1968 Air Cleaner Bowden Cable

[Justin1958]

Good Morning,
Yesterday I picked up the dual snorkel air cleaner that I believe is appropriate for a '68. Other than the cable, what do I need to hook this up to the thermostat? My engine was changed at some point. There is no engine number, but a later single snorkel version is on it, the one with the springy waxy thermo valve and handle on the side. I like things to be as authentic as reasonably possible, but is this doable with a bit of hardware? I'm not even sure there is a thermostat in place.

Thank you,
Justin

[Luft kühl]

Hi Justin

Post a picture so that we can be certain which air cleaner you have .

The cable operated air cleaner is connected to a lever on the air shroud flap. The cable and lever will not be easy to find.

You will also need a functional thermostat in order for it all to work as designed.

[Justin1958]

This is the 1968 air cleaner that I would like to install in my 1968 Bug. It requires the cable to control the flap by the thermostats expansion/contraction.

What I have in place now has this:

There is no thermostat mounted by the rod tubes on the right side of the engine.

So,,,did some later replacement engines not have a thermostat? Wouldn't this be essential to warm up, not for the carb and fuel atomization but for basic engine warmup and cooling. (I'm in NY, the car came from CA) If there is not one there can I really trust that the flaps in the shroud are fully open? Do you think I'll find the rod the thermostat attaches to or is that likely to have disappeared too.

I'd prefer to have the '68 air cleaner but it is not something I need to do right now.

Thank you all as always for your insght,
Justin

PS. These are not my photos but Samba ones I found online. If this is not cool I can delete them.

[gt1953]

Best option would be a bicycle shop hand brake cable modified to accuate the lever on the air cleaner.
Does you 68 engine have thermostat and flaps installed currently?
The cable you are referring to is hard to find, one was for sale a month or so ago in the classifieds and man I missed snagging it by an hour or so.
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72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[Luft kühl]

[vamram]

Home Depot (and others) carry small rolls of variable gauge wire that might work as the "push" cable for opening the flaps.
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[Justin1958]

No thermostat. Not sure if these mysterious replacement engines had them, so that is another question. There is no engine number and I was told the dealer did it and that the engines came from Brazil. Not saying that is true, but that is what I was told.

Justin
PS, I could make the cable with some very stiff piano wire and the casing from an old manual choke or hood release cable.

[wcfvw69]

You can find the correct parts to hook the bowden cable back up. It will be a bit of a search but they are out there!

You need to have the correct 1968-70' R/S directional flap in your fan shroud and the thermostat hooked up for the bowden cable and parts to work the oil bath warm air flap.

I posted pictures above of the correct parts you need.

The cable connected to the oil bath makes a stock VW engine look correct like on my 69.
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[gt1953]

wcfvw69 great photos. My 68 has all of the items connected and functioning. Only way for proper operation. The spring near the air cleaner is there but no loop on it darnit. That cable is practically like that rare metal unobtanium.
_________________
Volkswagen: We tune what we drive.
Numbers Matching VW's are getting harder to find. Source out the most Stock vehicle and keep that way. You will be glad you did.

72 type 1
72 Squareback
({59 Euro bug, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69, 73 type ones 68 & 69 type two, 68 Ghia all sold})

[Justin1958]

wcfvw69, can I have yours? It would make everything so much easier.

Thank you for the great pictures. Makes a whole lot more sense now.
Justin

[wcfvw69]

[Luft kühl]

Nice job !
It looks perfect .

[sb001]

[APPLEGREENVW]

Would a 68 air cleaner set up,work on a dual port fan shroud?
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[sb001]

[APPLEGREENVW]

[Justin1958]

I have discovered that I don't have the thermostat and I don't have the flap linkage either. I'll stick with the later air cleaner that I have for now.

Could this ever have been correct? Did every engine have this system of was it eliminated on later replacement engines? The bottom of the shroud does have the holes for the flap arms.
Thank you again and again,
Justin

[TDCTDI]

Make your own out of a lawn mower throttle cable. most of them have the stiff wire for the cable, cut one end off, remove the wire from the sheath, cut sheath/Bowden cable to length then insert the cable back in, adjust the length to where you need & clamp the wire to an extension or rod & wrap the wire around it to make the spring portion. After that, get one of the lead or aluminum crimp ferrules from the wire/cable section of the hardware store & crimp it to the end so that it can be clipped into the lever on the air cleaner.
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[wcfvw69]

[Dragpan]

Hello. I was happy to get my hands on a proper dual snorkel bath for my 1968 Bug. Unfortunately it now has a 1972 motor and 1972 non oil bath air cleaner that I am swapping out. Along with not having the Bowden cable setup I have a vacuum hose that goes to the preheating mechanism. Can I just plug that off when I switch over to the oil bath? Will it cause any problems? Thanks for the help.