Heater Lever restoration how to 74-79 buses

[tootype2crazy]

Plastic photo-degrades over time. The heater levers on our buses are made of plastic. So over time they get what is called 'crazing' on the surface and turn brown from finger oils and dirt. But there is fresh new plastic just below the surface of that brown stuff. To get to it we need to remove the brown, crazed layer.

To do this I used some leftover bits from a 3M Headlight Lens Restoration Kit that I have used on some of my other cars. The kit has everything in it needed to restore your heater levers, less a drill and some wax. Just follow the instructions in the kit for the lever. Have a look:

Here is what my knob looked like, its ugly I know.

Here are some of the parts of the headlight lens kit.

Note that I used some 3M rubbing compound as I had used all the polish that came in the kit on another project. It's the same thing.

Here is the knob during the sanding process. I recommend wet sanding on all stages of the sanding process. Also note that the more time you spend sanding the better the final result.

Here is how I polish

When you are all done following the instructions that came with the kit, apply some wax to the lever and then buff it with a soft cloth. Silicone wax works especially well on plastic and usually has a UV protector in it.

You can see that a good amount of crazing is still there on mine, but it is certainly better than it was!
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air-cooled or nothing for me
1978 Sunroof Deluxe Bus (daily driver)
1978 Transporter (mom's, making into a camper)
1970 Single Cab 2.1 turbo/EFI 6 Rib, 78 front beam, vanagon backing plates on rear (project)
2001 GTI VR6 (wife's)

[Red Fau Veh]

Nice work there! What year did they become plastic? My 71 has a metal arm with rubber ends.
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1971 Deluxe Sunroof Bay 1905 stroker, dual idf40's, 74mm Scat forged crank, engle 110 cam. CB 044 heads, AutoCraft rockers, chromoly push rods
1973 Orange transporter stock type 4 with dual 40 Dellortos and Empi single quiet pack
1969 Adventurewagen blue whale Gene Berg 1776 built by Dave Kawell dual 36 DRLA's, Vintage Speed exhaust, Bosch 019 screamer
1961 Swivel Seat camper, L345 grey

[tootype2crazy]

Early bays are different. I don't know the exact year, can someone chime in?
_________________
air-cooled or nothing for me
1978 Sunroof Deluxe Bus (daily driver)
1978 Transporter (mom's, making into a camper)
1970 Single Cab 2.1 turbo/EFI 6 Rib, 78 front beam, vanagon backing plates on rear (project)
2001 GTI VR6 (wife's)

[tootype2crazy]

Ok I found it. 68-73 have the metal-type lever. Beyond that it's all plastic. If I had the early bay I would spring for these:

http://www.mcjproducts.com/collections/bay-bus-products/products/bay-1968-1973-heater-levers

Them are awesome!
_________________
air-cooled or nothing for me
1978 Sunroof Deluxe Bus (daily driver)
1978 Transporter (mom's, making into a camper)
1970 Single Cab 2.1 turbo/EFI 6 Rib, 78 front beam, vanagon backing plates on rear (project)
2001 GTI VR6 (wife's)