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I need to slack the Bowden Cable for the heater in my 1954 Cavalier to be able to remove the radio for service.

This would be the cable to the left of the radio, on the right hand control lever.

There is a Philips screw that releases the outer cable and I can almost get enough slack to remove the radio but I need a little more slack.

I have had the radio out and I need to do a little more repair work to perfect the signal seeking feature. I am the best person I know to fix a radio, but I hate under dash work.

This cable appears to pass through the fire wall on the far right side and connects under the heater unit under the bonnet.

I thought possibly there was an easy way to remove the whole vent / heater control assembly and then get the cable out of the way of the radio.

Jim

IIRC, the 54 lever assy's are similar to 55-6 and are held onto the potmetal grill by two hex head screws. Believe they are located between the levers at the top and bottom and can be a little hard to get a socket on. It needs to be a long skinny shaft to get past the housing. I used a 1/4 ratchet with extension on the 56.

If it's just one cable perhaps it would be easier to remove cable from the air flapper valve end and pull it back inside. It should be held on the flapper rod by a round flat push on type speednut retainer. Usually you can grab hold of those and twist or "unscrew" while you are pulling it off the rod. Once the cable is free to come off there is a single Phillips head screw holding the cable clamp onto the plenum assy. Easier to reach and remove the screw with a long shafted screwdriver.

YES!!!! Remove the controls from the dash as opposed to the cable from the vent. The cable is a nightmare to get back in.

Using a hex wrench loosen and remove the knobs from the controls, and remove the two bolts that hold the control assemble to the dash from the back side. If you reach up in these you can feel the bolts between the parts that stick up on the backside of the controls.

With these removed, you can drop the radio down and out without much problems.

YES!!!! Remove the controls from the dash as opposed to the cable from the vent. The cable is a nightmare to get back in.

Recent experience speaks on removing the 54 lever assy vs 56 but it's interesting the difference between the 54 and 56 on the cable. I didn't have too much trouble although I did feed a rod thru from the engine side first as a guide. Taped the cable as an extension of the rod end and then fed it thru. The rod guided thru the carpet and grommet with no problem.

I figured it would be easier to get the lever assy out of the dash than the flapper valve end.

I can easily remove the glove drawer and see where it goes through the firewall.

I have plenty of ? inch long spin-tights being in the electronics biz.

I wanted to straighten the Bowden cable out at the lever end while I have it out; they get bent at the end easily.

I replaced all the tubes (9) and installed a solid state vibrator and I now have a decent working radio. The signal seek doesn't stop on weak stations and the buttons were not stopping the tuner but I think the little red slide has to be close to a station. I replace all of the paper capacitors and electrolytics in old radios and TV's which I restore and expect it should work as intended.

Tubes are radially available and cheaper than in the 50's

It is an ingenious tuner used in this radio which is mostly mechanical and controlled electronically. The radio was working but highly insensitive and the original OZ4 tube failed which stopped the rock-n-roll.

Here in Phoenix we have a couple of AM stations with decent programming and the rest are hate-talk.

Jim

I'm still motivated to pursue this little project, the temperature and humidity has been in the 100's so I only dream for now.

With a mirror in hand I see the ? inch screw at the top of the lever assembly. I wonder if the fan switch secures the bottom and not another screw.

I don't believe the wire of the Bowden Cable will pass through the hole in the mounting bracket from this end.

I am rounding up the likely parts for the radio so I can do this quickly.

Jim