printing NLA parts

[laraa at sympatico.ca]

Fits also the late 4000, MK2 Scirocco, and some Passats. "321" is a VW prefix I think...

Louis-Alain

-----Message d'origine-----
De : quattro [mailto:quattro-bounces at audifans.com] De la part de DeWitt Harrison
Envoyé : 28 octobre 2015 20:02
À : Quattro List
Objet : printing NLA parts

On my car's sunroof, there are two (L&R) bits of plastic trim, little black fin-like pieces roughly 8 1/2" long, which visually hide some of the unattractive lifting mechanism bits which would otherwise be seen when the rear edge of the sunroof is tipped up. The original parts are "rotten" and disintegrating due to heat exposure and age. Although these parts still show up on Audi Tradition with pricing, they are, in fact, NLA, as you would expect based on Audi's "get lost" philosophy on old cars.

So I'm casting about for options. One would be that good used ones exist somewhere in the world. If anyone has knowledge of such, I would obviously love to know. Unfortunately, this parts issue is probably too small potatoes to attract the attention of our main go-to guy at Force 5.

Another might be having the parts 3d printed. The downside there is the cost of either having someone generate a CAD drawing or doing a 3d scan and then doing the work of correcting the scan file for age-induced distortions, cracks and imperfections. This cost could be amortized by printing a number of parts if there are other Audi owners with the same need. The parts are found on all type 44 sunroofs after a certain date, which I do not recall at the moment, and, the Audi Tradition catalog suggests, other Audi models of the late 80s and early 90s. The part numbers are 321 877 781 and 321 877 782.

It would be great to hear from any qlisters who have an interest in this problem.

DeWitt Harrison
'88 5ktq