Geez,

your experience with that thermostat housing reminds me of a few "1/2 hr
that turns into a weekend nightmare" jobs I've blindely stumbled into.

It may be a long shot, but try an industrial supply house ( one that deals
in bearings/hydraulic hoses and fittings etc) and see if you can get a
metric o-ring. My experience is that even here in metric Canada, metric
O-rings are hard to obtain in all sizes. At work we special order them (in
buna rubber and silicon). The local supply house carries a wide selection
of standard size but only a limited selection of metric. However they do
sell a "variety pack" of various metric sizes that I've been tempted to buy
for home use.

Good luck

Alistair
p.s. Rich, your return to address bounces.

>Now I have no o-ring for the housing.  I guess the engine gasket kit
>does not include one.  My local VW dealership doesn't have one and it
>takes them a couple of weeks to get in parts.

>Question:  Can I just put in a bead of RTV form-a-gasket stuff on top of
>the thermostat and bolt the housing together?  It looks like this might
>work.  I'll order a replacement gasket, but I'd like to get the show on
>the road.