A really minor Vanagon repair here. Recently my rear defogger quit working and it turned out to be a broken wire in the area on the driver’s side of the rear hatch where the wire comes out of the body and into the hatch. Same thing can happen to the wires that power the rear wiper on the other side of the hatch. Once that was fixed I noticed that one of the grid lines was not working (condensation was slow to evaporate from one section). A closer look revealed a section of the grid that was scraped off.
I had an old repair kit in my pile of junk. All it is, I think, is copper powder in a fast drying resin/solvent mix.
Years ago I had done the same repair on my old ’72 Westy and I used the supplied template. I found out then that the slit in the template is way too wide, so I added some masking tape this time.
I applied the paint, a couple of coats, and left it overnight to dry. It worked, the grid conductivity was restored. But when I pulled the template off the paint came with it. So I re-did it but pulled the template off when the paint was wet. Here is the result, not perfect (I might try using a razor blade to clean it up a bit), but it works.
shooftie 
#1 by Travis on January 13, 2012 - 10:02 pm
Maybe use “Frog Tape” instead of regular masking tape?
#2 by albell on January 13, 2012 - 10:05 pm
Yes, and forget about the little template that comes with the repair kit – I think that held the tape away from the glass.
ab
#3 by Len Birarda on February 25, 2012 - 2:18 pm
WHERE CAN ONE PURCHASE THE METALIC PAINT AT A REASONABLE PRICE?
#4 by albell on February 25, 2012 - 7:10 pm
I found the stuff in the bargain bin at my local autoparts store. Even at full price of around 9 bucks, it is worth it I think
ab