Rear Bumper Seal to body Install on G-Body 911

[darkbeer]

I bought a new "OEM" rear bumper to body seal from our hosts (of course) and noted a few things when installing it on a 911 with the old style rear reflector. I believe that this OEM one was the 'later' version used with the newer rear reflector that had the red 'PORSCHE', rather then the '74-83 ???' early style black lettering 'PORSCHE' on the reflector. The 'early' style is bolted to the body and THE BOSSES BREAK OFF VERY EASILY. There are 'tabs' on the OEM strip, with 'peel and stick' sections patterned to, I believe, fit under the newer Red Porsche reflectors. It will not fit-slide up into the thin gap between the reflector and the body unless you eyeball the 'tabs' and trim them to fit with an exacto or razor. Of course, it is really easy to install if the reflector is removed BUT...as I stated, you will likely break off several and perhaps all the bosses that mount the old style reflector to the body, and they are NOT available anymore. So, I opted to try to install it without risking destroying my old reflector. After trimming and test fitting with the white plastic still covering the 'sticky' areas, I carefully peeled it off, then, without letting the 'sticky' face touch the body, till it was slid up into the proper position, I then use one of my wife's small art tools, although a small blade would work too, and pressed the 'sticky' to the body. The two ends with slots, go around below the tail lights into a metal flange, and you must remove the taillight housing in order to slide these section into place. Some trimming of each end may be necessary to fit against the 'bellows' after they are installed. This installation requires the complete removal of the rear bumper. This is a straight forward job, one person can do.
Best of luck.... and Don't try to remove your old reflector....you'll regret it.

[carwash]

Part number for this seal? I am looking for a body to bumper seal for a 75ish style body... and not having much luck... wide body etc...

[theiceman]

i found this in a search and without pics i'm a little lost .

I have a 78Sc . it has ben repainted and it looks like some parts were never put back.

i got a heat shield which i will re install and someone gave me a used rear seal for free. So thought i would put that in as its over 200CAD for a new one.

I have some questions.

I cant figure out how to remove the rear reflector as i believe it has to come out to do this installation. It looks like it is just sort of pressed in. do i have to carefully bend these tabs to get it out ?

I have never even seen a seal like this before. Can it be used on my car with some weather-strip adhesive ?

I am not sure why you have to completely remove the rear bumper for this. ? i have the muffler off and i have pretty good access, can i do it by just removing the rear light housings and the strip ?

given what i have hears about the ease of breaking the light strip im wondering if i should even do this project at all .

no seal in place


rear reflector


rear of light housing


donated seal


do i even have the right seal ?

Thanks for any input.

[theiceman]

okay an update :

i read a little more and found a couple of very poorly done youtubes and the essentials are bend back the clips with a screwdrier and pop out the rear reflector HA !!

let me tell you they are challenging little clips as they are dug in pretty good and are shaped like so :

and this is on both sides of the plastic boss.

when bending them back there are TWO teeth that are digging into the plastic, just bending out the frame of the clip will dislodge the outer clip, but if you try to then push out from the back ( which is how you should do it ), the inner clip may still be dug in tight.

i actually had to use 2 screwdrivers. one for the body, then had to dig in deeper with a smaller one to make sure the inner teeth weren't grabbing it.

have head support as you may be there for a while. I put a towel on my mufflet to support my head and i was able to work in relative comfort. a little wd40 on each clip helped to as it allowed it to slide out easily once it was released.

I managed to get them out without breaker any clips , but i might break one or two reshaping them. but i doubt you need all 10 to hold it tight.

also turn out the seal i have is an original one that fits my car from before the redesign. So i will glue it on, and see how it goes..

[theiceman]

ok well got it done..
I had to remove the light housings to do it but fortunately i fixed my light housing seized bolts a couple of months ago, as it would have made it a nightmare if i had to drill out those bolts as well.

it's easy to see where the rubber mold goes once the housings are off.

Getting the housing gaskets to stay in place while inserting over the seal is another matter and had to use some wd40 on the seals to get them to play nice with each other.
i used some heavy duty double sided carpet tape to keep the seal in place behind the reflector. I'm pretty sure even if it fails the reflector can keep it in place.



The clips are easy to pop out to reshape and reinsert so no issues there.


another project in the books...



so in summary , removed muffler ( i did not have a heat shield so that would have had to be done ) , i added the one i picked up when i put it back together.

dangle housings for a few minutes and carefully remove reflector ( by far the part that needed the most patience) .
if you need to do this project consider the housing gaskets at the same time and make sure your housing bolts aren't seized as that is a project on its own.