any helpful hints or ideas?
These switches normally have four contacts consisting of two pairs that are joined.
Using a multimeter on the resistance range determine which pairs are shorted together.
A temperature-controlled iron with the finest possible tip (such as made by Antex) will allow you to quickly solder extremely thin wire (from 80-way ribbon cable for drives) to the contacts.
Make a very neat socket for your exterior control by drilling two 1mm holes in the plastic body and using two pins extracted from a DIL socket.
Before soldering to the pins, cut-off two pins from a DIL socket and insert into your two pins.
That will prevent them moving when the heat from the iron softens the plastic.
David