How to fit cruise control to your Defender - pictures
<span>Preperation: After disconnecting the battery earth lead, we begin by removing this lower trim from under the instrument panel. All the screws are size 30 Torx.</span>
<span>The upper trim is held by two screws at the back. Two front clips are released by pushing the trim up, then forward, at the front.</span>
<span>Two more Torx screws hold the instrument panel at the front. When they are removed, the panel can be tilted forward to reach behind.</span>
At the rear of the instrument panel, the multiplug is disconnected by first pressing its lock button, then levering the black tab (arrowed) across.
<span>The instrument panel is now lifted clear and placed in safe storage. A connection will be made to the multi-plug later.</span>
<span>Down below, the right hand speaker is removed. The control unit for the system will eventually be located inside here.</span>
<span>Connecting the clutch switch: The yellow wire for the clutch switch is fed up through the speaker hole, together with the purple lead for the speed sensor connection.</span>
<span>From inside the engine bay, the end is snipped off a spare stub grommet and a length of MIG welding wire is fed through.</span>
<span>The yellow wire is fed behind the fascia, past the steering column then taped to the welding wire and pulled into the engine bay.</span>
<span>The black/white wire to the clutch switch is bared and the yellow wire twisted through it, and the joint is then soldered.</span>
<span>The new soldered joint and all cables are reinsulated by winding with soft adhesive insulating tape, and the switch plug reconnected.</span>
<span>Accelerator connections: The multiplug is unclipped from the accelerator pedal. Access is easier if the small black steel shield in front is bent up a little.</span>
<span>The bonnet release handle is released by removing the two bolts from its mounting bracket. The cable remains attached.</span>
<span>The new black accelerator harness is fed up behind the footwell trim and brought out at the top of the trim for the moment.</span>
<span>The two connectors laying over the accelerator pedal in the previous picture, are now connected to the socket on the original accelerator harness.</span>
<span>Higher up, on the multiplug we detached from the instrument panel earlier, a small screwdriver is used to prise the connector block out.</span>
<span>We access this connector block because we have to connect to one of two red/black wires, and this is the only way to identify them.</span>
<span>We need the red/black wire from pin 13. Only 14 and 30 are marked, but obviously our wire is to the right of pin 14, on this 2.2 TDCi (connector inverted here)</span>
<span>The purple wire from the control unit is soldered to the black/red (speed sensor) wire, and the joint insulated. Bonnet release is refitted.</span>
<span>Connecting to the brake switch: The blue wire from the control unit’s white plug is joined to the red from the lower plug, between the plug and the in-line fuse.</span>
<span>At the top of the brake pedal arm, the cover is prised off the brake pedal switch to make a connection here later on.</span>
<span>The red wire and the white/brown from the control unit are spliced into the green/orange and green/purple respectively on the brake switch plug.</span>
<span>After soldering and insulating the joints, the brake switch multi-plug and cover will be refitted, completing the wiring.</span>
<span>Here’s the cruise control operating switch. We need to mount this on the steering column, on the same side as the wiper stalk.</span>
<span>After removing six screws holding the steering column trim, the bottom half is lowered, exposing the steel bracket with slotted hole.</span>
<span>This hole position in the bracket is marked on the bottom trim, and the trim is drilled 10 mm and cleaned up with a file.</span>
<span>The side of the metal bracket with the hole in is now carefully cut off using a small disc cutter, and the edges filed smooth.</span>
<span>The switch harness is fed through the hole and the nut and washers fitted over it, before routing the cables to the speaker aperture.</span>
<span>While tightening the nut, the switch can be angled (thanks to its offset ferrule) to ensure it is clearly visible from the driving position.</span>
<span>With the nut tightened from inside to secure the switch, the two halves of the steering column trim are refitted, securing the switch.</span>
<span>Connecting and commissioning the controller: An eyelet is fitted to the white earth lead from the control unit and fixed to this facia/bulkhead stud and nut inside the speaker hole.</span>
<span>The pins on the colour-coded wires are pushed into the respective connector blocks according to the wiring diagram supplied in the kit.</span>
<span>The connectors are plugged into the control unit and excess cables are grouped and cable tied ready to go inside the facia.</span>
<span>The controller is initiated by operating the column switch in a simple sequence, confirmed by the LED on the back of the control unit.</span>
<span>Finally, the controller and cables are hidden in the speaker aperture, and the speaker and instrument panel refitted. Job done.</span>
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