What do all of you do when faced with the replacement of small, odd, offbeat hardware on your Things?
I'm speaking of hardware that obviously was highly specialized for use in VW's and probably no where else.
In my case, as an example, I am attempting to find replacement mounting screws for the headlight retaining ring (141 941 041).
The originals with a #1 phillips head were badly rusted, mangled from previous removals and installations, and nearly impossible to extract.
Lots of PB Blaster and an odd assortment of tools finally got the job done to remove the rings from non-functioning headlights, but left the original screws useless for reinstallation.
The easiest thing in the world would be to use a cheap American self tapping sheet metal screw, but we are striving to use all original equipment whenever possible on our '74 Thing cream puff with less than 29,000 miles on the odometer.
My parts manual tells me (if I'm reading it correctly), the part number for the screw is N 013 961 2, Tapp Screw, Fill Head B3, 9 x 13.
A total of six are needed for the two retaining rings.
Are these screws common to other VW's? Easy or difficult to get? Anyone know of other sources for these screws? What have any of you done when faced with this particular situation with headlight retaining rings while striving to use original hardware?.
Any advice, hints, or helpful direction would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
ztnoo