VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 38 Dash Knobs

Is it possible to take the choke and throttle knobs off the old cables and reattach them to new cables? Do I only switch the cables where they attach to the old knobs and not the entire assembly?

Thanks,

Brian

bigbth, I didn't have any luck in trying to neatly remove the knobs on my '37 sedan, years ago, but I was replacing the knobs, not the cable / casing, so I wasn't too careful about it. I believe the cables are molded into the knobs. I wound up cracking the knobs off the cable and epoxying the new knobs on the existing cables. I think I might have one or more used '38 cables w/ knobs on them around, if you can use them, you can have them. Let me know and I'll take a look through my "accumulations".

-Bob

New knob sets are available for both 1937 and 1938.

The problem is that I have a '38 master not the master delux so the dash knobs are the mottled brown with black color. No one I know of makes the master knobs. So I need to remove my knobs from the cables they are on and reattach them to the new cables, that incidently have the master delux knobs attached, and hopefully end up with a good looking set of knobs (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).

Bow Tie, if you have a set of master knobs, choke and throttle only, I really need them. I have though of trying to replicated the color with paint but that will be my last resort.

Thanks,

Brian

bigbth,
Sorry, but I wasn't aware there were two different colored knobs for 1938. The only ones I've ever seen were the ivory colored ones, which must have been for the Master-Deluxe. The ones I have are the ivory colored ones.
-Bob

Yeah, it's unfortunate that they felt a need to make two different colors but there you have it. I have been looking for the choke knob for 6 years now. They seem to be the knob most likely to be removed or replaced over time.

Okay, part of the knob problem is solved. I ordered the choke and throttle cables from Chev's of the 40's. I installed the choke cable as is since I don't have a knob for it anyway.

For the throttle cable I first tried to pull the cable out of the old knob. It seemed like it might work at first because the cable spun in the knob shaft but no amount of turning seemed to be helping. So I decided I would saw off the crimped end of the knob shaft and hopefully the remaining cable would just fall out. Well you know what they say about the best-laid plans… When I finished I still couldn't coax the end of the cable out of the shaft. So I tried to drill it out but since I had removed anything that might be holding the cable in the shaft, all it did was spin under the drill bit (1//16” bit).

Next I thought that I could weld some additional metal onto the end of the shaft and then drill the new metal. The problem here was that I have Oxy-Acetylene and I didn't want to melt the knob at the end. No problem, I shoved the shaft through a large glob of jig putty and started to weld. I was being very cautious with the heat of the shaft but eventually built a blob of new metal that I could grind to shape. I took the shaft to the bench to test the strength of the weld by tapping with a hammer, but I broke off my glob. Evidently I had been a little to cautious with the heat.

Then I noticed that the weld had gotten into the area where the old cable was attached. I grabbed the drill and in a few seconds I was cutting a new hole. Viola! Now I took the other end of the throttle cable and slid it into the new hole. Placed the very tip of the shaft, maybe last ¼ inch, into a bench vise and clamped down. Once on each side and it looked about like it did before I started and the cable held tight!

The reason I had put the other end of the cable in the old throttle shaft was because I wasn't sure if this process would work so I didn't want to separate the new throttle from it's cable until I was sure. It did cost over $30 and if it didn't work it was all I had.

So when I was finished all I had to do was cut the new throttle shaft off the cable and slide the cable inside the outer sheath. It works great and looks fabulous.

If anyone has a mottled brown and black Choke knob, let me know!

Brian

bigbth,
I finally came across what I remembered having, concerning the brown mottled knobs. It wasn't a cable knob - it was a light switch with that knob on it. If you need one, please let me know.
-Bob

I don't think that will help. Do you think I could use it as the choke knob or would it be to hard to attach and look odd with the "L" on it?

Brian

bigbth: No, you're right - it wouldn't look right. Bad idea !

-Bob