Heater Control Replacement or Repair

[thepunisher]

The heater control from my '72 either needs to be rebuilt or replaced. I'm curios as to other members experience with the quality of the after market units. Mine probably could be repaired with a little work. The rivets that hold the bracket for the cables have broken off and the defrost lever is broken. The catalogs I have vary in price from $80 to over $100. I really care more about the final look then the cost.

[oldblue1968chevy]

mine did same, i drilled little holes in the potmetal and put nice lookin little bolts from home depot in

it helped alot, i also put graphite down in the cables

im in school but will try to reember to post a pic wen i get home

it looks good too!

[69GMCLonghorn]

Originally Posted by oldblue1968chevy

mine did same, i drilled little holes in the potmetal and put nice lookin little bolts from home depot in

it helped alot, i also put graphite down in the cables

im in school but will try to reember to post a pic wen i get home

it looks good too!

There are 2 fixes to this problem and this is one of them (and a good one at that!). What causes those rivets to let loose is the middle cable. If you look at how it is run, it make a hard U-turn before meeting the levers. This causes tension on the whole unit, which in turn, pulls the rivets out after a while. So drilling it out and bolting it is definitely a good way to fix it.

I replaced the whole heater control unit with one from LMC and was quite happy with it. After I did that, I decided not to drill it out, but instead just left the middle cable disconnected. If you look where the butterfly valve is that it connects to, it's right under the heater box. I could flip it over by hand with no problem. You can leave this one flipped open and still shut off the heat when necessary with the bottom lever.

I suppose a third option would be to figure out how to rerun the cable (maybe with a longer one?) so that the bend is not so extreme.

[67chevemall]

Toss it all. The levers for "Heat > Def" and "Hot > cold" are with in reach. Right in the middle bottom of the dash.....And the Fan just run a toggle. Last for ever. Less parts the better.....

[LockDoc]

-
I bought a heater control repair kit. It had the new levers and a decal sheet for the face of the unit. I drilled holes all the way through the face and countersunk the holes on the front panel. I then put small flat head bolts in to hold it all together and applied the new decal to the front. Use the smallest bolts you can and when you countersink the holes keep trying the flat head bolts and stop when the heads are flush with the surface. I had really good luck with this and you can't tell it was repaired.

LockDoc

[Tx Firefighter]

Here is what he's talking about. I did all four with countersunk screws. Then, you can use the aftermarket decal kit to cover this up for an original looking, permanent repair.



The aftermarket kit also comes with the new levers to replace your broken ones too. I just made new levers out of flat steel.

[69GMCLonghorn]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

Here is what he's talking about. I did all four with countersunk screws. Then, you can use the aftermarket decal kit to cover this up for an original looking, permanent repair.



The aftermarket kit also comes with the new levers to replace your broken ones too. I just made new levers out of flat steel.

Man, you did a great job on that! Really looks nice!

[Tx Firefighter]

When you're poor you have to improvise.

[PanelDeland]

I rebuilt mine with the kit.10 years and it still looks and works good.The cables seem to cause more problems from lack of lube than the way they are run.Take them out and hang them up so the lube runs down thru the cable.Or toss them in a drain pan when you change oil.
I taped off and painted my face but then I am not a purist as far as originality goes.

[eric67m]

I rebuilt mine with the "unbreakable" ones from GMCPAULS (I think). I also lubed my cables with drip triflo. Cleaning out the needles, leafs, and mouse packed insulation behind all of the flapper dampers also keeps things moving better.

Everything works much better now.

[WyoGMC]

I bought a rebuild kit from LMC. I guess it is alright. I didn't use the decal. Didn't like the look of it. My rivets were broken too. Now I know why they broke. But the fix on my truck was not as pretty. Two screws on one side of the bracket. If I had to do it again I would have gotten the complete kit.

[thepunisher]

Thanks for the responses.

Would it possible to weld the bracket to the face plate? With the rivets drilled out there should be enough surface area to get a decent weld. Since the sticker goes over the front you wouldn't see any burn through on the front.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by thepunisher

Thanks for the responses.

Would it possible to weld the bracket to the face plate? With the rivets drilled out there should be enough surface area to get a decent weld. Since the sticker goes over the front you wouldn't see any burn through on the front.

Nope, it's pot metal and all you will do is melt it. There used to be a material in stick form you could buy to repair pot metal. You lit it on fire and rubbed it on the broken pot metal part and it would melt it back together. My dad fixed a '40 Ford grille for me with this stuff back in the late 50's.

LockDoc

[Cedricreilly]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

Nope, it's pot metal and all you will do is melt it. There used to be a material in stick form you could buy to repair pot metal. You lit it on fire and rubbed it on the broken pot metal part and it would melt it back together. My dad fixed a '40 Ford grille for me with this stuff back in the late 50's.

LockDoc

I use pliers to reduce the old rivets to fit back into the factory bracket holes, set the bracket on and respread the rivets with a tapered punch. After that, since some rivets break apart a bit... I just put a bit of solder behind it.....has to be clean, but holds well... No issues so far.