I have a '75 914. The original heater system was dismantled by one of the previous owners. I've been slowly rebuilding it back.

At this point I'm on the last piece of it. I got the heater valves in place and the cable on that end seems to be just fine. However, I took my floor lever apart and realized that the cable is pretty broken. (See attached pic).

So my question is - how hard is it to put that thing in and what exactly mounts it to the lever? There is a small hole in the bottom of it but I can't figure it out. Obviously I'll have to buy a new one. Thanks.Click to view attachment Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

The heater cable is just bent in a "V" shape at the lever end. No other attachment needed. It's not a bad replacement but the car needs to be jacked up (use jack stands) and just tape the "V" end of the new cable to the old and pull it back past the bulkhead to the lever.

The cable should be 1 long piece threaded through the hole in the lever and then down the 2 guide tubes just behind where the lever bolts on and out through the ends of the tubes at the firewall. It looks like yours snapped at the V bend at the lever. Threading it through is a bit fussy, good luck.

Its a very easy job. I did it today it took about half an hour. The 2 wires back to the heater boxes is actually 1 wire which runs in separate metal tubes from the lever back to the heater boxes. If you look into the tunnel you will see the tubes. On the end of the lever there is a small hole. The wire runs from one heater box thru the tube then thru hole in the bottom of the lever and back down the other tube to the second heater box. Did that make sense hope you understood.

Ah! Now I see exactly what you're talking about. Very useful, thanks. So I need to pull the broke one out.

But the question is this: there are 2 thicker ends that go into the barrels on the heater valves. Would one of them fit through the little hole on the lever?

Yes

[quote]
But the question is this: there are 2 thicker ends that go into the barrels on the heater valves. Would one of them fit through the little hole on the lever?
[/quote]
Yes
[/quote]
Thanks. Do I need to purchase any sort of grommets for this or just the wire and nothing else?

[quote name='Synchromesh' date='Apr 3 2015, 08:16 PM' post='2169447']
[quote]
But the question is this: there are 2 thicker ends that go into the barrels on the heater valves. Would one of them fit through the little hole on the lever?
[/quote]
Yes
[/quote]
Thanks. Do I need to purchase any sort of grommets for this or just the wire and nothing else?
[/quote]
There are some rubber fittings that seal the end of the metal tube as it exits into the engine bay. 914rubber.com sells them. They are nice but not a must have. Do make sure to grease the cables.

Save your old one and compare it to the new one before installing. Just went through this on a 72. The bend on the new Porsche wire was wrong and was still too long on one end. I am told the 75 76 has a different length cable so it might work if you have the stock heater system. The new cable is not plastic coated like the old one. I think the longer end goes to the passenger side.

I had to rebend my left side to be 2 inches longer than the right on my '71.

I was going to point this out yesterday but thought I was the only one who ran into this problem. I replaced my cable on my 72 about 6 months ago. I couldn't get the drivers side cable through the bend in the metal tube. I ended up bending the end of tha cable slightly as well as bending the end of the metal tube,(ever so slightly) to be a little more straight, to get the cable through. As for the length issue,I haven't hooked the cable up yet so I can't speak to length being correct or not.

My cable was bent wrong too. Used old cable to determine correct length. Long length goes passenger side.

Eric Shea said it was 2" on his car.

not surprising.

So I started doing this today and ran into this problem, sort of. I was able to put them through the floor lever after some filing down of that little hole (rust) and they happily went into tubes and popped out properly. The problem is that they're too long both sides! Even if I get the ends all the way into the barrels when I pull the lever they still don't open the valves.

This led me to believe that I might have installed the heater valves wrong. My car didn't have them when I got it and I couldn't find a pic on the internet which showed them properly attached. Are the levers that attach to the wires on the valve supposed to be on top or bottom? Any other possibilities?

I'm attaching a pic of what they look like now.

I also have similar issues with the orientation of the heater valves on the exchangers and the length of the cables.

I have tried putting the valves upside down and changed sides, flipped sides in the cables, but still can't get the ferrules on the end of the cables to line up with the barrel nuts on the valve levers. The cables seem to be too long or too short.

I would really appreciate a photo of the correct installation of the heater valves.

Also is there a difference in cable lenghts for various model years?

Anybody? Need to figure out how to solve this one!

I believe so. I have a '75, and when I replaced my old flapper boxes with genuine Porsche NOS boxes the cables wouldn't reach on the passenger side. Sounds opposite to your problem though.

Called Pelican. It turns out '71-74 have a different part number than '75-76. The latter has been discontinued so I'm stuck with the earlier cable. It appears I'll have to get creative with this thing here.

But can anybody shoot me a pic of what this must look like anyway?

I just used regular thick non-braided wire. The kind of stuff you would use for chicken-mesh. It works fine without the barrels on the end.

Not a bad idea. What gauge did you use and how long? Where does one buy such a wire?

Home Depot, Lowes, or whatever similar is close to you. They carry various gauges, so just take a piece of the old wire in to compare. The packaging is long gone, but the stuff I used measured out to 0.0375" which is just shy of 18 gauge. You could probably go to 16. Obviously, you don't want a soft metal like copper or aluminum or it will stretch. Steel or stainless if you can find it.

For length, if I recall correctly, I just cut off a 10 or 12 foot length and bent it in the middle. It came out way long, so after I had all the slack out and the heater valves adjusted, I cut off the excess. I bought a bunch of new barrel nut/screw things from cip1.com, and they hold the bare wire just fine.

I'd be happy to look into making the correct ones. I can machine and press stainless fittings onto the correct length cables. Might as well as I already have the nipples.
Just make it a package.

I am guessing that there are 2 or 3 correct lengths. I know that when I back-dated my exhaust, my late cables were too short, so there is definitely a difference between early and late. Not sure about early 4 vs 6.

Great idea Mark. I would buy a kit. Maybe it could be designed better so the cable won't fray and break at the lever. Mine looks about to break.