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Is there a way to place the new staples through new air seal deflectors & the metal flange on the grille? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

This took me longer than expected. I used one of the repro kits and the coating on the felt was very hard so it was tough to get the staples through.
In general:
Properly position the deflectors and mark where the center of each staple should be installed using chalk(using the holes already in the grill as your guide.
Wrestle the first 2 staples through the felt. I was able to hold the staple in place with needle nose pliers and tap them through with a hammar.
Guide the staples through the holes in the grill and use pliers and needle nose pliers to snug them up and bend them over.
Once two staples were holding work your way through the rest of them checking that your chalk marks are still in the same spot.

Tom

You can also align your seal strip and hole it in place with a couple pieces of masking tape. Now starting in the center and work your way out to each end lifting it just a tad to see the holes in the grill then using a scratch awl or other sharp pointed object pierce the seal above each pair of holes and insert the staples one at a time.