[T2] Heater controls?

[Kevin Guarnotta]

Hi John,

Sorry for the confusion - I get confused myself..

Heater controls - I'm working on my '78 Westy. The '78 westy has 4 knobs on the dash, as opposed to my '69 singlecab which only has 3. 
Under my westy - kind of under the front seats, there is a manifold of some sort. With one large tube from the back - and one going to the front - then two coming out the side. One of these side tubes goes to the back of the bus again, and one goes right up above the manifold. These side tubes basically send heat to the back of the bus. 

There are two spring loaded flaps in the manifold. With nothing attached to these - the default is for the heat to come up to the front cab. I believe there is to be another cable that connects here - and when pulled - this deflects some air to the rear of the bus. 

I can see the flaps - just not exactly sure how anything could attach to them to divert hot air to the back of the bus. I'm not talking about the flaps at the heater boxes in the back

As for the main tube that runs up to the front of the bus from the heater boxes - I think I'll add some insulation to this. 

Can you explain the Vanagon vintage accordion tube swap?

-Kevin Guarnotta
Jamaica Plain, MA

’78 Westy
'69 Singlecab
'65 Ez-camper


-----Original Message-----
From: John Anderson [mailto:wvukidsdoc at yahoo.com] 
Subject: Re: [T2] Heater controls?

Kevin, I can never figure out which bus you are talking about in threaded emails, sorry.  I don’t think it matters in this regard, but am a little behind on early bays despite owning scores of them and my 69 SC presently, it has been 15+ years since I’ve done a cable on one.  Late bays the cable slips into its holder bracket which acts as a stop, then the cable goes out through an accordion bellows boot (long gone mostly) and into the linkage on the flapper boxes.  The original flappers had a couple positions where a barrel nut slides through the hinged linkage, the 1/8” or so cable end slips through the side of the barrel, in one of the positions in the flapper linkage, and a little m5 or so bolt threaded in the end of the barrel holds it.  Same barrel nut as accelerator cable more or less.  The flappers are spring loaded for return.  I think the early bay is mostly the same, though the flapper is integral to the heater box, on them got to be sure true bus heater box, not bug else linkage on the wrong side.  The cables stretch with age so often the molded cable end the barrel nut is supposed to contact is clipped off and the nut just contacts the cable, which only works moderately well.  Most often because of stretch they are just wired open or closed depending on climate and/or season.  The flapper control(s) on the center distribution box are similar mechanism, but it seems to me (again 15-20 years recollections here) that those don’t have a barrel nut and just an offset crimp on a more rigid cable which hinges into the linkage arm then clips onto the mounting bracket for the cable.  Again internally spring loaded for return in the box.

BTW the paper tube on a late bay is probably surprisingly well insulated due to the mechanism of its multi-layer foil and paper pleated construction but gets unfortunately very brittle with age, and rusts to the metal bits it contacts.  A swap of the actual rear accordion tubes off the flappers boxes to Vanagon vintage, using Vanagon vintage silicone boots as opposed to asbestos bay era parts is a worthwhile endeavor, but VW assessed the risk and must have deemed it (or their liability at least) negligible in the early days of this very list when many of us got parts swapped for free on our rigs “for study purposes“ as there was never a full recall.

John

> On Nov 28, 2017, at 4:24 AM, Kevin Guarnotta <kevin at guarnottadesign.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Andy,
> 
> Thanks – I found the fiche page.
> 
> I guess this is what the PO meant. He told me something about heating cables but I didn’t understand at the time. He and the bus previously lived in Southern CA, so I don’t know if he ever used the heat.
> 
> I see how the cable could attach at the inside lever, but can’t see how it would attach under the bus – I’ll have to take another look. I guess I only need this, if I want to get heat to the back of the bus.
>