Hi,

I've been monitoring the discussions about gluing roof seals back into
place after the metal clamps have rusted away. Having gone the whole
route of removing the top completely, pulling off all the worn out
rubber, cleaning all the rusted crap out of the seal grooves and gluing
the seal back in place with the top upside down on the ground, held in
place by gravity and a million clothes pins, I would recommend the
following cheap alternative to gluing or replacing the seals with a
stock product.

Go to your local junk yard (that would be Green's Auto in Silverwood,
Terry, beside the old ski hill) and make a line for the myriad of rusted
and crumpled VW Rabbits sitting in a row. Pull 3 of the rear hatch seals
off (you'll have to cut them to get them out from behind the hatch air
shocks since they are continuous). Do they look familiar? Hopefully by
now you'll be getting the picture. Give the guy with the big dog a
$fiver and say "skip the receipt".

Since usually the sides and back of the seal are what almost always
fail, and rarely the heavier front part, I simply pulled the three bad
sides off while the roof was half-up (a kayak paddle is a most useful
roof-prop) and cut it away from the front part. I then jamed the
rear-hatch seals from the Rabbits on, splicing as necessary as I went.

Its not air tight but it looks good, works good, and the price is right!

C. Blakeley Burgess
1980 Air-cooled Westy
403,500 Kms (retired)
Vancouver, BC
Canada

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