Installing Rubber Seals for Fresh Air Grills

[Marcdeb]

[Peter D.]

I know this thread is kind of old but has anyone had problems fitting the reproduction grills from Airhead?

I just test fit mine before paint and they would not go in. The old ones fit perfectly. I have original panels in this area so I can't blame the welding or body filler.

I may try again and play around with the tabs on the side or try to bend.

Suggestions?
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2019 Golf Alltrack, '65 Ghia Coupe Restoration in Progress

[Ian Godfrey]

All the repro grills I have seen were a poor fit compared to 'old good'. I was able to grind the back of the lip to made one set fit 'better' and the rubber seal hides the grinding. An other approach is to disassemble you old grills, strip the old anodising, polish, reassemble and re-anodise. A lot of work!

[Peter D.]

Yeah, I might have to do that!

Currently scouring the internet for cart trim anodizers
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2019 Golf Alltrack, '65 Ghia Coupe Restoration in Progress

[Olli from NJ]

Peter,

I just tried fitting the grills that I have from Airhead. You are right, they don't really fit. My original ones fit right in. My original ones aren't too bad really, they just look weathered I suppose. I am very apprehensive about taking them apart to remove the anodizing to polish them. I might just wetsand off the anodizing on the forward edges and polish them.

Did you have any luck in finding an anodizer?

Olli

[Peter D.]

I contacted Airhead yesterday about the grills not fitting. They apologized and said they would get back to me. I'm going to attempt to fit them one more time by sanding or bending. But my car is in the paint shop an hour away from me so it could be a while before I get back there.

There's a few businesses spread around the country that can re-plate automotive aluminum. None of them are cheap!

www.triplefautomotive.com

https://www.iversonautomotive.com/services/types-of-restoration/aluminum/

http://www.qualityanodizing.com/index.html

https://kingoftrim.com/

The first company to get back to me said that my grills were not restorable as they were too pitted. He added that VW aluminum was very poor quality back in the 60's.

Taking the grills apart is not really hard, just carefully bend the tabs back. On the curved side of the grill, the tabs should stick out at a 90 degree angle. On the vertical side of the grill, make the tabs straight out. Then you can just wiggle the pieces out. This also makes it easier to clean and straighten them if they are slightly curved.

Might even powdercoat them. Probably cheaper to do.

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2019 Golf Alltrack, '65 Ghia Coupe Restoration in Progress

[crocteau]

[Olli from NJ]

I am going to stick with my original German grills. I spent some more time cleaning them and they are very presentable.

More fun with Airhead. I started putting one of the seals on. I decided to use some weather stripping adhesive. The adhesive was working out really well and I was just about all the way around until I saw that I was about 1/2" short. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I then compared it to the other seal. Yup 1/2" shorter! Thanks Airhead. I ordered some seals from WCM. Now I have to wait a week to continue the grill installation.

Olli

[Peter D.]

Hmmm, the grills don't fit but I wouldn't assume the seals are bad!

I would take the seals off and remove the adhesive. Then staple or glue the ends of the seal together. They were originally held together with a staple. Anyway, the rubber seals should have enough stretch in them to make up for that half inch of play or being too short

I think someone pointed out earlier in this thread, you might need to trim or notch the rubber where it wraps around the curves so it doesn't bunch up. The original seal I have off a 67 was slightly narrower. Might have shrunk from age or it might be that the new seals are too wide.
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2019 Golf Alltrack, '65 Ghia Coupe Restoration in Progress

[rcooled]

I got a set of grills from what's now called Airhead Parts back when they were known as KGP&R (Karmann Ghia Parts & Restoration). They fit perfectly and look exactly the same as original OEM parts. Maybe they changed suppliers at some point?
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'63 Ragtop (current)
'65 Ghia coupe (totaled)
'67 Ghia convertible (current)
'69.5 Ghia convertible and
'62, '63, '65, '69 Bugs (all long gone)

[Peter D.]

I also got mine from Airhead. And you're right, they look really nice.

My only guess is that early runs of this part fit fine but the quality control, tooling, machinery, whatever, has slipped over time. They're made in a factory overseas where no one cares and they go on the shelf in CA and they're sent to the customer without being checked.
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2019 Golf Alltrack, '65 Ghia Coupe Restoration in Progress