Hi all,
Just a quick post relating to the vent control levers and the difficulty finding the correct blue, grey and red bodies/levers. As you may know, the smoke colored lever for the mode door has been NLA for quite some time. Current replacements are a shade of barf orange. The red and blue replacements aren't much better and even have manufacturing/clearance flaws in them resulting in loose fitting parts. I have found that salvaging the opaque portions of the existing bodies and transferring the levers from new "donor" parts is the way to go. The small brass rivets used are 3/32" diameter, 7/32" long. A 3/32" arbor and pin tool is used to flair and set the rivets. Both available at a craft store or Amazon. Correct rivets would be metric sized but I don't think a judge would be under your dash measuring them. They may however see the incorrect colored plastic. Metric rivets and setting tools may be available elsewhere but I had no luck this side of the pond.
The old rivets can be carefully cut or drilled out of your old lever being careful not to crack the plastic. Removing the new levers from their plastic is about the same. Just keep your drill bit on the opaque lens side as not to damage the black lever plastic if you slip. A drill press would come in very handy. Drill just enough to remove the rivet head. Then use a punch (by hand) to remove the rivet body. Transfer your new lever over to your old plastic and use the new rivets and setting tool to finish your work.
Hope this helps, Tyler
