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Wed Dec 18, 2002 11:57 am

I have a 77 westy. The dash has three heater control slides. I'll list them as 1, 2, and 3, from left to right.

# 3 is blue, is in its own slot to slide up and down, and operates the fresh air vent on the front of the bus below the windshield. It is attached almost directly with rods to the mechanism that opens and closes the flap for fresh air.

# 2 is red, is in its own slot to slide up and down, and has two cables attached to it. These two cables are the two that go to the heater boxes at the engine. I have already replaced both cables. The ends of the cables that attach to the control knobs are not alike, the left cable actually attaches to the right cable after the right cable's right angle arm is slid through the hole on the back of the slide control.

# 1 control is also red and is in its own slot for sliding up and down. It also has two cables attached to it, in the same manner as # 2 above. I am not sure what these two cables on lever # 1 are for. I think they are to direct defrost vs. floor vents. The cable on the far left of this #1 slide knob, the one with the hole in the end of it, is bent and will not work. I am trying to replace both of these cables that go to slide # 1, but haven't had any luck. Can anyone direct me to a place who has them. Bus Depot, and West Coast Metric do not have them. Thanks for any help. Alex

Wed Dec 18, 2002 3:32 pm

After I posted the above message, I noticed a mistake. So no one would think that I have some sort of hybrid, let me correct something. The # 1 and # 2 slide controls, both red in color, slide up and down in the same slot, not seperate slots as I indicated. Sorry.

Wed Dec 18, 2002 8:58 pm

#1 only operates a small lever in the vents under the dash that directs air to the floor or the defroster. #2 wears many hats and operates the heater box flaps, operates the flaps for middle and rear seat heat, and turns on the blower fan in the engine compartment. I said, "to hell with my back seat passengers" and disabled #2 where it operates the heat that comes out the vents behind/between the front seats and under the rear seat. Now I have all the heat up front for myself. When I drive down the highway with the defroster on I can actually feel warm air blowing my long blond beautiful dreads. It feels just like the big ConAir blow dryer I used back in college that use to trip all the breakers in my dorm room. My next improvement is to convert all my control levers to the pre-1974 version. Pre-74 baywindows and maybe some later bays, used metal levers with plastic tips rather than those crappy plastic levers that always break. I have already acquired the lever mechanism from a 1973 bus, but I have not installed it. It looks like a fairly straight foward installation. I have a few used red levers that I have been hoarding like a troll because as far as I know they haven't been available for a few years. They are different in shape as well as color from the blue lever so they can't be interchanged. You sound very familiar with the lever assembly so check out a pre-74 setup and let us know if it works or if you think it will work. Good luck.

Thu Dec 19, 2002 11:57 am

Hi there. Thanks for the reply and for the help. # 1 slide on my bus has two cables coming from it. One of the cables is bent and will not work. It needs to be replaced, but I cannot find the replacement anywhere. My slide control # 2 also has two cabled going to it, one is the left heater box and the other cable is the right heater box. This is where I differ from your advice. This slide control operates nothing else and I am pretty sure of that since I have already removed the old broken cables and replaced them with new ones. It was one long cable for each heater box. It does not turn on my blower fan.

I am still at a loss as to where to get the two cables which go to slide # 1. I don't think I want either defrost or floor heat set permanently....I do want to be able to adjust them with the controls. Thanks again.

Thu Dec 19, 2002 1:49 pm

Sorry for my mistake. I said that #2 operates the heat for the middle and rear seat, but #1 is the correct answer. Lever #1 should have 2 cables attached as you indicated, but I have completely removed one of the cables and I let that slip my mind. One cable(Cable A)on lever #1 is very short and only goes to the T-shaped duct under your dash and attaches to a small lever. This cable directs heat to the front floor or to the defroster. The other cable on lever #1 (Cable B)is longer and goes underneath the bus and attaches to a flapper box above your front axle. The lever to this flapper box is on top of the heater tube and difficult to access. This flapper is opened by cable B on lever #1 and directs heat to the middle and rear seat section of the bus. I removed cable B entirely from my system and wired the middle seat/rear seat flapper closed. The flapper may be closed in the default position anyway without the need to wire it closed. It's been a couple of years so I don't remember for certain. This allows me to direct heat (all the heat) to the front floor or the defrost or split between the two without sending any heat to the middle and rear seats. If you don't want to remove cable B then you can just block off the vents for the middle and rear seat and still be able to control heat to the front floor or defrost. However, the small tube that splits off at the flapper box above your axle is often torn and may allow large heating leaks if you choose to block off the vents rather than block off the flapper. Lastly the blower fan is not controlled by any cable. When you pull lever #2 all the way down it contacts an electrical ground in the lever assembly and operates the blower fan relay electrically. Like you I would not want only defrost or only floor heat so this is why I did it the way I did. If you ever drive with rear seat passengers just don't tell them their heat is unhooked and sympathize with them by telling you are just as cold as they are. Take care.

Thu Dec 19, 2002 10:34 pm

Thank you gokayaking. Now it all makes a little more sense to me. But I still wonder why no one seems to have these two cables available for sale. Cables are cables, and are subject to breaking, sticking, bending, or kinking. Anyone got any suggestions on where I can purchase those two cables on lever # 1?

Fri Dec 20, 2002 6:35 am

Have you tried local salvage yards or the online VW salvage (ie bustedvw.com or wayoutsalvage.com)? If you get a used one, I would soak it in some oil before installing it.

Fri Dec 20, 2002 10:16 am

The cables will give you problems even if the sleeve breaks. The sleeve ends fit tightly under the clamps in the assembly and allows the cable itself to slide back and forth inside the sleeve. When the sleeve or the ends break the sleeve and the cable move together and this makes the cable less effective. The short cable on lever #1 is so short that it usually works anyway, but if the sleeve or ends break on the longer cables then they are a real pain. The previous post was good advice because if you can find a salvage bus then there's a very good chance it still has the cables. Most motorcyle shops sell a cable oiler devise that attaches to the end of a cable and alows you to pressure force lubricant into the entire cable. They cost about $30, but most models can be used for oiling all your bus cables which make them last longer and work better. I have never looked for new replacement cables so I can't help you there, but I would think a good used cable would work just as well if you soak it in oil before installing. Take care.