Inexpensive high quality pop top seal for 65-67 Westy camper

[Rain's Westy]

Just a quick note ... After a few years of use the Pop top seal I bought from Wolfsburg West fell apart.. the rubber tube separated from the part of the seal that attaches to the fibreglass top body... I found a solution and a source for a much better quality seal at the local junk yard ... the rear hatch weatherstrip from a Ford Windstar minivan has the same runner profile and is MUCH better quality .. cost? $ 8.00 ! The profile has an extra lip that you can turn towards the inside or just slice off with a razor blade . ALSO the Windstar weatherstrip is the exact correct length as is for a 66 Westy pop top and requires no cutting or trimming whatsoever just press it on ... So much for the crappy ones that sell for $50 new.... I wonder if anyone will ever reproduce the original VW profile?

[kombisutra]

[crofty]

I'd like to see anoriginal one too. The WW one I bought 10+ years ago is working just fine.
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Your Vanagon sucks, Stop waving at me.

[kombisutra]

I've spent some time looking and come up with zero images of the correct 63-67 poptop profile. It's an impressive situation. Basically, due to fact that so few of these original seals are actually still intact, the aftermarket companies have been able to very successfully bowl virtually all the early Westy owners into believing the current wrong seals are actually the right seals. The guy with the Velvet Green Westy down in Southern California still has the correct seal on his... I think the guy has TWO Velvet Green Westies... I forget his name, mid-fifties, heavyset, very cool dude.

Anyone else out there with an image of the correct profile for the early poptop seal, please post it. Thanks.

[srfndoc]

[bjeles]

My seal is original on my bus and is in perfect shape I'll take a picture of it tonight.
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My cars
1961 rag
1962 convertible
1965 double cab
1965 SO-42 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=470425&highlight=survivor+westy
1974 thing

[crofty]

[crofty]

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Your Vanagon sucks, Stop waving at me.

[bjeles]

Here is a picture from above

And with it open.

I'll get the cross section picture tonight.
_________________
My cars
1961 rag
1962 convertible
1965 double cab
1965 SO-42 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=470425&highlight=survivor+westy
1974 thing

[kombisutra]

[bjeles]

Here is mine, no metal all seal.

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My cars
1961 rag
1962 convertible
1965 double cab
1965 SO-42 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=470425&highlight=survivor+westy
1974 thing

[kombisutra]

Thank you for the detail. It's my opinion that they didn't use three different pop top seal profiles, thus, this third type of seal which I have not seen before, is more than likely a clever hardware store alternative. It appears that there is material still stuck to the glue, as if the seal is light, like foam weather stripping.

Anyone else with more information, please chime in. I tried to find Ross Harmon's membership here so as to go through his photo gallery, but can't seem to pull it under his name.

Crofty's image above matches the seal I am talking about. As funny as the analogy may be, in fact, this ever-increasingly rare, correct pop-top seal is nearly an exact replication of these lips:

[Clara]

[srfndoc]

This one definitely qualifies as a low mileage, untouched SO 42:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=470425&highlight=survivor+westy

We really need more pictures of it to document the minutia. I believe he was going to check the profile on the poptop seal.
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[kombisutra]

The Obsolete Aircooled Documentation Project had a scanned copy of the SO42 Parts list which included the part sketch and Part Number:

Part # 231067997

http://oacdp.org/so42/25.png

I wouldn't think a seal that is so obvious, so large and significant to such a valuable and desirable model could possibly be overlooked by the aftermarket, yet, I will continue to believe it is so.

Here is an actual untouched SO44. It looks to have something like Chris Barnes' seal, the Salt Monster's kisser AND what Ross Harmon and I had on our buses.

Seeking a cross section of this seal please.

[bjeles]

I put pictures of mine up last night, mine has black silicon holding it in place from who knows when. The texture is very similar to my original engine compartment seal.

I don't have any reason to question it's originality, this bus is not sun beat like my double cab from out west where all the remaining original seals are shot and most have been replaced over the years.

You never know it could be like my early curtains and scone lights there are many uncommon things about my eary 42.

Couple more pictures.

_________________
My cars
1961 rag
1962 convertible
1965 double cab
1965 SO-42 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=470425&highlight=survivor+westy
1974 thing

[kombisutra]

Thanks for the pics and help. Your bus is a great specimen!

Hoping to get some more input here. My goal of all this is to get the cross section into the hands of the aftermarket manufacturers so that we may again see this large correct seal reproduced.

Part # 231067997

http://oacdp.org/so42/25.png

[David Raistrick]

[David Raistrick]

[Rain's Westy]

you guys will not like this butI once found an NOS VW pop top seal in a small parts house near Moscow, Id that Ihad around for a few years ... It got sold for around $150 to a friend of Charlie Hamill about ten years ago who had a super low mileage 66-67 westy with a bad seal .. I do hope someone gets a good one and reproduces it properly ... I am sure there is alot of demand out there... Like EVERY Wesy in existence needs one...! The same rubber profile was used in early bay windows as well from what I remember.