If you carefully remove the cardboard panels from the interior front of the bus (quite easy) you will have access to all the nuts and bolts behind the panel.
Oh okay, so there is an extra dimensional compartment that I hadn’t explored! In fairness, when I undid the mahoosive nut and bolt and angle bracket monstrosity on the front of my bus, and replaced it with a more delicate proper spare wheel carrier with supporting feet that sat on the bumper, it was all accessible from inside, albeit in a slightly uncomfortable way.
Like @snotty said early models are push to test, meaning you push the button and it should light up. That just tells you the bulb still works. If you push on the brakes and it lights up, then you have a fault in one of the circuits. In 69 they moved the location of it, in 68 it's perfectly hidden behind the steering wheel ... Sometimes it’s more fun not to know. Seen one like this in Maine USA..
The easy way to check the rivnut theory is to see what happens if you try turning one of the bolts. If it starts winding up out of the wheel carrier - its a rivnut or some other captive nut. If it loosens a bit and goes round and round then its a nut behind. Get hold of a USB inspection camera - I have one e.g. which is 5mm across with lights on the front and a 5m cable that you can poke into places and have a look.
Or the bolts are coroded into the rivnuts which are now are spinning...and spin when you try to drill them out too.
This bracket thing is turning out to be the new "TLB elephant in the room" PTSD ... Panel trauma supression disorder
Related question as seems to be in a different place on my bus from the original picture. Is this also a brake warning light? it doesnt seem to do anything either way! My bus is a 75 mexican import.
Mine was connected to the fridge and came on when the fridge was running on 12v . Obviously this isn't how vw wired the van so after 40+ years it SHOULD be a brake alert but don't bank on it ... Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
