My 1975 914 still has what looks like the original bonnet rubber seal . there are gaps where the rubber has shrunk , some of the mitred joints have parted , so I thought I would replace it .

Not looking like a good decision ! I bought a 'new' seal from another 914 owner , it was bundled up for postage , and that crushed some of the sections . This was 2 years back so I pegged it out with some weights to regain its original contours

This seal is all in one piece and the material appears to be synthetic grey-black foam rather than solid old school black rubber .

OK , so I decided to fit it today . Carefully removed the pieces of the old stuff , the old adhesive had lost its grip so that was easy , no paint removed !

Offer up new seal . The sharp angles at the windscreen end of the bonnet are not well matched to the new seal , but could be persuaded to fit without breaking the mitre joint.....but all the long straight sections have to be stretched . so much so that I think the corner joints will part. So have downed tools on it .

can anyone point me at the proper procedure?

Im guessing that glueing down corner before stretching to next corner is necessary

Am also thinking that there might be a better replacement seal out there , I probably have a poor copy of the OEM seal ?

OK , am replying to my own post ! Just found this on youtube from 914Rubber

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6_fPjX4b8A

Some double back rape will help hold it in place until it relaxes.

The originals were running material for the straight sections and had molded one piece
rear corners glued to the straights. Those ~50 degree molded rear corners did not
fail and did fit well. It's hard to find originals in usable condition

OK , thanks guys . I think I might keep the original back corner pieces and cut the 'new' seal to butt up to them , there is enough straight material to avoid putting stretching stress on the front corners .