Silver to Gold in 1966. When did it happen?

[Chris Pomares]

Does anyone know when the engine mount bolts went from silver to gold in 1966? The factory parts book I have just gives sizes for the nuts and bolts but doesn't designate the color for these. Any help would be appreciated.
Chris

[304065]

This is one of the most hotly debated questions and the answer is still elusive. My own view is that is has to do with Hexavalent Chromium conversion coatings (which give it the characteristic yellow color) not having DIN approval until 1967. If you look at original 66 cars, you see mostly silver with a mix of yellow, but if you look at 67 cars, you see much more yellow. So I think that MY 66 should be silver and MY67 (from the Factory re-opening in August) should be yellow.

I had this discussion many times with Grady Clay (RIP) about as reliable an authority as there ever was, and his view was as above.

Others have different views.

[smedley]

I have an old maroon binder original '67 parts book and the fastener spec on all the silver/yellow fasteners is "verz." which is zinc. That said, it was not Porsche's specification but that of the fastener industry moving to a better sacrificial coating on industrial fasteners.....as stated above, it would also be dependent upon the DIN approval for such coatings. Porsche simply ordered "zinc" fasteners from Kamax or NSF or Verbus and got what they were supplying that week....left over silver or the new yellow. The same applied on the assembly line .....Heinz simply pulled what was in his bin out for his task...left over silver or new yellow. The result is cars coming off the line around that time (late '66-early '67) with silver AND yellow. No dogma...just supply line.

[Mr9146]

I have an old maroon binder original '67 parts book and the fastener spec on all the silver/yellow fasteners is "verz." which is zinc. That said, it was not Porsche's specification but that of the fastener industry moving to a better sacrificial coating on industrial fasteners.....as stated above, it would also be dependent upon the DIN approval for such coatings. Porsche simply ordered "zinc" fasteners from Kamax or NSF or Verbus and got what they were supplying that week....left over silver or the new yellow. The same applied on the assembly line .....Heinz simply pulled what was in his bin out for his task...left over silver or new yellow. The result is cars coming off the line around that time (late '66-early '67) with silver AND yellow. No dogma...just supply line.

That extremely well-reasoned explanation cannot be true because we all know that the Germans - especially zee Germans at zee Porsche Faktory - plan every single, solitary detail and never leave anything to chance. Nothing was done unintentionally, therefore the mixture of silver and yellow hardware was not a result of supply and assembly line chance but, rather, a calculated decision made by the Porsche brass to ensure LeMans victory and increased sales of production vehicles.

[edmayo]

You're all wrong,,,,,they were still using leftover hardware from the ME-109 production. We all agree those thrifty Germans never tossed anything

[Chris Pomares]

I very much appreciate the scientific and incredibly accurate analysis. This truly is way above rocket science. This site seems to attract the worlds top minds. If we weren't so busy restoring Porsche's we could solve all the worlds problems. All this thinking and researching makes me want a beer.
Thanks, Chris

[RSTarga]

Guys on the assembly line were more likely to be named Abdul or Francisco than Heinz.

[304065]

You're all wrong,,,,,they were still using leftover hardware from the ME-109 production. We all agree those thrifty Germans never tossed anything

Is THAT why I have all those 14mm ATF M8 nuts holding my engine case together!

[gsjohnson]

Gold is prettier.