Questions regarding '73 Super Beetle

- What are the little knobs/levers that you pull up beside the hand break? I have been told it turns the heater on/off. This isn't the case with my bug, as the heat just keeps pouring through until you shut the vent.

- What are the little holes in the corners of the fat plastic dash? They seem like little vents but nothing ever comes through.

- I have recently just bought a new CD player, along with 6x9's and component speakers (mid range and tweeter). 6x9's are going in the back on the parcel shelf. I am not 100% sure where to put the speakers in the front. Is there any problem with putting the 6 inches in the doors? I know there is no insulation its just metal in there, so would the speakers react to the metal somehow through magnetics or something?? I really don't know, but basicly is it safe to fit the speakers in the doors?

- The tweeters I think I will just sit on the dash. I was looking at those useless little black vents before, I thought what if I pulled them out and put the tweeters there. It would look good... or would I be stupid to pull out these vents... are they actually used for something?

- One last question regarding the demister, how does it work? The demister is the fan, I imagine? I don't know how this would be too efficient as the fan only blows out air through half of the vent. Makes sense, as the fan is positioned to the drivers side of the car in the boot/bonet (what do you call it)... Is my fan just less efficient or is that just how they are??


Thats all my questions for now... My bug is nearly finished, just a few small things to do and its complete. I'll post some pictures soon!

from memory (and I have only ever had one car where they were connected and working) one lever is heat on and off, and the other is heat to the front or back.

Beetles never had a fan.

The experts will be along soon with more/correct info I'm sure. 🙂

From what I can tell from looking at my car, one of the levers does the vents at the heater box end which will let hot air into the heater channels in the car. The other one controls the flaps on the outlets underneath the back seat.

If they're not doing anything then the linkage at the heat exchanger may have come loose. One of the linkages had come off it's pivot on my car which meant the cable would move but wouldn't open the flap.

A fairly popular place for 6inch speakers seems to be in kick panels mounted to the side of the foot wells. This would probably be better than mounting them in the door and it doesn't take up too much room. Take a look at this thread for an excellent example of these:http://www.aussieveedubbers.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=21201&page=34

The handle on the left of the handbrake is the heater on/off. The one on the right is back/front (when it's forward it's front). Parcel shelf is great for speakers. I have 2x 7*10s and 2*10" subs in mine. The doors will hold 6" fine but you just have to be careful to mount them down low so you can still unwind you windows:P

The little holes in the dash are air vents but they suck real bad. I always have mine closed. They would be good for tweeters though.

The demister fan is kinda lame too. Check to see if it is clogged with leaves (undo compartment under bonnet) check for rust at the same time. I found that only a bit of air comes out the demister, but lots comes out the vents above the radio. Also the two knobs next to the fan control are for the demister, open/close on driver and passenger sides. If you block off those holes above the radio a lots more will come out the demister...

Thanks for your help guys...

I don't know if I should put the tweeters in those little air vents or not... It depends on how easy it is to wire up.

Does anybody have any instructions on how to remove the plastic dash board?? I have no idea how to do this... does it all come off or what? I want to clean out the air vents and fit the stereo in...

I've never taken out the dash but it looks like it would be a big pain to do... I think that you have to take the windscreen out to get to some of the hard to reach screws... there are a couple of real L Bug experts on this forum and I'm sure they'll show up soon🙂

dj_daniel88 wrote:- What are the little knobs/levers that you pull up beside the hand break? I have been told it turns the heater on/off. This isn't the case with my bug, as the heat just keeps pouring through until you shut the vent.
- What are the little holes in the corners of the fat plastic dash? They seem like little vents but nothing ever comes through.
- One last question regarding the demister, how does it work? The demister is the fan, I imagine? I don't know how this would be too efficient as the fan only blows out air through half of the vent. Makes sense, as the fan is positioned to the drivers side of the car in the boot/bonet (what do you call it)... Is my fan just less efficient or is that just how they are??

Well mostly right. As has been mentioned above one lever (on RHS of hand brake for me) turns heaters on, which means opening flaps on heat exchangers. The second lever (LHS of hand brake) opens the vents under the middle seat as mentioned above.
For a '73 L bug there are 6 hot air outlets, two under the rear seat, two at you feed and two at the bottom of the windscreen. So to heat the car pull up both levers and open the vents at your feet, to demist the windows push down the lever that closes the rear outlets and close the vents at your feet so you get more heat to the windscreen.
Make sure the cables to the heat exchanges are connected, and the flaps move freely. Sounds like your either missing the cables, or the flaps don't close properly.

The little holes in the corners of the dash are fresh air holes from the vent outside near the bonnet.

As for the demister, see above. Yes. '73 and later bugs had a dash fan. There are two dials in the middle of the dash, both control fresh air coming in from the vent near the bonnet. One opens air to the vents below the windscreen, outside of the vents from the heater. The other opens air to the vents in the middle of the dash and the little corner holes you asked about. Both of these outlets are boosted by the two speed fan accessed through the bonnet as you said. The vents have to be open for the fan to be effextive.
It is worth opening this cover (through the bonnet) as this is a hidden area for leaves to collet and rust to start. there is a drain tube from the bottom of this through the cab and out next to the tunnel at the front.

As for the sound, ditch the sterio and listen to the tunes from the boxer in the rear :thumb

Hmm.. As edgeworks say's there's a bit involved in removing any dash. The last one I did had the windscreen out which does help. There are a lot of wires , cables, fuse box etc behind there which makes it a large job.
The screws around the top/sides of the dash are all that hold it in place, but it's all the stuff behind that stops you removing it easily.

So how would you install a cd player? Would you have to remove the whole dash or is there another way around it?

And one other thing... how do you remove the window winders on the side panels? So I can take it off...

[Edited on 11-4-2005 by dj_daniel88]

To install a CD player all you need to do is get the right wires, power, ignition and earth and run them up to the hole in the dash attatch them up and slide it in. I made a little cradle type thing that supports my head unit. I didn't have to take out the dash, just a little fiddly.

To remove the window winders you just have to pull off the plastic covering (if they are stock) of the winder and there is a single screw underneath. Undo it and then slide it off the mount.

Never tried any of that, but I guess some sort of a consol between the dash and the tunnel is a good place to put them. The glove box is another option.
For the winders, peel back the plastic cover, there is a screw in the centre of the handle you undo to remove them. Similar with the door openers, there is a small plastic cover behind the lever you can remove before you see the screw behind it.
The panels are on push in clips, so just pull off. Be carefull not to break the door cards as they are flimsy.

Oh ok... well I think I'll just get Strathfield or something to install the actual player in. They only want to charge $60... So I'd probably be best off doin that.

I have just pulled off a door panel, I'm getting ready to mount the speakers in. My reason for asking how to dismantle the dash board, was because I wanted to plant the tweeters in place of those little useless air vents... Seems like too much work, so I will just put them in the door along with the mid range/bass speaker. Hell, I'll put it all in the door, including the crossover. That would make things easier...

The plastic sheet behind the side panel, thats to stop moisture isn't it??

same thread

http://www.aussieveedubbers.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=37661&page=1#pid337024

Hi On my L Bug the small round vents blow warm air out that will defog the side windows.It's slow but it does work. You have to close the L/hand leaver and the floor vents to get the best out of the dash heaters.It also takes a bit to work out where to set the dash knobs to get it all to work best.I had the dash out when I restored the bug due to rust in the dash so check in the front pod and make sure the drain is clear.I need to take it out again to fix the cover but it's sutch a big job I havn't been able to convince myself to start on it. Gary.

[Edited on 15-4-2005 by Buger Gary]

you should be able to buy a cradle form strathfeild or simialar. as older radios where mounted around the face, while new ones are in a cradle. i think you can get a cradle to convert.

unless you doing a full rebuild leave the dash in!!!

my mate runs tweeters in the old vents on teh side of the dash and they look like they were made for it!!!