Just a post for closure. The manual climate control does in fact use two nylon shafts and sockets to actuate the lower and upper flappers. I removed the glove box and radio and could feel that they were disconnected. By removing the lower two screws I was able to swing the bottom of the panel out enough to allow the rods and sockets to be connected. I did some sole searching to figure out how to line them up. Wound up feeling the output shafts while I turned the distribution knob, and figured out if the sockets should be clockwise or counter-clockwise. Seems to work great now. The only vaccum item is the recerc flapper which seems to operate correctly. Only thing not uo to speed is I still have no EC light, and it doesn't seem like the a/c compressor drops out. As I type this with scratched up hands, I'm still glad I bought a car with manual, since I now can skip reading all of the posts that discuss vaccum pods and climate control. Thanks folks! Chuck

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2000 C230 Kompressor "Frosty"

2007 PT Cruiser
2001 VW TDI Beetle
1999 Landrover Discovery II
1971 Corvette

Gone: 97 Cabrio, 83 240D, 93 VW Eurovan, 95 Volvo 850, 93 Chevy Astro Van, 77 VW Bus, 99 VW Jetta, 74 VW Bus