For those Vanagons without stock Cruise Control, the Subaru cruise control is a very practical option. Any of the vacuum operated cruise control units out of a donor Subaru between 90 and 99 can be used. Either from an A/T or M/T donor works fine. After about 99 Subaru started using electric controls and I am sure they would work just as well but I have not tried them.

Here are a few items to consider:

a)      If you have a manual Vanagon you will have to add both the Subaru brake and clutch switches.

b)      For an automatic Vanagon, again you will need the brake switch. Here is what I did:

In addition you need to add the A/T Inhibit relay (part of Subaru stock arrangement from A/T donor) – this relay is energized when the A/T shifter is moved from D to N – thus cutting off CC.

However, there is one problem that must be solved before doing this. The START signal feeding the Subaru engine ECU must be picked up after the A/T shifter interlock. The stock Vanagon wiring picks up START before the shifter interlock and sends that signal to the Rd/Bk Start wire in the engine bay Black Box.. If you connect the CC A/T inhibit relay wire before making this change the engine ECU will immediately trigger a Check Engine signal and the engine will start surging as soon as you shift into Drive. It took me a long time to figure out what was going on  with this connection.

c)      Another key item to keep in mind is that the Subaru CC arrangement needs a momentary push button to turn CC On and Off. So this means you need to use the Subaru CC On/Off switch or something similar. I used a stock Vanagon turn signal lever with the built in CC switches but did not use the contact for turning the CC ON/Off – instead I installed the Subaru On/Off switch.

d)      I mounted the Subaru CC control box under the rear Westy cabinet along with the engine ECU. 

Here is a picture of the controller just before I wired it up:

Here is what my control arrangement looks like:

Main Subaru CC Switch:

Stock Vanagon CC Switches in turn signal lever:

Here is a link to the wiring diagram I have marked up:  Cruise Control/CruiseCointrol wiring.pdf

If you see any problems or would like to commect = please send me an e-mail:

NOTE: Use these ideas at you own risk - no warranty or guarantee implied or included.  Tom