Cable Throttle Cruise Control:
In Subarus with cable throttle engines and cruise control, the cruise control is a separate system, not part if the engine management. Over the years / models Subaru used 4 different cable throttle cruise control systems:
- Mitsubishi
- Jideco manifold vacuum
- Jideco vacuum pump
- Jideco electronic
All of them can be used in VW conversions. We do the wiring work for all of the Jideco systems for use in VW T25/T3/Vanagon models, and make parts for mounting some (vacuum systems) or all (electronic system) of their hardware in the VW. The Mitsubish system is very uncommon, only used in high spec early ’90’s Legacies and SVX’s.
Because of the way the cruise control wiring is tangled around the engine management in a Subaru, and because large parts of it need extending to the front of the VW, we don’t use any of the original Subaru cruise control wiring, instead making the harness from scratch using all new parts (with the possible exception of one or two connectors, for which the housings get re-used, as they’re not available new). We can add cruise control to your cable throttle Subaru engine management if the donor car didn’t originally have it while we’re doing your engine management wiring work. This could either be as the complete cruise control system, or just add out cruise control harness connector so you can add cruise control at a later date. We have options on whether you use the original separate on off switch and control stalk, or can upgrade to a far neater ‘combination stalk’ which has the on off switch and set and on / off LED’s built in.
This is a typical set of cruise control parts, for the more common Jideco electronic system, with our ‘combination stalk’ and new pedal switches options. Note everything but the actuator and cruise control ECU is provided by us with these options. The actuator and ECU are not included as standard as must customer using cruise control already have them:

Subaru Cruise Control controls in a VW – standard Subaru switches:
As standard our cruise control wiring for any of the Jideco cruise control systems includes parts to mount the stalk from the Subaru steering wheel in the VW upper column shroud, and the on / off switch / light from the Subaru dash in either a spare slot in the dash instrument cluster or in the heated seat switch slot, like this:



If the on / off switch light from your Subaru dash does not look like to one shown above, you’ll need to swap it for this type. The on / off switch / light deom some Forester dashes is very different , and not suitable. Or you could go for out Combinatuion Stalk option:
Subaru Cruise Control controls in a VW – standard Subaru switches:
Some late model Foresters with cable throttle engines and cruise control used a combined stalk and on off switch, which is much neater. Visibly, these look just like the stalk in a ‘drive by wire’ throttle model, but the circuit inside them is very different. They are relatively uncommon, so we make them from the ‘drive by wire’ version by replacing the internal circuit with one compatible with cable throttle cruise control. While the stalks are being modified, we also take this ‘all in one’ approach further by building the cruise control ‘on’* and ‘set’ LED’s, which were in the instrument cluster in the Subaru, into the stalk too (the LED(s) are not shown below). This gives the neatest possible installation in a VW, with just the one stalk, which fits in either upper column shroud type:

*Not all of the cruise control systems have a cruise control on light – some only have the set light, in which case we only install the one LED in a combination stalk.
A template is included for marking out the hole to cut into the upper column shroud.
Note the cable throttle cruise control products shown here are not a system which you can buy to install in a Subaru powered VW which was wired by someone else, or which was wired by us without the option of fitting the cruise control socket for later use. This is because power supply wiring, diagnostics and vehicle speed signal all come from the main Subaru engine management harness, via a socked which we fit do the separate cruise control harness plugs in. We don’t build this into out harnesses as standard, as most customers would never use it. Instead fitting the cruise control socket either comes with these cruise control options, or as a separate option without any other cruise control parts so it can be added later if required.
If we did your engine management wiring work, and you later decide you want to add cruise control, we can fit the necessary socket and wiring, but will need the chassis part of your Subaru engine management wiring back to do so.
‘Drive by Wire’ Throttle Cruise Control
Everything about installing a ‘drive by wire’ Subaru engine into a VW is additional work and cost for no gain at all, with one possible exception. That exception is if you also want to use the Subaru cruise control in the VW. Because of the way ‘drive by wire’ throttles work, a lot of the hardware needed for cruise control is already there in a model without it (throttle actuator, brake and clutch pedal switches, and an ECU connected to all of them, etc). Therefore to add cruise control to a ‘drive by wire’ model, far less wiring and additional parts are needed than with cable throttle engines.
Our cruise control option when doing the engine management wiring work for your ‘drive by wire’ model includes simplified modification to the customers original stalk (we just add the LED’s to it), the stalk mounting parts, and the stalk wiring. It is therefore considerably cheaper to add cruise control to a ‘drive by wire’ engine in a VW than it is with a cable throttle engine in a VW (but the engine management wiring work for the ‘drive by wire’ models costs more in the first place).