Hello,
I was trying to see how the issue of the headlights rubbing on the body was solved? Does anyone have any close-up pics or suggestions on how to deal with this?
I am aware that Bugs and 356's have a small lip protruding around the headlight that holds a gasket. My car doesn't have that lip.
BT
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I am attaching photos of my car back when I was swapping the headlight lens seals. Hopefully you'll be able to see how the seals you mention fit on the car and on the headlight rings.
Impala, thanks. Does the white seal in the second picture prevent the headlights from touching the paint? That seal looks too small.
The White seal goes between the glass and the housing. The Black seal, that you see on the chrome ring, is what goes against the paint.
Any closer pics of the black seal( I didn't even notice it)? Maybe a part number?
Is that seal something that that particular manufacturer came up with?
The white seal comes with the headlight assembly. The black "seal" is a "C" shaped door edge type of universal seal, and is not of the same type Porsche actually used. But it will protect the paint.
On a slightly unrelated note, I have been running headlight grilles with no glass. I pulled the headlight buckets out to change LED bulbs and found a lot of dead bugs behind the buckets. There is a gap between the headlight and the bucket they go through.
Those are what mine came with. T-shaped profile.
What you need to get is a headlight to body seal for a 56 - 66 VW sedan because that is what your headlights are. The VW part number is 111941191 and they come from Asia/China 
and Germany 
Most VW parts places have them, or you can see what's available from Bugcity.
https://www.bugcity.com/shop/s...query=headlight+seal
There are two different versions available that I know of (three, if you count Danny's "C" shaped version). One is "L" shaped, the other (and better) design is "T" shaped. The "T" is placed around the outside of the chrome trim ring and up against the body/paint such that the top of the "T" is flat against the body with one side of the leg of the "T" up against the trim ring.
The "L" shape goes around the trim ring with the flat bottom of the "L" tucked under the trim ring. Yes, they're a PITA to get on there and you may have to fiddle with the tab at the top of the headlight bucket in the body to make everything fit right, but that's how they work.
SoCal VW, CIP1 VW and others have these besides Bug City, but you may encounter other designs (like Danny's). They're called a headlight outer seal - body mount.
Good luck.
FYI, I have the T shaped seal. But I've seen a bunch of cars with the C shaped rubber on the headlight lip.
Ok, I have some seals from Sierra Madre(the "T" style)but I still can't conceptualizing how it works.
Do you put the headlight on car first and stretch the seal over it(obviously on the inside of the bottom bolt)? That doesn't seem to prevent the headlights from touching the paint.
It does fill up the gap but I'm sure the headlights still touch the paint.
Anyone have a link to the "C" style gasket?
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@bt , My VS came with the 'C' style seal, but I've never seen it advertised at any VW supplier.
On my car, it's not a 'ring' like the VW part Gordon mentions. It looks like a hardware store edge trim product that comes on a long roll and was cut to a length to match the circumference of the chrome trim ring.
For that reason, it's a pain getting to stay in place while fitting the headlight back onto the car. I've now hit on taping it to the chrome ring with masking tape until the light is mounted, and then removing the tape.
Once in place though, it does protect the paint. A quick check on Amazon found this, which looks like it's the right size and should work. You can get more than you need for $8, so it might be worth the risk, but maybe check your local hardware, first?
Cheers!
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Exactly what I've seen on various cars, Mitch.
@Sacto Mitch posted:.
@bt , My VS came with the 'C' style seal, but I've never seen it advertised at any VW supplier.
On my car, it's not a 'ring' like the VW part Gordon mentions. It looks like a hardware store edge trim product that comes on a long roll and was cut to a length to match the circumference of the chrome trim ring.
For that reason, it's a pain getting to stay in place while fitting the headlight back onto the car. I've now hit on taping it to the chrome ring with masking tape until the light is mounted, and then removing the tape.
Once in place though, it does protect the paint. A quick check on Amazon found this, which looks like it's the right size and should work. You can get more than you need for $8, so it might be worth the risk, but maybe check your local hardware, first?
Cheers!
.
A dot of super glue in a few places will make the seal stay put while you install the headlight.
I can't do that, Jim. If I used Super glue then I'm sure the "dot" would stick both me and the seal together.
Then, if I tried to get them apart, another finger would get stuck to the first (usually, but not always, from the same hand) and then as I pressed the seal in place those two fingers (and the seal) would get stuck to the body or trim ring or both.
No, with Super Glue, it's best to let sleeping seals lie.....
@bt The "hat" of the "T" goes flat against the body, and the inside of the "T" trunk fits up against the trim ring. Put the headlight bucket onto the hanging tab at the top but only install the screw at the bottom finger tight for now.
Start the seal at the top, pulling it around both left and right sides equally while moving the bottom screw tab closer to the body. Once you get things mostly together, you can do a final tightening of the screw.
While you do this you can adjust the seal by pulling it here and there to get it even all around. It takes a couple of tries to get it right (more, if you're OCD like me) but it should fit around and look sharp.
You may have to adjust the top tab on the body to get it to fit right at the top. Bend the upright part of the tab in or out to get a good fit at the top and then work your way around to the bottom equally on both sides.
Gordon, I never had much use for that super glue. I do have some experience gluing my fingers together; usually at least 3 at a time. Sometimes both hands glued together about the time you need to pee. The secret is the DOT!
This is really one of only two things I've ever found super glue useful for.
@Sacto Mitch posted:.For that reason, it's a pain getting to stay in place while fitting the headlight back onto the car. I've now hit on taping it to the chrome ring with masking tape until the light is mounted, and then removing the tape.
That's exactly what I do Mitch. Works great.
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That's what I thought, Troy.
I tried Jim's super glue once and spent all that summer with a headlight ring on my elbow. This is awkward in restaurants that require a dinner jacket.
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Y'all too funny
Gordon, I never had much use for that super glue. I do have some experience gluing my fingers together; usually at least 3 at a time. Sometimes both hands glued together about the time you need to pee. The secret is the DOT!
This is really one of only two things I've ever found super glue useful for.
Just make sure the super glue is DRY before you pee. You know if its not, the "best" thing to happen will be you'll glue your fingers to the zipper...and the "worst" will be you'll glue them to "you-know-what." 
A dot of super glue in a few places will make the seal stay put while you install the headlight.
Rather than super glue, I'd recommend 3M Weatherstriping adhesive aka Monkey Snot. The drawback being you'd need to let it set up.
“3M Weatherstriping adhesive“
Another great product that works well, just don’t get any onya. It starts to peel off like any other glue (except for Super glue, of course) but it leaves a residue embedded into your skin that you’ll haftah blast with dynamite to get off.
Remember..... If you use it, wear Nitrile gloves!
And if you want to remove it later on (from the car, not your skin), NAPA sells a “Universal WeatherStrip Glue Remover” that will (eventually) cut through it.
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Masking tape sticks immediately, you can remove any that gets in the wrong place with no consequences, you don't have to wait for it to set up, it leaves the seal completely free of the trim ring, so when the seal needs replacing, that's easily done, it comes in a variety of designer shades, and is gluten free.
What's more, it has been personally endorsed by Troy Sloan, who has installed more headlight trim rings than probably any other human in the Western Hemisphere.
There can be no question that masking tape is the perfect adhesive for the job.
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Since this thread is drifting like a North Dakota back road:
Does anybody else use super-glue as a first aid staple? I keep a fresh tube on hand at all times, and glue cuts back together at least once a month. It's (by far) the most practical use of super-glue, since gluing skin together is what super-glue does best.
True story:
5 or so years ago, we were changing a rooftop HVAC unit on a strip mall, and I was headed down my extension ladder for maybe the 20th time that day. I took a step off the edge of the roof, and the ladder (which wasn't tied off) kicked out. I rode it down (apx 18 ft from roof edge to pavement) and landed on my back, banging my right elbow on the blacktop. I laid there with the ladder on top of me, determining if anything was broken. Everything important was somehow still intact, but the impact had split the elbow open pretty impressively. I decided to go home to have Jeanie glue me up, rather than go to the ER (I didn't want a work-comp claim). This was by no means the first (or last) time such a decision has been made in my life.
When I got home, she was really mad that I came home to bleed on the floor rather than go to the ER. We happened to be out of new tubes of glue, and all the open tubes were dried up. She made me take a shower to clean out the cut, then lay on my back on the bathroom floor while she drove out to get a fresh tube. I felt exactly like a beached whale laying there naked on the floor bleeding into an old tee-shirt wrapped around the elbow. I think she stopped for a cup of coffee along the way, because I was laying there for the better part of an hour.
Anyhow, she glued me up, I thanked her, and all was well for a day or two-- until the whole thing got pretty puffy and angry red. I wanted to go to Farm and Fleet to get some bovine antibiotics to shoot, but Jeanie put her foot down. I went to the prompt care, where they took one look at it and sent me to the ER.
I got to the ER about the same time as a drive-by shooting was happening in Peoria, so I got pushed into a back room while more pressing matters were attended to. When the nurse finally looked at me, I thought she was going to throw me out-- she and Jeanie had a nice discussion (right in front of me) regarding idiots getting what was deserved (and the like). It was 3 hrs before I saw the ER doc (I think deliberately). When he came in, I was fully expecting another lecture.
However, he was fantastic-- and fully vindicated my approach. We talked about antibiotics from farm supply places, and he pointed me where I could get "Vietnam powder" (coagulant). He loved the super-glue thing, and said that he would've done the same thing had I come the first day. The look on the nurse and Jeanie's faces almost made the entire thing worth it.
He opened the cut back up, drained it, and wrote a script for some nice, strong antibiotics after he stitched me up. He wrote it for 2 courses, so I could have a batch for the next time I needed it. We talked about when I could take the stitches out, as everybody in the room knew I wasn't coming back to have somebody else do it.
This was the only time (in probably 50 times of doing it) I've ever had a problem.
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I'm sorry, Stan, but I think we were doing pretty well at staying on topic. This started, after all, as a discussion of how to get a headlight mounted and properly sealed. In fact, this could be the longest we've stayed true to an initial topic in many months.
But your falling off a ladder and ending up in the ER several days later is far more captivating than anything we were able to put together about headlight seals, so thanks, at least, for lifting the discussion.
And I do agree that for treating your injuries, masking tape would have been a poor choice.
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Sorry for the drift, but adding on Stan's drift: I once heard Super glue was developed as an instant "suture" for medics in Vietnam.
In related drift, I once worked in a machine shop that built automated valves for, among other things, nuclear power plants. (Remember those?)
Part of the QC process was pressure testing. The rig required ORings to seal the flanges on the valves and, with about 30 valves in the catalogue, rather than stock 30 different sizes of O rings, we used a roll of 3/16" rubber cord and cut to fit and super glued together. Worked fine all the way to 5,000psi.
Based on that experience, one time I cut an inner tube with a tire iron. Super glued it together and it held just fine for another few thousand miles until I changed tires.
Two things super glue works best on: Skin and rubber. Stan, you're not alone. Besides first aid, I use super glue to replace crowns that come loose until I can get to the dentist.
@Sacto Mitch posted:.I'm sorry, Stan, but I think we were doing pretty well at staying on topic. This started, after all, as a discussion of how to get a headlight mounted and properly sealed. In fact, this could be the longest we've stayed true to an initial topic in many months.
I respectfully present the counterpoint:
Gordon, I never had much use for that super glue. I do have some experience gluing my fingers together; usually at least 3 at a time. Sometimes both hands glued together about the time you need to pee. The secret is the DOT!
This is really one of only two things I've ever found super glue useful for.
@Napa Paul posted:Just make sure the super glue is DRY before you pee. You know if its not, the "best" thing to happen will be you'll glue your fingers to the zipper...and the "worst" will be you'll glue them to "you-know-what."
This thread has become a medical education and that is why I frequent this website.
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Stan, it's just a question of perspective.
For this forum, that IS staying on topic. It's just that we're thorough. We need to examine all aspects of a topic.
Suppose, for example, someone is alone in his garage installing a headlight some morning at 2 am and considers using super glue to help finish the delicate task. What other forum than ours would caution him in advance of the impropriety of such a decision, with graphic examples of the consequences?
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Stan Galat:
I am so happy to hear that a fall from a rooftop on a ladder (not tied off!) resulted in only a cut elbow! Should you wish to review my safety training on, OSHA’s “working at height,” I would be happy to forward my PowerPoint, videos and photos. So many people fall from ladders that ladder safety and fixed vertical ladders have become a huge focus enforcement from our government safety troopers!
Great story for sure! Your wife sounds like she reacts like mine... “So, what the hell did you do now?” Lol
Jim
In over thirty years of using super glue on model airplanes, I have never once glued my fingers to my "extra" finger. Not once.
I have glued fingers together, and to many different airplane parts LOL. Nail polish remover gets them undone.
I also use super glue on cuts. It works like a charm, but I always clean it first, and use a fresh bottle of glue.
Somewhere I read ... "Gravity (and high voltage) is not Stan's friend"
The Surprising History of Super Glue:
@Safety Jim Buffalo NY. posted:Stan Galat:
I am so happy to hear that a fall from a rooftop on a ladder (not tied off!) resulted in only a cut elbow! ...
Jim
He landed on his head so it absorbed most of the shock. 
@Lane Anderson posted:He landed on his head so it absorbed most of the shock.
Exactly.
My theory is that Stan is nigh invulnerable.
@edsnova posted:My theory is that Stan is nigh invulnerable.
Hardly.
I spent the entire day on the couch yesterday, back brace on and TENS machine running continuously. L1-L5 discs are all bad, and about 2-4 times a year, some routine motion will pop one to the side and I'm down for the count. Yesterday it was from rolling over in bed Saturday night.
My hands take at least 15 minutes of clenching and opening my fists before the fingers are limber enough to keyboard. I have what I'd estimate to be about 25% bloodflow and feeling in the right index finger. They are a mess.
My left triceps tendon was reattached twice, and I've got about half the push strength on that side, as compared to the other. My knees creak when I walk. My musculature long since overpowered my framework, so lifting/pushing/moving heavy objects is something I can do, but the acts of doing them will wreck me (sometimes for weeks) if I do them wrong. I'm often in the position of lifting in some contorted position with the full knowledge that I'll likely be laid up for some indeterminate period of time afterward.
I need to get out of this business, but it pays the bills and it's all I know how to do and it keeps me productive. I've been poor, and I'd rather hurt.
I take a pill to help me get to sleep, use a CPAP machine to help me breathe once I get there, have hearing aids to help me understand normal conversation, and eat a fistful of supplements every morning and night. I'm on BP, cholesterol, and blood sugar medication (along with a couple of other scripts I'd rather not divulge). My Dr. tells me I have the cardiovascular system of an 85 year old man. She's super-encouraging like that. Stress may have something to do with most of the things in this paragraph.
Lots of days I feel like freaking Frankenstein- made upright and ambulatory by use of crude medicine and willpower. The struggle is with that willpower- everything hurts all the time.
Vulnerability: I has plenty of it.
Hate these issues for you, Stan. You have certainly found ways to circumvent these things than would stop mere mortals. Advil and persevere
are your friends. Hang in there buddy.
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