Refurbishing the Flap Cable Tube, Rear footwell heat vent

[OKType3Tim]

50 years of time causes embrittlement and decay of the cable tube for the rear footwell heat vent. Here is how I repaired them.
[Note: The parts shown are for my 69' squareback and 69' fastback projects.]

I took a couple measurements of my broken tubes, and then found this at my local hobby shop.

So here we are laid out to do the repair.

First, a good cleaning of the flap and cable. I used Griot's Rubber cleaner and a soft nail brush to clean up the rubber on the flap, and then treated it with Griot's Vinyl & Rubber Dressing.
Then used steel wool to polish off any corrosion on the cable.
(Not advertising for Griot's. Point is to use a cleaner compatible with rubber and then a treatment to keep it good.)

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For my 69', the tube is 305mm in length. I cut the tubes to length using an xacto knife. Holding the clip in the vise, I was able to use a flat blade screwdriver to gently pry up the clip to release the old tube. Slid the new tube in, leaving 50mm of the tube extended from the clip. And then a set of pliers to gently squeeze the clip back down onto the new tube.

First one all done. Three more to go.

Installed on the squareback pan.

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'69 Squareback restoration
'69 Fastback restoration
'66 Type34

[sjbartnik]

I love your threads, man
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1965 Volkswagen 1500 Variant S
2000 Kawasaki W650

[KTPhil]

I need to refurb mine, so this is great!

[Bobnotch]

Nice work around.
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Bob 65 Notch S with Sunroof
71 Notch ...aka Krunchy; build pics here;
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=249390 -been busy working
64 T-34 Ghia...aka Wolfie, under construction... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=412120

[gt1953]

By golly that is a nice job. Should consider making repair kits and sell them. Several of us type 3 folks sure could use some of those unobtanium parts.
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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})

[OKType3Tim]

Thank you for the positive comments.
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'69 Squareback restoration
'69 Fastback restoration
'66 Type34

[raygreenwood]

Damn...I wish I had caught you earlier.

Very nice repair!...but done with the totally wrong material. The evergreen modeling plastic is Polystyrene. It is brittle ...has less than 150* F heat resistance, shrinks and distorts with age, very poor impact resistance, even less abrasion resistance...and "0" resistance to greases and oils.

It a modeling plastic. Its designed to be soft, low impact, easy to cut...and easy to heat bend with as little as hot air.

You can get what is largely that same product....precision plastic tube...of the right materials...for close to that product cost.

That is a #225 tube. Its is .156" OD and .100" ID. I use lots of Evergreen stuff...especially for mold and prototype making. Very precise....but not an engineering plastic.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1811/0745/files/...8683777240

If you want something very close...this works perfectly for replacing trunk release cable sheath tubes on type 3 and 4 cars...and will last until after you are dead.....

6/6 nylon tube...white ...1/4" OD and 1/8" ID....about .80 cents a foot in 5 foot lengths. I have three feet I could have given you.

This is a little stiffer...comes in black or white....lasts about as long....not quite a slick ...black or white delrin tube. This is 3/6" OD and 1/8" ID...$1.26 per foot in 3 and 5 foot lengths.

Ray

[OKType3Tim]

Ray,

As usual, you keep us straight regarding materials and their properties. I've got an order going to McMaster, so I'll add these on and post an update when I get the material.

Thank you.

Tim
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'69 Squareback restoration
'69 Fastback restoration
'66 Type34

[Clatter]

Earlier cars had metal tubes welded in to that location, right?

Wonder if it would be worth it to sleeve them?


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Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[Bobnotch]

[OKType3Tim]

So, here is the update with the correct material. I ordered a 5 foot section of "White Delrin Acetal Resin Tube, Tight-Tolerance, 3/16" OD x 1/8" ID. McMaster-Carr part# 8627K129".
A little tougher material so I used an X-Acto fine tooth saw blade to cut the lengths

and then a tool from the tool box to deburr the ID.

Here is a comparison of the materials:
Original on the left, the Delrin in the middle, and the polystyrene on the right.

The OD of this material is slightly larger than the original so it requires some finessing of the bracket to open it up without bending/damaging the bracket.
But the task was accomplished and the bracket was successfully crimped onto the Delrin material.

I was able to get 5 tubes from the 5' stick.

This picture shows:
4 poly tubes (the wrong stuff).
A 3/8" left over chunk from the 5' delrin stick.
2 original tubes
1 extra Delrin tube
The 2 assembly's using Delrin for the fastback
An assembly from a '73, which is all plastic type material, no metal bracket.

And the two assembly's for the squareback are installed on the squareback pan.
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'69 Squareback restoration
'69 Fastback restoration
'66 Type34

[raygreenwood]

The Delrin while not as slick as,nylon... should be plenty slick enough and tough enough and has better rigidity.

Try not to use really super hot solvents like MEK on it.....but otherwise it should do well!

Nice work! Ray