1980 Pontiac LeMans Station Wagon - G-T-faux (stuck with it, and can't shake it... like a bad case of herpes)

[motorheadmike]

Boost-A-Pump-Yo-Brakes!

Here's another little issue I have been chasing: non-functioning cruise control.

I believe it has been traced back to the fact that when I first put the car together it lacked a third brake light, and later when I did install the third brake light it was straight LED. So no resistance in line from a traditional bulb like the donor Camaro would have had. A little sleuthing turned me on to the fact you need more than 3.2 Ohms for the system to recognize the brakes are not active.

https://gbodyforum.com/threads/getting-cruise-control-to-work-with-dbw-throttle.70786/

Digging through a pile a stuff I took some measurements. Stock 194 bulb is 5 Ohms, and a pair of resistors were way up there... and a weird pair of LED lights I had were close. BUT! Is there a case for too much resistance?

What to do? Well knowing I had a couple spare variable resistor boxes left over from some Boost-A-Pump installs... sure enough I can get it down under 10 Ohms. Spliced it in and tucked it away.

So this now makes the system tunable... and maybe functional too.

 

[81cutlass]

Well crap, my random musing posts are helpful to people now!?!? 3.2 ohms- oh my

Only reason I found that out is silverado people were complaining their cruise stopped working when they put LED bulbs in. Backtracked to find the silverado 3rd brake light was 4 ohms. I added some resistors to my harness in my GP and got it to 3.7 I think and it worked? I had lucky and my electrical engineering nerd buddy had a stash of resistors he gave me.

 

[motorheadmike]

Well crap, my random musing posts are helpful to people now!?!? 3.2 ohms- oh my

Only reason I found that out is silverado people were complaining their cruise stopped working when they put LED bulbs in. Backtracked to find the silverado 3rd brake light was 4 ohms. I added some resistors to my harness in my GP and got it to 3.7 I think and it worked? I had lucky and my electrical engineering nerd buddy had a stash of resistors he gave me.

Yeah, I was finding the same info in my travels. LS1Tech has threads on the issue too. But, I wanted to highlight the efforts of the folks here.

4 Ohms is a very low figure... so having those resistors laying around in random piles of electronics is less likely. Yes, I keep random piles of electronics laying around to steal parts from.

 

[fleming442]

So, is it safe to assume that all your rear bulbs are LED? I don't get where the 3rd light comes into the equation. I tapped into the brake switch at the pedal, but I also had DBW- easy peasy 4 wire hookup.

 

[motorheadmike]

So, is it safe to assume that all your rear bulbs are LED? I don't get where the 3rd light comes into the equation. I tapped into the brake switch at the pedal, but I also had DBW- easy peasy 4 wire hookup.

Yup, a strip of LEDs over the license plate with very little resistance. Keep in mind that I am using DBC and it has a standalone control box.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-e...store-my-cruise-control-led-brake-lights.html

Moar:
https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...34.mobile-heirloom-hp..27.20.3506.25nmNaml3eg

 

[fleming442]

Got it. I never switched over to LED in the Pig's tails because of the huge housings and bulb mismatch (1157s and 194s). I just had a vision in my head of big spots where the 1157 are and little spots where the 194s reside, and I'm sure not dropping $350 on a set of Regal Digi-Tails to retrofit.

 

[motorheadmike]

I pulled the chopped LS1 front springs out of the rear and put the Vibe/coil over springs back in - it was way too rough for street driving. Figured since I was into it that far I should double-check the alignment, and low and behold it needed an adjustment. Found that it was much happier out on the road.

Speaking of that test drive... on the way back I happened upon an '85 or '86 Mudstang GT at an intersection. Dude is rolling on a 5 lug conversion with some factory Torqueless Butt Thrust wheels, rocking a B303 cam and some Flowbastard 40s. He was feeling pretty good about himself... that is until he got stuck behind me after I turned left. Dude, came up on me fast. Then it was just a bunch of screaming runs to redline to put some distance between us and some smokey rolling burnouts from the 345s. Dropped off into my subdivision and the poor guy was left reconsidering his choices in life.

 

[motorheadmike]

Bump stoppage. Build a bracket. A couple of Jeep bump stops.

Weld the bracket to the frame and bingo. The valve springs probably won't survive first contact, but may be replaced with some aluminum blocks or spacers. Regardless it is designed to be height adjustable.

Damn dirty calipers... wheels haven't been off in what seems like two years. Gross.

 

[motorheadmike]

Took the day off to get some of this done. Ground off the undercoating, sprayed on some weld-through primer, and applied some liquid metal birdsh*t.

There might have been a small fire or seven...

Built some shims and spacers, applied some Tremclad... trying to respect the drying time - but may have aggressively used a heat gun. May have.

Should have it all bolted back together tonight after T-ball. Might actually get to drive it this weekend if the rain holds.

 

[motorheadmike]

And... I'm spent.

PS. The rear wheels are not very light.