Well, everything was coming together nicely, until I went to check the first article for the run. I added a flange to get a better seal. only I didn't deduct enough off the back. So, I get to modify the die. Won;t take long, but the extra flange will be gone. You can see why it's a problem.

Nice work on the parts you've been manufacturing.

Question on the front trunk seal: is it possible to use a seal that attaches to the edge like the rear trunk seal? It would seem to eliminate the big fat seal clogging up the channel.

If it's not in the channel the lid won't close unlike the rear seal. Price??

It issue is the shape. I could do a seal that went on the lip. Unfortunately if you look at most , around the headlight area, there is allot of deterioration. Not olt that there is not allot of clearance. The facrory had this one right, with the exception of the foam rubber. If you could save 30% on 500,000 of these. you would think abou it too, hey it's only a Volkswagen.

Mark,
Thank you many times over for the parts you are producing. With what you are making the 914's will be made available to many new comers the world over.

I need one. Let us know when it's ready to ship.
Did you ever consider adding double stick tape as an option for the front trunk seal?

This is yet another great product Mike! Well done.

IMO - I've learned over the decades it seems to me you don't want to stop water from entering the channel. It just can't be done. Best luck I've ever had with corrosion is to NOT glue down the trunk seal allowing water to run down the channel and then give it an exit into the headlight buckets. 90% of all 914's are rusted there anyway, so I opt to simply not repair that section, just clean and paint it.

About 2-3 times a year, I remove the seal, clean and paint. Keeps the rust down to a min.

I agree with the not gluing down, it seems that the most corrosion is from the water trapped under the glue. If you must glue it in use a 3M weatherstrip adheasive. It stays tacky and holds it in place. However I did increase the base size by about 1/16" to allow it to wedge in slightly. You can see it in the picture. It's supposed to create a channel that will drain the water away to the front.

I don't glue mine in either....lets me remove to keep the channel clean.

Looks great! I will need one as well.

I'd like a front trunk seal as well when they are available.

Thanks!

And the rainy season is just around the corner

Dang, got the old one from you. Wonder if i can trim that extra lip off??

It's official. This one ate my lunch. I finally go the first parts cut and bonded and made the first one. Looks beautiful, a nice solid extrusion. But the reason the factory made the original seals foam was to allow them to compress. The new seal holds the front trunk up too much. It may be able to be trimmed, and I could play with it, but at this point I'm going back to the foam rubber version.

That was an expensive flop!

hmmm wondering the same thing?
so these dont seal very good?

Maybe you can have a group buy for the foam version to help recover some of the R&D on the design that didn't work. I happen to have 4 cars that will need new front seals.

I thought the same thing at first, but the vertical portion of the seal is too stout. It Pushes up on the hood too much. To cut 1000' of material would also be quite an undertaking.

What I will do, is send anyone who wants the raw extrusion (about a 20' piece) for free if you cover the shipping. If any one comes up with a better idea I'd sure like to see it.

Thanks,
Mark

As I have a few people that need these I will be switching back to the foam, at least for now.

Perhaps making the seal wider, but with a hole thru the center would allow it to compress more but still maintain it's shape.

As an architect, a large part of my professional life deals with making sure water doesn't get into things. It's much better to give the water an easy way to run out than to try and keep it from getting in, because it'll *always* find a way in.

I'm all to familiar with water penetration issues in my railing business. My though process was simular to yours, make the seal slightly larger on the bottom so that it would wedge up and carry the water away to the low point. Only this created stress on the curve that preloaded the rubber so that it had tension. Now the seal dosen't compress as much as when it's not in the channel. It holds the lid up too much. If and when I revisit this I would look at decreasing the thickness of the vertical portion and channel width at the base. I'd also look at neoprene. It would add more to the cost of the seal but would be an excellent product.

Thanks for the imput. I allways appreciate a fresh set of ideas.
-mark

Mark, Put one of these aside for me. I've got a race car coming in later in the week that will get hood pins. I know I will need a bunch of your products, so as soon as the car gets here I will inventory what all need, put in an order with you and you can put this in with everything else.

T.C.

Better hurry only 940' left!
Just kidding, I should have aplenty. Just let me know. This could be used to do the lower section of your trunk seal in the front, if you have a headlight delete.

I'd be interested in enough of the 'reject' material to put in my front trunk. I don't have a seal at all

I'f I'm understanding correctly, the hood won't close AS FAR with this? or it doesn't close at all?

You can get it to close (barely). If you took your time you possibly modify it to be useable. Happy to ship you some, it's just taking up space now.