New Hood Crest - Need Help!
 

I bought a new hood crest a while back, and I can't get the seal to fit right! I just took it off after having it on about a month. Tried to pull the seal around the edges and put another scratch in my hood! http://www.pelicanparts.com/support/...s/a_frusty.gif I'm thinking of turn the seal over and just trying to center it the best I can. Anyone else have a problem with their crest seal?

BTW- I feel like a complete morron, I can't even figure out a stupid hood crest. WTF!

HHmm... Sounds like a job for 101 Projects!
 

Maybe if Wayne's nice he'll put up a scan of the project from his book... but only if you promise to buy the book!

I'd detail the project, but my copy of the 101 Projects is actually over at my rented garage with the 911. It really is a great reference and is now located beside the manuals at the garage. I seriously need another copy for home reference!

Regards,
Andrew M
1970 911T

Well this picture looks like cr@p but you can see the seal. This is about as good as I can get it. I don't think 101 Projects (I have it) can help with this. This must be an intelligence test. I fail!

That proved it! I forgot to load the pic. I think I'm going to start drinking now.

Actually, I'm going to be putting the front emblem on myself this weekend. I have looked at the seal that I have (a new one came with the car) and have noticed that it does apear a bit small. I suspect that if the seal is warm it may be a bit pliable and easier to work with.

Why wasn't the seal used by the old owner of my car? He couldn't figure it out and instead used some good old silicone adhesive. Yup - He glued it to the hood!! Guess he was out of duct tape...

Regards,
Andrew M
1970 911T

I had the same problem, felt like an idiot! I ended up pulling on the rubber quite hard in all directions to stretch it out. Had to really muscle it. Put it quickly on the badge, then on the car. Then I used a small screw driver to pull the rest of the lip over the badge. I am sure there is an easier way, but it worked for me. Good luck...

Be R E A L careful when you get to the "tighten the little speednuts" part, as the red & black cloisonne stuff will snap out & fly across the room at .75 in/lbs overtorque. (Ask me how I know):( :(

when I bought my new emblem from our host several months ago I had the same problem so I called up and said help. I forget to whom I spoke, but I was calmly advised to (patiently) and (gently) pull on the seal in all directions.

Voila - fits great.

I recently installed a new crest on my 89 911 (a silver one -- looks great).

What I did was center the crest over the seal and slowly tighten down the speednuts, while nudging the crest and seals to keep everything centered. As the crest was pulled down onto the hood, the seal was squeezed "bigger" and everything ended up very nice.

I couldn't figure out how to stretch the seal around the edges of the crest any other way.

Hey Surflvr, I was having the same issue. I was pulling my hair out. Made a tiny scratch on my hood using the screw-it-up-driver to pull the rubber gasket out from under the emblem. I ended up removing the crest and trying again but all I ended up doing is wasting the speed nuts. Now I havta find two more of those little buggers locally or wait another week to get them from our host. Don't even get me started, I'm losing faith in this company as the sound deadener mat isn't anything like the web description implies. I'm have tempted to send the WHOLE order back!

-Patrick

Patrick Look out your gonna get a nasty gram! Anyhow I have had the same experience with my hood badge . The seals are little small. I think thats why so many of the cars I see no longer have them on there. Anyhow just stretch it out it will go

Ben

Yer right Ben. I was just sooo frustrated earlier. MAN what a pain in the butt these little speed nuts can be. I hope that two new ones will work on my crest...

The deal with that part is this... for some reason everyone is sending out the 993 seal. It's smaller. There is a different part number from the original seal to the one that seems to be available, it is DISTINCTLY smaller than the original. I stretched mine, but will try to find the correctly sized one...

JYL is correct. I replaced mine a couple of months ago and by centering the badge and seal, slowley tighten down and the seal will streatch out and surround the badge...

When I used to do this I would warm up the rubber in a glass of hot water for a couple minutes. It really help make the rubber more pliable and easy to slip on.

Dr. Ryan, I bet you love seeing old threads like this surface. Seems like we've all come a long way in a couple years. ;)

Great, i log on to do a quick check on what's happening for the first time in a week and this is what I see. Can't we just flush this thread down the mechanical moron bowl???

I think I'll take my own advice and start drinking, I'm off to France for three weeks tomorrow. Don't talk too bad about me. ;)

I think Geoff is right, the last crest seal I recently installed was definitely smaller and harder to put on than the ones I've used in the past. Now matter how much stretching and fitting, the thing would just "shrink" back to it's normal size, and not fit correctly. I finally ended up brushing on some contact cement on the seal and let dry, then mated it to the badge. Worked great.

What is it with Porsche rubber gaskets anyway. Stretch the windshield gasket, stretch the hood ornament gasket. Is there a shortage--oops there goes another rubber tree...

Two things will help you out here:

1. Use a sewing needle to work the gasket over the edge of the crest. On a 944, the crest snaps in, so I found that no matter how carefully I tried to prefit it, mine would end up like yours by the time it snapped in. The needle from my AGLA steering wheel kit and about 20 minutes of patient work after the crest was on the car was the answer. Also, try making one of the top two corners your last frontier, rather than the bottom point.

2. Heat it up with a hair drier. I couldn't do this because there was no electrical where I was working on the car that day, so you can definitely get by without.