Hi Finny,
ummm....... it's been a long, long time.... ummm......
I pulled my tail-lights off when I re-sprayed the rear - they had not been removed from "factory" at that time - 1999, I think......
When I "pulled" them - I cannot recall any gasket.... I did note years and years of all brands of waxes - potions and snake oils I had used since 1972... but no gaskets......
After I had sprayed and blocked/polished - I applied generous "beads" of butyl-mastic to both the tail-light assemblies and the mating surfaces of the body - let it settle and removed the "coarse" excess..... I came back in a few days later and made a neater finish of the joint......
I am very hesitant to suggest you use any silicone on our old buses - my experiences long term have all been very detrimental.......
If you MUST use a sealant with similar properties as silicone - I might suggest you seek out a product called Sikaflex 221 (could be 225) ..... it is non acetic (doesn't "etch") and can later be sanded and painted......
I would be hesitant to use this on anything which may again need dis-assembly - it bonds extremely well.........
I am a strong advocate for butyl-mastic in areas such as this - it affords a "semi" curing sealant which can be easily broken should the situation arise......
I would however, suggest that anything is properly painted prior to any assembly which is associated with the elements...... we cannot guarantee that any sealant will remain bonded in time.........
i think they had some type of sealant somebody even had some supposed NOS sealant on ebay a while back, if you've ever pulled a very old fitted windscreen possably factory fitted there's a whiteish putty looking stuff i've found the same looking stuff around tail lights
Yep, I've seen the same white couloured putty like stuff as well when pulling out old screens and also around the tailights as well and no, it wasn't old dried up polish, it was more like old wood putty ??.
