Hi,

My 61 Beetle seems to be missing the channel that the engine to body seal fits into.





It looks like a previous owner has been creative with the rivet gun, as there's remnants of what looks like a seal riveted in place.

So what are my options? Replacement apron? More rivets? Ignore it and keep driving? Any advice would be appreciated.

yep its missing

Thanks for the confirmation. To answer my question, I guess I can buy a new rear apron, weld in some new/replacement C channel, or use rivets/glue to attach a seal to my existing apron. Since there's no channel to thread it into perhaps I can use some generic rubber strips from Clarke Rubber?

what about trying to find something that clips to the rear engine piece rather than the car body??

ah Judys old bug, pretty sure that was done to make the new bigger 1600 fit when the old 1200 shot the pushrod through the top of the decklid (dont ask how that happened)

Like Bizarre suggested something to fill the gap is alot easier than a new apron

one of my old bugs had some thick plastic sheeting screwed between the apron and the tinware

its pretty critical on that car cos it has a late 1600 doghous motor with no engine lid vents

Just thinking

I would get a strip of heavy-ish rubber and pop rivet / connect it to the body, in the vertical, so it will "press down" on the rear tin
Sort of what i can see in the 2nd pic near the plugs - but vertically so there is a "sweeping" downward action to seal

At the risk of reviving an old thread, I just wanted to follow up with my eventual solution. I was advised to use the foam engine to body seal from a bay window kombi. It seems to be a reasonable solution - it's easy to fit and the "H" profile of the foam seal allows it to sit nicely over the tinware and against the body.