Two mysterious controls

[robust1976]

Hello everyone,

New member here, but have been lurking for a while. Finally we purchased a GM cutaway Thomas Built short bus and found two controls that we have no ideas on what they are. Does anyone know what they are for? Thank you in advance and it's great to join the community!

robust1976

[turf]

ahhh

the mysterious high beam switch!

the cable is probably a throttle lock/ high idle.... gosh even maybe choke if its a 70;s

[robust1976]

Originally Posted by turf

ahhh

the mysterious high beam switch!

the cable is probably a throttle lock/ high idle.... gosh even maybe choke if its a 70;s

Thanks for the lead. It's a 2002 GM 3500, so it can't be choke, can it? I'll test out if the left foot switch is high beam switch or not. Assuming it is, it brought another question: why they want to do that? Isn't a conventional hand lever more convenient?

[turf]

hmm,2002,.... well it looks aftermarket so i assume the cable is with the door, or stopsign, something added to the shell. still maybe a high idle.

maybe the foot switch too. flashers?
back in the day, that was high beams.

[Meathead]

Eject button and nitrous oxide boost. Be careful!

[E450Shorty]

Does the bus have rear heat? If so it look similar to mine that has a coolant shutoff valve that the driver can operate to block heat to the rear system.

[bp1791-unleashed]

That control on the right appears to go through the firewall. I'd be willing to bet if you look under the hood and find where it goes, it would be linked to the throttle somehow. I drove an old ford b6000 I think it was that had something similar, you would untwist it, pull it to where you wanted to hold the throttle, twist it, and it would hold it there. On that particular bus, the spring for the accelerator pedal was super strong, and you really needed that to not wear out your leg.

And my first guess for the button is high beam switch.

Good luck,
jim

[robust1976]

Originally Posted by E450Shorty

Does the bus have rear heat? If so it look similar to mine that has a coolant shutoff valve that the driver can operate to block heat to the rear system.

I don't know if it has rear heat or not, but thanks for the clue and I'll open the hood and follow the cable to find exact what that is.

[robust1976]

Originally Posted by bp1791-unleashed

That control on the right appears to go through the firewall. I'd be willing to bet if you look under the hood and find where it goes, it would be linked to the throttle somehow. I drove an old ford b6000 I think it was that had something similar, you would untwist it, pull it to where you wanted to hold the throttle, twist it, and it would hold it there. On that particular bus, the spring for the accelerator pedal was super strong, and you really needed that to not wear out your leg.

And my first guess for the button is high beam switch.

Good luck,
jim

Thanks for the info. I'll find out and report back later.

[robust1976]

Originally Posted by robust1976

Thanks for the info. I'll find out and report back later.

Sorry for the huge delay, but I finally got time working on the bus, now it's time to report back. It turned out the foot pedal is for warning light and the push/pull linkage is for rear heat coolant valve.

[Oldyeller]

So . . . what have you been doing on the bus? Just getting back to it after a 2 year hiatus? I understand that life gets in the way sometimes. Bring us up to speed. Some pictures would be nice if'n you've a mind to provide some.

[robust1976]

Originally Posted by Oldyeller

So . . . what have you been doing on the bus? Just getting back to it after a 2 year hiatus? I understand that life gets in the way sometimes. Bring us up to speed. Some pictures would be nice if'n you've a mind to provide some.

You're right, have other higher priority stuff going on. Bought the bus almost two years ago, but only recently started working on it. Got the floor and ceiling removed, nothing exciting so far. I'll create a build thread to log the milestones.