72 heat and a/c buttons

So my 72 Scamp originally had ac. Removed the accessories under the hood. The buttons to control the heat and ac have been mushy and having difficulty coming out when switching between defrost and off. I hadn’t messed with it until I had to change the heater core. Since I was in the dash I figured I’d check it out. Now that all is disconnected all the buttons stay in. And these things fell out of the back. I assume out of the heat control block (not sure what it’s called). Is this the case? Do they go back in? Any guidance would be good. Most of what I have seen, guys have said to buy a new heat switch. Thanks guys.

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Someone made those instead of replacing the actual controls.
I wouldn't put that back in.