Bert,
Good job! As you guys know I buy a lot of unobtanium car parts from
Lowes<grin>
Ingenuity wins evey time!
Cheers, dave
On Mon, 6 Jul 2015, Bert Knupp wrote:
Volks,
I know that everyone is wondering how I solved my VW hood emblem problem. You
may recall that the three pins on my VW emblem
did not match up with the three holes in my 1970-something aftermarket (but
Original VW Parts) hood with the flat emblem area.
My former hood – a Brazilian aftermarket job – had three holes each containing
a polyethylene tube grommet, allowing the pins of
the emblem to push neatly down into them and stay put.
The PE tube grommets seem to be unobtainium. I like that attachment system
since it allows removal of the emblem with no damage
to the pins, something the usual push clips don't guarantee. SO I made a
substitute. For you authenticity buffs, here's my
solution. (Somebody else said, "Just glue it." Sorry, not my style.)
Using the long 5/32" polyethylene tube from a used Windex bottle, I heated the
end of it almost to melting, then pushed it
firmly in turn onto each of the emblem's 3 pins. It slid on, then mushroomed out a
bit at the leading tip as it "bottomed
out." I cut off each piece kust short of the pin length.
Into a scrap of inner-tube rubber, I punched three 5/32" holes, then cut out
little pieces around the holes. These three slid
neatly onto the Windex tubing covered pins.
But I did have to drill. Using a Dremel tool, I gently expanded and spaced each of
the three holes in the hood to about 5/32" Ø
or a smidge larger, using my emblem and its new plastic-covered pins as a
guide. Cleaned them, then covered all exposed metal
with a touch-up paint brush (using close-matching Rust-Oleum) and let them dry
for a half day or so. This afternoon I carefully
set my emblem onto the holes, made sure it was well aligned, and pressed the
emblem firmly down into the new holes. Ta-daa! It
was a firm, but clean fit! The emblem is in the right place, sits down onto
the hood (with a paper thickness between it and the
paint, allowing drainage), and looks like a factory job. I'll seal the
underside with some brush-daubed Rust-Oleum.
I regret that I can't find a hood with the raised pedestal for the round VW
emblem. The VW dealers only sold flat hoods as
replacement parts, and my 1970 really, really should have had a raised one. The
incorrectness aside, though, this DIY grommeting
system appears to have worked well. I won't be getting rain water into my
trunk, I shouldn't have any rust, and the emblem
looks like factory-correct.
Thanks to all you guys -- Yves and Lloyd in particular but also Mike and Erin
(N.Q.) -- for tips and ideas.
What a list!
Bert Knupp in Music City
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