Targa top squeeks going down the road, Is this just normal flex of the body? Options

[davesclassicvws]

Ok, Here's what I want to know. I recently rebuilt a Targa top for 914 which included new seals all the way around. I noticed this squeek before the rebuild but thought the new seals would eliminate this .

As I have thought about this and read more on this forum, here's what I've come up with, the back half of the 914 is essentially held on by the floor, so the stress points are just behind the doors.

As the car is going down the road and travels over bumps the body is flexing and this is reverbiated through the targa top, thus the seals are squeeking from the flexing.

My question is this: How common is this? Is this an indication of compromised longs? or is this normal with all 914's? Does adding a engman kit eleviate this problem in any way?

As far as I can tell the Targa top does not have any capacity to tighten onto the car body. The new seals should be providing as tight a seal as possible.

I'm curious if the engman kit will reduse this flex and if its really worth it on a car that's not going to go on the track. I just enoy driving the car around town on the weekends.

[PRS914-6]

Mine is all rebuilt and has no squeaks at all but then again it's rarely on either.

A couple of suggestions.

1. Use the OEM style rear seal with the felt
2. Coat the seals with a light coat of rubber safe lubricant. I use Sil-Glyde and can be bought at Napa stores. Also put a light coat under the rubber blocks at the latches.

I do think the Engman kit reduces some of the flex and associated noise....