>Congrats! A small sense of victory no doubt, as man triumphs over rust. Try 
to find the copper/brass (?) nuts that VW provides to reattach everything. 
They have a little slit in one side to make a lock-nut type deal. or get 
stainless steel from a good hardware/machine parts/sailing store.
        If the heater box tin is pocked with small holes <1/2" clean it up 
with a wire brush/electric drill. I use the 'cup' type not a wheel. Sand out 
etc. to bare metal then apply a layer of muffler cement liberally. metal fly 
screen will bridge larger holes, just butter it and apply. This is a cheap 
short term solution, 1 winter only. Maybe buy 1 heater box this year, fix 1 
up. Once the boxes get to your condition only marginal gains are possible 
for a lot of labour. Go easy on the nuts/studs of the heater boxes/heads. 
These bust or tear out easily are are a bugger to deal with. Remember, I'm 
in a cold winter area, and needed ALL possible heat, if your area is more 
moderate then the cheap fix would be good. Certainly $$$ cheaper.    have 
fun     tim s.