Calling Eagle-Eyed Engine Experts

[Edwin Ek]

Well, should the experts take a remedial class in early T-6 engines, or could it be that the wire from the distributor to the ignition coil has faded from black to green? Here's a picture of the engine of the famous untouched '62 Roadster with 800 original miles.

[mark bibler]

Hey Ed. No fair dropping that "unrestored roadster with 800 original miles" on us. Could you give us any more photos of that gem? Thanks,Mark

[Dave Erickson]

Well, should the experts take a remedial class in early T-6 engines, or could it be that the wire from the distributor to the ignition coil has faded from black to green? Here's a picture of the engine of the famous untouched '62 Roadster with 800 original miles.

Hey Edwin, in no way do I resemble the term expert in anything ;<) I fully expected at least half of the items I found to be contested, but it seems that there is less and less real expertise as time goes on. My source for the black wire was Stoddards, which only offers the wire with ring terminals in black, and some previous posts on the forum, and this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=39218&view=previous

However, I just did a search on the forum, and apparently both Jeff Feldman and Al Tiedemann are of the opinion that starting with B's or late A's, the coil wire was green. Al posted a photo in this thread of an original:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34654

So maybe this is a topic that needs its own thread.

The black/green wire is something I have an interest in because my early 64 SC came with a BR18 distributor.

-Dave

[Jim Liberty]

I used to be an expert on 356s. Then I got more time and experience with the cars.

[Peter Bartelli]

The nuts on the exhaust system were mentioned on an early thread. I believe brass nuts were used on these engines. Wurth or Metric MultiStandard only offer the M8 nuts with 13mm ATF, 6mm tall. The originals were 12mm ATF and taller, I think 8mm. I think Jeffrey Fellman had them made correctly some time ago.

[Jim Liberty]

Yup Pete, bought a bag full. ....................Jim.

[Dave Erickson]

The nuts on the exhaust system were mentioned on an early thread. I believe brass nuts were used on these engines. Wurth or Metric MultiStandard only offer the M8 nuts with 13mm ATF, 6mm tall. The originals were 12mm ATF and taller, I think 8mm. I think Jeffrey Fellman had them made correctly some time ago.

Are the nuts brass, or copper-plated steel? I know copper-plated steel nuts were used by VW on type 1&2 exhausts. So they are probably copper plated, at least on pre-A.

However, I don't think the copper plated nuts were used on 356 B and later cars, because the part number in the B parts book is just an ordinary unplated M8 nut with 12mm ATF. Which wouldn't have stopped a Porsche mechanic from using them when a new muffler was installed, because they are better at avoiding corrosion. When I worked in the Porsche dealership in the 70's, common nuts and bolts were not handed out by the parts guy, they were in bins along one wall of the shop and I assume they were purchased by the dealership in bulk quantities. The 356A and pre-A parts catalogs didn't even list nuts and bolts unless they were in some way special, so there are no exhaust nuts shown in those parts books.

[Brad Ripley]

For what it's worth ........

The 356 A parts catalog lists the nuts as
502-08-310, with description: M8 aus Messing = "out of brass"

The 356B parts catalog lists the same part number with description: M8 12 mm a/c flats.

The 912 parts catalog says the same part number.

Frankly, I always thought the brass nuts were for 4-cam and pushrods used steel nuts with 12 a/c flats.