I ended up buying new elements as no one could guarentee the rebuilt elemnts function. If you are going through all of the work I would suggest replacing at least the 4 ( on 124 ) that you can only access with the dash off. The floor and defrost can be done with the dash in place. Thanks to all the help I received for this project. My one regret, my still cramps think about the element in the heater body( couldn't con the wife into helping)

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1987 300D
1997 Jetta diesel
1998 Ram Quad cab