Dash questions

WillyH · #1 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 06:41 PM

Good afternoon people! I've been driving around a 1969 standard beetle that I bought to fix up for my wife. Its starting to get cold so I decided I better find out what the story is with the defrost set up. Lots of cold air blowing in there. Turns out that the vents aren't hooked up. Took it apart to see where the hoses went, and it turns out that the center vent had fallen out of the dash. Also the passengerside one. Drivers side vent was gone completely. So here's my question. VW suppliers catalogs offer vent parts for padded dash only. This car just has a metal dash that's painted to match the car, no padding. Was padding an option? Was the padding removed on this car? It doesn't look like it ever had any. The vents that go into the dash that the hoses hook to aren't available any way apparently, so I guess it'll be junkyard city to get the one I'm missing.

derf · #2 (**permalink**) 11-09-2009, 07:24 PM

The padded dash was started in 1968. Someone probably took it off if in fact your car is a 69. What is the first 3 # of your VIN?
Sometimes bodies are swapped to other pans

69 should have IRS rear suspension(CV joints and open axles)
Nothing is surprising to me anymore as to what goes on with these cars

Parts cars or junkyard is your friend now

WillyH · #3 (**permalink**) 11-10-2009, 09:48 AM

Thanks for the info. It is in fact a 69, first three digits are 119. Now for a couple more questions. I see that the padded dash is available, and they also sell a screw kit to put it on with, is that it, no glue or anything? Also, the elbows that the hoses hook to, do they just snap into the dash metal? I bought these things that I thought were wrong, that are called left, right, and center vents, they're short little things, and I'm assuming that they go into the padded dash to line up with the aforementioned elbows.

derf · #4 (**permalink**) 11-10-2009, 03:06 PM

Yes the dash is just held on by bolts and screws

no glue. It is a time consuming jod as all the switches,speedo,ashtray, glove box etc. need to be undone

The three dash pieces for the defrost snap into the body then on the corner defrosters an elbow hooks to them then the hoses. On the center one, a hose from each elbow go to it.
If you don't have a Bentley manual,invest in one. Has all the info you need and exploded view of heat system among other things

WillyH · #5 (**permalink**) 11-11-2009, 05:18 PM

Thanks, I appreciate your response. Upon looking more closely at the parts I have, I see what you mean. The short pieces snap into the slots in the dash metal, and the elbow pieces snap onto them ( the short pieces ). I do have the Bently manual for this car. If there's a good diagram of the warm air heating circuit in this book I sure can't find it. There's about fifty words on how to remove the vent hoses and that's it. I realize that the they do make some assumptions when they produce these books. The first is that the person using the book is a mechanic, and rightly so. I am that, having spent my entire working life doing mechanical repairs of one kind or another. The other one is that you will have a complete car to begin with, brought to you by a customer, or your own. When a guy starts with an incomplete car it's tough because you don't know how it was originally put together, and exactly what you're missing. That's where a guy needs a person like you that has a lot of experience, and has seen a lot of cars. These forums are just the ticket for this. It allows you to talk to people with common interests and knowledge that you would never meet otherwise. Incidently I also have an out of print Chilton manual for this car which really sucks, and a Haynes manual which isn't much better.

derf · #6 (**permalink**) 11-11-2009, 08:43 PM

Yep nothing worse than getting a car someone else took apart or left parts off of

and you have no idea of what is what. i was wrong about finding that in the Bentley. I know how it should be so should you

There is a better diagram in the later Bentley so I wasn't completely wrong

The chiltons and haynes are about useless for all makes of cars.
Ask away for questions, bugs are my passion but I am far from an expert, just been working on them and driving them for over 25 years.
There are a lot of sites out there with pics and diagrams. My knowledge, as it is

is in my god given computer

WillyH · #7 (**permalink**) 12-01-2009, 01:28 PM

Ok, finally got my dash pad and the hardware to install it. A question about the knobs. Do they just pull off? I've been honking on them pretty good but they don't seem to want to give. I don't see any retainers & such, and don't want to break them if I can help it. Should I just giver hell, or is there a trick to it?

derf · #8 (**permalink**) 12-02-2009, 07:19 AM

Some screw off,h-light switch,wiper switch, others pull off. The fresh air knobs pull off,if equipped the Bentley recommends twisting string around them and pulling straight out.
Good luck

WillyH · #9 (**permalink**) 12-02-2009, 06:23 PM

Thanks for the info. Duhh I don't know why it didn't occur to me to try unscrewing them. Anyway, I got them off, and only broke the fresh air knob. One was already missing, so I guess I'll order two. Got the pad put on though, was pretty easy actually. Thanks a lot.