>First, and most difficult: The emergency cable on the driver side
>works fine, but the one on the passengers side wont bite at all.
>What can I do to free up the cable easily? Any quick fixes?
>I am not driving it freqently right now, so anything to get

If you are not driving it frequently, put the job off until it warms up
enough to do the work yourself.  It could be that the passenger side brake
cable is rusted through, or broken.  There is no quick fix, just work.

  However, if you are really motivated:  bundle up and lay a big piece of
cardboard on the snow under the bus, and get to work.  Work to stay warm. 
With the added ground clearance of the Bus, and the easily-removable
composite rear drum of the '71, you will be able to at least assess the
situation fairly quickly.

>The second is that the turn signal unit is not tightly connected
>to the steering shaft any more. (Can you believe they failed me
>on that?) The screws that clamp it are stripped, and 

Expensive!  (Unless you get lucky here, and someone helps you out.)  If you
don't get lucky, consider filling the stripped threads with epoxy and
tapping in new holes/threads for the screws.

>just a burned fuse or pulled off wire. The relays are kinda hard
>to find and expensive.

Not that expensive.

>What a bummer!

Cheer up!  You got one of those cool 1971 Buses!

Wolf
1970 Camper