Pinto Car Club of America

i have seen posts about finding replacements for broken heater  control cables fitted with the problematic plastic ends used to secure the cables.

here is a fix that i have used for years to repair  cables or to secure cables for new applications such as choke cables, etc.

the process involves fabricating a clamp from a strip of soft metal.

i have made pix of the process and am posting here.

there are several sections due to the limit for posting pix and am  using cardboard instead of metal for convenience.

materials needed are a strip of soft metal, some super glue (optional)

tools


pliers wire  cutters and a rod or drill bit slightly smaller than the cable.

Fig cable 1 showing the cable and metal strip about 1" wide and 4" long cut from soft metal like .030 aluminum

Fig cable 02 bend srip to form a "V"

Fig cable 03 place the drill bit into the strip

Fig cable 04 crimp the strip around the drill bit with the pliers

Fig cable 05 shows strip crimped around drill bit

Fig cable 06 Drill mounting hole in clamp at appropriate location to mount clamp and cable

Fig cable 07 place strip around cable and crimp witth pliers

Fig cable 08  use wire cutters to crimp  several notches into the clamp to prevent the cable from sliding

Fig cable 09 secure clamp onto cable with super glue if desired and trim clamp to fit the mounting application.

Fig cable 10 detail of finished cable clamp

for mounting dual cables just make 2 clamps and piggy back them together.

Thanks for the write-up and photos.  My pinto has that exact same problem. I was fortunate enough to find a replacement heater control set that I am going to replace mine with, however, I know this unit will end up the same way. But since you showed how to do it I will use your instructions to repair my old unit and have it ready for when the other unit fails with the same problem.

glad you found it useful...

this repair should last the life of the car...

its also good for other cable attachments like choke  ables, etc