

| Subject: | Rear hatch panel fastener options |
| From: | TJ Hemrick |
| Date: | Mon, 30 Sep 2013 15:23:39 -0400 |
OK, so if you've read todays posts, you no doubt saw my trials and tribulations with electric motors. Now, we're moving on to interior parts. The aforementioned hatch panel that was covering my burned out rear window wiper motor was a real PIA to remove. Now, I've pulled a few panels from 87's before (have 3 of them) and never had an issue. Well, it looks like the engineers revenge is much older than I thought. What's that some of you plebes ask? Well, when I worked at VW (and Porsche, and Audi for that matter) we had a joke that whomever designed the cars never worked on them. Certainly not trying to make flat rate, that's for sure. Then, our shop manager told us that it turns out that the head mechanic in Wolfsburg was "dating" the senior engineers daughter. Well, he made sure that ALL mechanics after that would pay the price for that infraction on his little girls pride and person. Don't believe it, go change the battery on the 1st gen New Beetle. Start with the right headlight and well, you'll figure it out... Anyhow, I digress, the panel on said rear hatch was secured with the most wretched fasteners I have worked with. The were nearly impossible to get out. I scratched the paint with a screwdriver just trying to get some room to work, and eventually just ripped the entire panel clean off. Still some of the fasteners still remained. Does anyone know of a better version? I see the "monsters" listed on some of the vendors sites but looking for options before I hit FLAPS and get some generic junk. Thanks, TJ 87 Syncro 87 Wolfsburg
Have something to add on this topic today? Revive this thread in the forum »