I violated my pretty black plywood under-seat cover and drilled a hole
where I could open and close the valve via gray lever and a used up carbide
hacksaw blade(round one).  Attached one end to the lever, 3M taped the
blade surface, and did a shade tree job of a 90 degree bend so you can
push/pull the valve w/o lifting the seat up.  Now if I could've only found
a used Pre-61 beetle choke cable assembly, that wouldn't've been so bad.

Dimwitted moose and Flying Squirrel

----------
> From: Veerman, Keith <kveerman@WKPOWER.COM>
> To: vanagon@VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Rear Heater Valve
> Date: Tuesday, November 03, 1998 10:02 AM
>
> Re: grey valve
> ...same reason you'd want to adjust the front heater core: sometimes you
> want a little heat, sometimes you want more.  I've smelled burning rubber
> off my kids boots if the rear heater core is fully open, so I usually
keep
> it ~1/2 way open.
> I notice the grey lever appears to have the fittings for a "bowden"
cable,
> i.e. perhaps VW was planning that this valve could be adjusted from
> elsewhere (dashboard?).
> I note that on my brother's '92 EV the rear heater is built into the
floor,
> and the core valve is electrically adjusted with a rheostat on the
> dashboard, adjacent to the fan speed control.
>
> Keith V.
> Slocan Park, BC
> '86 Vanagon GL Syncro (135 kmi)
> '95 Golf GL T-D (daily driver)
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Todd Last [SMTP:rubatoguy@worldnet.att.net]
> > Sent: Monday, November 02, 1998 8:43 PM
> > To:   vanagon@VANAGON.COM
> > Subject:      Re: Rear Heater Valve
> >
> > Yes, and why would you want to turn it on and off?  On in the winter,
off
> > in
> > the summer? Or is it just to aid in the installation of the core?
> >
> > Westys4evr@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > > The gray lever turns the coolant flow on and off thru the heater core.