Going to look at a fantastic 1973 911S tomorrow. Need a bit of advice.

[steve shea]

It seems to me, to not lose sleep over this, that a very little white paint on the bottom of the clear rivet gets the job done. I did this and once installed they look pretty white from the top side aspect. Or just paint the dome.

[davep]

Yes, I am not sure why white is such an issue with the manufacturer. We have been struggling with this for decades? Throw some titanium dioxide into the mix, and problem solved.

[Longballa]

I think the Porsche ones are correct and start out clear but turn white over time. On Hot Rod builds I use screws as they hold much better and look better but on non- hot rods I used the clear Porsche ones. Plastic rivets suck.

[NorthernThrux]

I think the Porsche ones are correct and start out clear but turn white over time. On Hot Rod builds I use screws as they hold much better and look better but on non- hot rods I used the clear Porsche ones. Plastic rivets suck.

That's entirely possible, in which case Steve's idea of just accelerating that with a dab underneath would work and Dave's source for the clear ones is way cheaper than the dealer or SM price. OK. Problem solved. Going to use the link Dave provided.

[Chuck Miller]

I agree with Scott...

Not sure if Porsche used white or clear in the day, but when I did my car in '90 we used the clear rivits. Over time, probably in the early '2000's, I needed to replace a couple and all that was out there were black (may be factory superceded replacement)
Didn't want to do that, then a mechanic friend said he keeped a bunch of the clear ones... Now I guess there is both black and clear out there, not sure about white....

Over time the clear ones do get a milky white translusent look to them...

[NorthernThrux]

Final Jeopardy question. Are the plastic rivets only for the door sill thresholds or also for the long thin carpet trim piece ?

[davep]

On the 914 the plastic rivets are just for the threshold, and screws for the trim piece. 914Rubber now has stainless screws and black stainless screws for the purpose. I just ordered a kit for black threshold & trim in aluminum (not plastic as original) for the 74 914. The 73 & earlier were natural aluminum which is stiffer than the later plastic. I do have good plastic ones if I concours.

[NorthernThrux]

These are the ones from Grainger that just came today. White, but the head of the rivet is slightly different than the Porsche clear ones that Chuck posted earlier. Chuck's is a dome. This is a button head. Right size otherwise. Oh well, worth the 3 bucks to find out I guess.

Thanks for the snapping off advice Arne. Works great. I don't have to use my nail set to use these rivets now!

[beh911]

Completely original 18k mile LWB S.

[NorthernThrux]

Mystery of the tach that needed a high voltage signal to run solved. Tach had a C connector on the back. Dated 1/73 (not 11/72 as I previously reported. 11/72 was the clock), it had a “C” terminal and should have been drivable with the points signal. But I needed a Ashlock Tach-Adapt to generate a high voltage signal to get it to work.

I sent my tach and speed relay to Bob Ashlock, who discovered the tach had been expertly opened and sealed at some point in its life, and inside was an earlier version of the S circuit board, along with a potentiometer that had been added (1st pic) to presumably make it more accurate. The earlier boards needed a high voltage signal to register the rpm. Bob added his special driver board (2nd pic) and now the tach reads perfectly from 1000-8000 rpm with the points low voltage signal.

Moral of the story. Don’t assume your stuff is original unless you look inside!