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Sun May 09, 2021 5:04 pm

I realize there is a lot of information on the site for installing Headlight Seals or Gaskets. Much of it warns that this is a challenging task so I was prepared to take my time and get it right. I put about 4 hours into doing the first headlight but I have high hopes that the second will only take about 15 minutes. Can't give it a try yet as I'm still working on restoring the other headlight bucket. Here's some information I learned while installing mine. Obviously there's more than one way to install these so this might not be the best way but here is what worked for me.

Like so many other seals and gaskets, this all depends on where your new seals come from and who made them. I had two sets of new seals and they were drastically different. The first set were installed new by the PO in 2019. They were straight and not connected at the ends and had been glued on with yellow gasket adhesive. A month or two later, I was able to remove the seals without damaging them. They were in good enough shape to use them again. I have no idea who made them but my best guess is either CIP1 or KGPR. I wish I knew for sure because these were the seals that worked best on my car.

I bought a second set which was old stock made by West Coast Metric. I did not buy them direct from WCM, but from an ad on TheSamba. These were in a ring which seemed to make sense to me. They were a bit harder, and considerably larger.

I made a sketch of the cross sections of each seal including measurements.

The seal on the bottom is from West Coast Metric.

The lip around the hole for the headlight sticks out only 5mm wide and the seal sits on this lip.

I started with the larger seal because it was in a ring and I hoped it would stay on the lip like a rubber band. I wanted to avoid using any adhesive or tape. The metal catch that protrudes upward to engage the chrome ring is exactly 5mm in front of the fender and this seal is 8mm so either it needs to be compressed or trimmed.

It didn't seem likely that the engineers would have intended for the seal to be trimmed and after a few minutes of trying to get this seal on, I decided to concentrate my efforts on the smaller seal.
The first thing I did is glue the ends together to make a ring, like the other larger seal. The seal only needed to be stretched slightly to go over the lip. I was excited to find that the seal now would stay in place around the lip without any tape or anything else to hold it on. I was done for the night and the next morning I was surprised to find the seal still in place.

I thought I was practically done!! Turned out I was not! When I tried to put the chrome ring on , the top 2 or 3 inches on either side of center were not staying even when the chrome ring compressed the seal. The lip was not perfectly round at the top. This fender had a small metal patch welded to repair a small area of rust on the fender above the headlight and I suspect this repair had something to do with this. I hated to do it, but I tried gasket adhesive just on the top section to get the seal to stay higher. After a few hours of drying I stretched the rest of the seal around the lip. Looked like this was working but when I tried to install the chrome ring over the seal, the initial downward movement of the ring pulled the seal down with it. This was not going to work.

Somehow I had to raise the seal in order to make the rubber seal stay in the same circle as the chrome ring. I cut some inner tube rubber into 4mm wide strips and placed them under the rubber seal in the areas that were too low. After a few test fittings of the chrome ring, I was able to apply 4 or 5 carefully placed strips in the right places. The thin strips of inner tube rubber are visible under the rubber seal in this picture.

I finally was able to install the chrome ring one last time. Even though the rubber seal was not glued on, it never fell off during the 3 or 4 times that the chrome ring was put on and off.
Final Result.

Mon May 10, 2021 1:27 am

Great tip, thanks! Turned out perfect!
I´m having exactly the same problems as you.
Don´t you hate those big problems that occurs
just because the manufacturers of reprostuff
don´t pay attention to the small details?
In this case 3 mm.. :lol: :cry:

Mon May 10, 2021 4:31 am

Burman wrote: Great tip, thanks! Turned out perfect!
I´m having exactly the same problems as you.
Don´t you hate those big problems that occurs
just because the manufacturers of reprostuff
don´t pay attention to the small details?
In this case 3 mm.. :lol: :cry:

You are welcome. Glad this will help someone. It would be nice if we could all have the ability to buy this stuff in person so we could feel the rubber for ourselves and compare them to originals if we have anything left for comparison. Buying these repro parts sight unseen is gambling. I've noticed that good detail photos of the parts is rarely on line, nor a picture of a successful installation of the part.

When it comes to seals and gaskets, I'd like to see the dealers post pictures of cross sections with measurements so that we know what we are getting.

I bought a set of new repro arm rests for my car. When I went to test fit them on the original door panels, they were too short and the studs did not line up with the holes on the panel. The dealer told me to just drill a new hole!!.. :shock: First of all the pressed in outline of the original arm rests would show no matter how I install the repro, and second I'm not going to drill any holes in my nice original door panels, so no thanks. They took them back but the return shipping cost nearly half of what I paid. Later found a nice set of original arm rests. Best to just wait for the originals to come around.

Tue May 11, 2021 7:13 am

Great installation tip!
I have a none too fond recollection of trying to get the headlight ring seals to sit properly. I eventually did it but now have no idea how. I'm thinking it involved a roll of blue painters tape and a whole bunch of cursing!
After seeing your rubber strip trick I now wonder if a large rubber band might have worked as well?

Tue May 11, 2021 8:18 am

Not only are many repro parts garbage but now a lot of stuff is out of stock.

Tue May 11, 2021 8:24 am

Braukuche wrote: Not only are many repro parts garbage but now a lot of stuff is out of stock.

In many cases, that's a blessing. =D>

Tue May 11, 2021 9:22 am

Is this a Sticky yet? I don't see it. Does someone have to formally recommend? I formally recommend this become a sticky!! Great write up Marc.

Jeff

EDIT: Just checked again after I wrote this..it is added as a Sticky!! Scary timing!

Tue May 11, 2021 1:15 pm

Thank you Jeff. Always like sharing any thing that could help others.

Do you know if the seals were glued on from the factory? I've been thinking about when headlights need replacing
or adjusting and wondering if the factory took into account not having the seals come off accidently. Although I suspect it doesn't
take long for the seals to become more or less seated or formed to their location and they stay on without any kind of adhesive?

Tue May 11, 2021 3:30 pm

Hi Marc, it has been a while, but I always seem to remember those seals having some kind of adhesive, just because of the location, and like you said, when changing the headlights and taking the chrome ring off. Not sure if it was factory as I only remember a few new originals from when I was a kid, but wasn't paying attention to those parts at the time. I suspect most PO's glued them on for the same reason, not to lose them. I went ahead and used clear gorilla glue and tape to hold them in place, they never move and are so stiff I have trouble getting the ring over that small lip to hold in place. You took a long time and did a good job going the route you went. I suspect most people, like me, glue them down because they are such a pain to keep in place, constantly rolling off when trying to work them in place. Great alternative you came up with, I'm sure it will help lot's of people!
Jeff

Tue May 31, 2022 4:43 am

I posted this in my build thread, but since this is a sticky I thought I'd post it here as well, as people searching would be more likely to find it.

I spent a couple weeks fussing with these seals before I came up with this solution, because I was adamant in not using any adhesive on the car to keep them in place.

My headlight ring seals came already glued together into a circle (don't recall where I bought them as it was a few years ago before I stripped the car), and they were much too small to stay in place by themselves. You had to really stretch them to get them to fit around the lip of the headlight bucket. The problem was, that as they stretched they had a tendency to fall off the metal lip (my car was a bare metal resto with no bondo or repairs in the headlight bucket).
What I found was that small pieces of painters tape placed just on the edge of the seal were enough to hold it in place under tension. Then it was easy to install the headlight ring on top. Once the headlight ring was secured, the painters tape simply pulled out from between the seal and the headlight ring, without disturbing the placement of the seal.

The pieces of painters tape pull out easily from between the ring and seal

Tue May 31, 2022 10:35 am

Painters tape tip is fantastic.

Wed Jun 01, 2022 2:45 pm

Braukuche wrote: Painters tape tip is fantastic.

That’s exactly how I ended up doing mine years ago.
That plus a whole lot of cursing!
Did I say a whole lot of cursing!?!?

Wed Jun 01, 2022 11:51 pm

I cursed a lot too. Then I got out a small brush and put small dabs of contact adhesive in a few choice spots so the rubber ring would stay in place.
It must have been a Sunday evening when I did this...there was no painters tape and the shops were shut.

Nicholas

Tue Jan 03, 2023 1:07 pm

Installed the headlight gaskets on my wife’s car without any issues. Used the blue painters tape trick suggested by Era Vulgaris. Worked great. Only thing I did different was after installing the chrome ring I sprayed the blue tape with window cleaner to make it easier to remove the tape from the gasket and fender. Thanks much for a great idea.

Tue Jan 03, 2023 2:16 pm

Well done!
The cursing really does help though 😃

Tue Jan 03, 2023 3:55 pm

Legacy wrote: Installed the headlight gaskets on my wife’s car without any issues. Used the blue painters tape trick suggested by Era Vulgaris. Worked great. Only thing I did different was after installing the chrome ring I sprayed the blue tape with window cleaner to make it easier to remove the tape from the gasket and fender. Thanks much for a great idea.

Glad it worked for you!

Mon Sep 15, 2025 8:57 pm

So annoying! I've got the WCM seals for my '72, and there is no way -- no way -- that the trim ring will fit over them. They are enormous. I'm going to try the "German quality" seals from CIP1.

How could something this simple be this hard? :roll:

And I'm puzzled by WCM. Why do they keep producing something that clearly doesn't work? And here I am with two boxes full of seals that came with the car, all from WCM ... I hope my luck improves!

Mon Sep 15, 2025 10:37 pm

My body guy figured out an easier way to install the rubber seals for the headlight. He first fitted the trim ring loosely and the fitted the rubber seal and pushed it into the gap between the trim and the body with a plastic tool. Then tightened the trim ring. 2 min.

Tue Sep 16, 2025 7:41 pm

bnam wrote: My body guy figured out an easier way to install the rubber seals for the headlight. He first fitted the trim ring loosely and the fitted the rubber seal and pushed it into the gap between the trim and the body with a plastic tool. Then tightened the trim ring. 2 min.

That is EXACTLY what I was going to try! Very cool -- I'm going to try it for sure, now. Thanks for the tip!

UPDATE:
I actually just got back from trying it in the garage. I did get it to work, even on the Sumo-sized seals from WCM. Here are some additional tips:
* Use a LOT of lube on the seal, the ring, and the fender opening.
* Start by looping the seal behind the retaining lip on the top of the fender opening. Then compress it hard with the trim ring while hooking the ring over the lip. Trust me, it will be hard to do, but at least this way it is possible to get that seal behind the lip.
* Be very careful -- the rubber can easily be damaged even by a plastic trim tool. Use the flat side of the tool to push. Don't push it with the edge.

I got one on, but tore the other, so I'll be ordering a new set anyway! :lol: I do NOT recommend the WCM set. But when I get a new set, this is definitely the method I will use!

Wed Sep 17, 2025 12:52 pm

Ghia Dan wrote:

* Use a LOT of lube on the seal, the ring, and the fender opening.

I dunno man, I wouldn't want to be putting lube all over the place there. Even if you clean off what's on the exterior, you'll never get it all on the sides of the seal that are touching the body. It'll trap dirt, which when sandwiched between the seal and the body, will have the potential to essentially become sandpaper and wear through your paint.

Also fyi, WCM seals are pretty much all useless: they're almost all too thick and the rubber way too hard. "German" labeled seals are usually made by Vewib, which are the best and actually made in Germany. Airhead parts also makes alot of really great seals for US-made seals.