{Chrysler 300} Advise and part source needed

["'John Lazenby' via Chrysler 300 Club International" <chrysler-300-club-international@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All,
A couple of years ago when running down an engine heating issue with our 300C one of the items I realized is that the car did not have the hood to core support seal.  At that point I ventured over to Home Depot to see what they might have.  I ended up purchasing  Clopay garage door OEM 9 foot weather seal for steel doors.  As I recall it was under $20 then.
So I set out to fit a piece of this and had to narrow it about 50% to achieve the correct width.  My goal was to install it the way it was done at the factory.  I grabbed an Awl tool an some staples and started the installation.  On these models the anchor piece is part of the hood so you are kind of looking up doing the work.  
The staples were installed by hand and bent over after making holes in the rubber that aligned with the existing staple holes of years earlier.  As I moved along I found this seal to very pliable and easy to work with.  The entire job took an hour or so and now a couple of years later it looks like it did they day I did the installation. 
So fast forward to our recently purchased C300 and working through various issues with it.  There was what I believe to be an original seal but there was good and bad.  The good is that assembly housing comes off after removing 7 butterfly clips and you can work with the assembly on the bench.  The bad was this original seal had been reinstalled using pop rivets and it was a sloppy job at best and was in very bad condition.  My other issue was the butterfly clips which can be used again if you are very careful.  My guess is these were at least on their third expansion and compression and the break.
Yesterday I removed the assembly and drilled out all of the rivets and stopped for the day.  So the project today was do the install of the replacement seal.  I should mention there was enough left over from the original purchase of the seal to easily complete this job as well.
Christie came out and gave me assistance and we got the job done.  Now for the install of which I was kind of holding my breath with the butterfly clips.  Well, as I quickly realized five of the seven failed and I had to resort of bolts, washers and nuts for a temp fix.  So with that I'm attaching a couple of photos and would appreciate any guidance on finding new clips.  
Last I should also mention this same setup is used on the 1956 cars.  In this case I used our 300B as a reference as it has original pieces for width and length.  Hope this will assist some members bring their cars bad to life.
John Lazenby






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