The $8 Rear Targa
Top Seal Replacement

     I looked for generic seal cross sections for one that might work for this application for quite a while, but never found one that I thought would work well (actually, you need 2 different cross sections). So I went to the hardware store and found a cross section that I thought I could make a gasket out of. Here’s how:

     First, study the old gasket: The targa top seal is a big U shaped gasket (not in cross section, but in overall shape), which attaches to the targa top rear edge and seals the targa top to the roll bar. The long segment goes the WIDTH of the targa top (I will refer to this as the long segment). Two ~6" short segments attach at right angles to the long segment (I will refer to these as the short segments). The cross sections of the two segments are quite different from one another. I looked pretty extensively to try to find a generic rubber seal cross section that I could buy that would be close enough to substitute for the OEM seal, but didn’t find anything - so I decided to try to create the cross sections myself.

     The materials that I used are (Figure 1): Contact cement, Permatex super weather strip adhesive #82, and a rubber garage door bottom seal (brand name ‘MD’ part number 03723). I picked up the garage door seal at the local hardware store for $8 for a 9 foot length. Be sure to get the rubber type (actually foam rubber) because they offer the same product in a plastic style, which is way too stiff. You’ve probably already got some contact cement around and EVERY 914 owner should already have a tube of weather strip adhesive, so total cost for this seal ends up being only $8.

     With the garage door seal, we need to create 2 different cross sections: one cross section for the long segment (Figure 2) and for the short segments (Figure 3). The original cross section of the garage door seal is shown in Figure 4. The new cross sections that you need to create are shown in Figure 5 (cross section of short segments on left, cross section of the long segment on the right). This is done simply by gluing the seal with contact cement. For the short segments, the seal is bent and glued in one direction. For the long segment, the seal is bent and glued in the opposite direction. Cut a couple of 1 foot or so lengths and experiment with creating these cross sections. The 9 feet of garage door seal is almost twice as much as you will actually need, so take advantage and experiment - your final seal will come out much better if you do.

     Pictures of gluing up the long and short segments are shown in Figure 6 and Figure 7 respectively. Once these segments have been created, you need to connect them together to make a single seal (original seal corner is shown in Figure 8). Study your original seal to see how it goes together, and then cut the corners of the long and short segments to go together in the same way (Figure 9). Be sure not to glue the two flat surfaces together at the corner because the chrome trim tucks into this slot (Figure 10). At the forward end of the short segments, cut off the seal at an angle like your original seal does. You are left with an exposed foam end, which I sealed up using the black weather strip adhesive (Figure 11). Note: In order to get the overall seal dimensions correct, you should custom fit it to your targa top. For instance, the distance between the corners of the seal is very important for a good fit.

     Once this is done, you just have to assemble the new seal with the chrome trim to your targa top and put it on the car. Don’t worry about trying to punch holes for mounting ahead of time, the mounting screws will easily penetrate the new seal. Figure 12 shows the new seal attached to the targa top and Figure 13 shows the targa top with the new seal on my ‘I really need a wash’ 914. This new seal will be much tighter seal than your old tired one so you may have to press down on the targa top to get the rear clips to engage. My new seal has only been on the car for about a month, so I don’t have any idea on how long it will last (loses it’s elasticity), but so far it’s been great!