted it in the front of the car. Tonight, I will look at putting the one that came with the kit under the cowl. I think it will fit there. Then it is just a matter of hooking up the vacuum lines. The kit comes with it's own vacuum harness, but it's for Neon, not SRT-4, so only pieces of it will help you. You just need to be creative here.

If you look closely, you'll see a vacuum caniter, which is from a mid-90's Caravan. I plan to install the canister that came with the kit under the windshield cowl soon.

The big problem is the throttle body. The throttle body is not set up for two cables (one accelerator, one cruise). The 'cam' where the cable rides needs to be removed. Drill out the rivet that holds it on (be very careful, and VERY patient). I then took a PT Cruiser throttle body (although I think a TB from an 88 up 2.2/2.5L turbo car, or 87-95 3.0/3.3 V6 will work fine) and drilled the cam off of it. I used two nuts and bolts to fasten it in the original mounting holes on the SRT-4 throttle body. I plan to locate proper rivets, and secure this better. Use Loctite if you use bolts. The idea is that these never come loose. Next, you will notice a slot where the throttle cable sits in the bracket. Using a hacksaw, cutoff tool, Dremel, whatever, extend this slot all the way down to the edge of the bracket (right up to where it bends). This will give just enough room for both cables to ride in the bracket, and still have the throttle cable lock into place. I then slightly bent that whole bracket out, away from the throttle body, to make the cables line up a bit more straight on the cam. Once this process (the most time consuming part) is done, reinstall the throttle body. I ran the cruise cable down behind the intake, along the throttle cable. I tweaked the servo mount a bit, and nothing rubs on the engine or body.

If you look closely, you'll see that there are two cables coming into the bracket, and that the cable 'cam' now holds two cables.

This shot is a little bit blurry, but you can see the cam a bit better, and that it is secured to the throttle body by two sets of nuts and bolts, and some Loctite.

The result? A completely factory looking installation! The cruise switch does take getting used to. It turns with the steering wheel, which is not a big deal, but I am used to the more stationary controls of earlier cars. When you press the ON/OFF switch, the word CRUISE appears in the odometer display.

The controls all work fine, except for COAST/Tap Down. You can set, you can Resume, you can Cancel, you can Accel. You can't decel or Coast. I guess that programming is not there. The brake switch works fine, and the clutch 'soft' switch works great. When you press the clutch with the cruise engaged, the PCM senses the up-surge in engine RPM, and kills the cruise immediately. This also works if you accidentally push the shifter out of gear. You also do not have to install any special clutches switches.

I don't think I'm the first one to do this install, but I couldn't find a writeup on it anywhere. I have nothing against the aftermarket systems, and quite frankly, they are probably easier to install. I like an OEM look, so I took the $184 chance that this would work. I looked it up, and it appears that the pinouts at the PCM do not interfere with S2/3 Toys at all. However, it's distinctly possible that the Toys PCMs will have Toys programming in them, and no Cruise programming. I'll check on this, and edit as necessary. Please email me with any questions or comments. Hope this helps!

***********************UPDATES*********************

After proving that the system worked, I decided to neaten up the system, and make the install much more permanent. This first thing to do was to re-route the wiring, to keep it away from the turbo's heat. At the same time, I used the vacuum resevoir that came with the cruise control kit. I installed it under the windshield cowl, as shown.

I routed the wire through the metal of the cowl, and used PCV valve grommets to prevent the wiring from chaffing on the bare metal.

When everything was re-assembled, and cleaned up, here's what the final install looks like under the hood:

Hope this helps!