The heat vents in Rob's '70 Bug are further forward than in Dave's '73 SB car -- down near the floor just to the rear of the pedal cluster. In Dave's case it's his left ankle that gets fried; it's Rob's right foot that gets cooked! :-) No complaints! As long as it's warm and clean.
The original vents in Dave's car were equipped with adjustable metal flaps. As with many other things, the flaps were missing, and replacement parts are almost impossible to find (Dave finally obtained used flaps through the VW dealer, of all places!). The heater vent flaps are controlled by a cable (also missing in Dave's car) that runs from a lever between the seats around just to the rear of the pedal cluster to the vent. Dave replaced the cable with a choke cable (stiff wire inside of a metal coil). It only works so-so, Dave reported; he would prefer a manual flap system like Rob's.
In Rob's car the heat vent flap system is manual. The whole fitting is plastic and has two screws through the carpet holding it in the heater channel. In his ‘68 Bug the vents are cut straight from the heater channel side and bent into the channel, so they angle the air out. The closure flap is just a metal slide over the vents.
In really cold weather Rob can shut everything down except the windscreen and the side foot vent, for best heating where it is needed.
Disclaimer stuff: Rob and Dave have prepared this information from their own experiences. We have not assumed any specialised mechanical knowledge, but we DO assume that anyone using this information has at least some basic mechanical ability.
We hope you find this information useful, but we don't take any responsibility for anything which happens to you, other people, your VW or any other property or goods resulting from your use of this material.
Feel free to print off any of this information for your own use. If you intend to link this material to another site, reprint it, or in any other way redistribute it, please leave the information complete, including this disclaimer section, and provide a link to this Web site.
Last revised 5 May 2004.
