A 912 owner asking a 911 question..

[gj dettore]

It was suggested by a 912BBS forum guy to go here. Currently restoring a 1968 912 Targa, and the question of horsehair/coconut mat fiber has arose. The information given to me so far is, mid 1950's Porsche had it and including the last 912's. Did the 911's also adopt the same type of soundproofing with the horsehair/coconut matting? Finally, when did that type of matting change to a manmade product? This information will be use on a scientific approach on what that stuff really is. Attempting to gather as much data as possible for this project. Talk is, Porsche says horsehair, let's see if the lab work concurs.

Appreciate input,

gj dettore.

[adam912]

GJ I'm another 912 guy. I cleaned all of the old "horse hair" from the interior of my '66 Karmann coupe a few years ago, along with a LOT of surface rust that was stuck to it...

"Horse hair" in our cars is actually a coconut fiber material, also known as coir. There's lots of info on it on the usual forums.
It was usually mixed with some sort of adhesive stickum to hold it together. When I removed mine there were remnants of old asphalt gunk in there too.

And yes, early 911s had the same stuff. It's listed on the Web as being "very effective at holding water".
So of course perfectly appropriate to put next to ungalvanized metal. Ya Right.

Modern rust proofing over metal that's been steel brushed til shiny works very well. I use POR-50, though there's some disagreement in these forums about how well it works long-term.
I treated up under the fenders and the entire interior metal surface of my car with POR-15 about 15 years ago, and the surface still looks pristine.
My car lives outdoors, and I live in Southern Oregon (plenty wet) and it's holding up very well.

cheers
Adam912. Out.

[gj dettore]

Adam,
Thanks for responding. Still no response on when the horsehair/coconut fiber matting changed to something synthetic. Somebody must have that information.

17A49 clear