164 Challenge

[Paul Weimer <pjweimer@domain.elided>]

I recently purchased a '91 164L.  Wife and I love this Alfa!  Knew when
I bought it that the stepper motor was going to need to be changed, the
classic dash clicking.  As the cold weather finally settled into central
Ohio it was evident that I would either need to address this job (bought
the CarDisk CD video to prepare), or try the digest suggested method of
buying a bit of time and move the lever manually (via access under hood
near firewall).

Last week I decided to try the alternate approach and buy a bit of
time.  With the added expenses during the holidays this seemed prudent.
So I removed the plastic cover panel, located the lever, used a long
screw driver and successfully moved the lever toward the firewall.  All
seemed wonderful, heat was finally flowing into the car.

Today I was out doing last minute purchasing for Christmas.  Now I
realized that the flow of heat was beyond comfortable and decided that
when I got back home I would move the lever back just a bit hoping to
get a more moderate level of heat.

Well, I discovered that the lever and cable was very resistant to move.
Applied a bit more pressure and the lever moved to its extreme position
which was going to give me no heat.  OK, I'm just move it back about
halfway for the desired moderate amount of heat.  Now it's VERY
resistant to move... just a bit more pressure, disaster!  The cable bent
downward about a half an inch back from it's attachment point to the
lever and the arm of lever to which the cable was attached snapped off!

Now what am I facing?  View into this area is difficult.  Is this
plastic lever easily replaced and how much tear down will it require?
All comments and suggestions will be appreciated.

Paul Weimer, central Ohio
'69 roundtail Spider (getting a new top)
'84 Spider 2.0 (replacing dash)
'88 Spider Veloce (electric windows a challenge)
'91 164L (to get immediate attention)

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