So I pulled the throttle shafts off of the other throttle bodies I have and sure enough, the seals are just as bad and I would not want to reuse them.
The VW part number is 022 133 089 A and of course, that’s not something available anymore. Hell, given how many Beetles were sold in the US between 75 and 79 with FI I can’t imagine there’s a huge demand now let alone back the last few decades. So many people just rip the FI out and throw on carbs and an electric low pressure fuel pump.
Now I managed to find a thread on The Samba for Bus FI owners and a poster indicated he’d found some oil seals made by Harwal that work well.
I managed to find them at reseller MRO Supply but had to get 8 of them as a minimum. They totaled a little over $20 so if they work and function then I’ll have backups, and could even resell one of the throttle bodies as being fully functional with new seals.
Now I was going to buy my son some engine fluids-resistant material for his 3-D printer to try to make something that would at least act as a bushing for the shaft. Somebody on the Samba that that was ridiculous based on the possible heat of the engine bay but hey, even if it would last a few hundred miles or so, it probably would have worked. And it is actually quite easy to remove the throttle body with the engine in the car.
Ultimately, this is a cheaper solution and hopefully will be fine for years to come.