oil dipstick and engine seal questions

[Lanval]

OK, previous owner had removed some engine tin, and the blower stuff from the fan housing to the heat exchangers. I acquired all the parts from a fellow Sambian + 1 more from the super VW source.

I went to install the final piece today - the connector which runs from the fan housing to the passenger side heat exchanger. Many hours later, after using many power words, from various languages, questioning the parentage, intelligence and design skills of the VW engineers, I succeeded in fitting everything together. (I was VERY unhappy to discover that I had to remove the alt. to get that stupid connector in)

Question 1:

In the course of the work, I unscrewed the shaft which holds the oil dipstick, and moved it aside. When I went to rescrew it in, it seemed to me that the dipstick holder was no longer set in place. I can see a place for it to sit through the hole, but it doesn't appear to seating in any meaningful way. There is about 1/2" of shaft below the flange which sticks out, near the bottom. Is it broken off? How does this shaft seat into that hole down there? Is it simply held in place by the screw (i.e. once unscrewed it is supposed to be loose)?



Question 2:

At the Super VW Source, I acquired a new OEM (yes, in original red/black VW/Audi box) engine tin seal. My old seal was cut/damaged, and the tin needs to be resealed. Is this relatively easy to do? Do I need to remove the engine tin to do it? Should I keep my original seal for resale and purchase an aftermarket seal?

Thanks for any help in this matter.

Lanval

edit ~ figured out the oil dipstick. Sometimes it helps to have 3 Air-cooled westys, plus a full engine available to solve these little problems. So about that seal...