TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sun Aug 03, 2008 5:10 am

Just bought three rubber "parts" (9 individual pieces) for my '71 Convertible from West Coast Metric, one of the biggest suppliers of such parts. These included door to vent window rubber, and top to window seal kit. How would it be to actually have these pre-cut to size, AND to also have holes drilled in them for the little screws????? I did one door post so far, seven little screws, and makes what should be a 3 minute job more like 20. I'm sure all other suppliers are similar, but why can't the suppliers make it easier for us, or at least mark where to drill holes? Seems I had a similar issue years ago with door-window rubber seals.

Sun Aug 03, 2008 8:04 am

More complexity would increase the time and cost. They want to make the most money for the least cost.

Are the screw holes always in the same place on every car? Maybe pre-drilling holes doesn't make sense.

I'm glad they didn't drill holes because I used some of those pieces for my Type 34 and if holes were drilled, they would have been in the wrong place for me.

Sun Aug 03, 2008 2:24 pm

I'm always glad when parts like that can be made to fit better by me than they could.

Sun Aug 03, 2008 3:58 pm

Yeah, but it's like 115F in my garage this time of year !!! That's why I'm on the computer now instead of out there doing more !!!

Mon Aug 04, 2008 8:06 pm

And today I installed another piece of Converible rubber; 2 down, 7 to go.

Thu Aug 07, 2008 12:03 pm

Now four installed, five to go. Discovered it was easier to punch holes in the rubber with an awl than to drill the rubber, and faster as well. Still haven't figured out why the metal strips on both sides holding rubber seals above the front two windows have a long strip, then a smaller broken strip holding in the rubber, doesn't make sense. Karmann surely could've done a better job cutting smaller strips to fit if the longer one wasn't completely long enough. Call Robert Stack, another unsolved mystery, as I've had the '71 since 1976, so that rubber most likely was the original and never messed with.