When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Every time I work on something I try and blast off the rust and cosmoline and re-zinc/yellow chromate the fasteners to keep them looking original. Likewise, if it had a paint mark I like to repaint it for originality and to know that I torqued it to speck. But it has me wondering what fasteners had the original paint marks and what was the rule of thumb for the factory employee to put them on? Certainly not all fasteners or it would look like it had measles… So was it just things greater than x foot pounds, things associated with safety, things that carried fluid? I see them on the A/C and fuel lines so it makes me think it wasn’t just high torque items--but they're definitely on drive-line fasteners too. A good example are all the bolts and nuts for accessory belt tension (pivot bolts, locking nuts, fasteners to the block, etc.) Would they have had paint marks?
If Dr. Bob had a 2 post lift, a GoPro, 15 minutes, and a Youtube account, I think most of this could be settled.
Some place I have a bit of picture history on my car and where there were QC marks on certain fasteners. I am working on a rescue project right now, not anywhere near that place right now, and won't be for a while.
There are certain classes of fasteners that have QC marks on them, but there is no serious consistency. I can't say that suspension or chassis fasteners do as a class, but there are some easy ones like the nuts on the top of the shocks and mounts in the cabin and the engine bay. Some of the adjustments bolts for rear suspension had paint marks on them. Some odd things like the crossbar bolts in the engine bay (yellow marks), fuel line fittings (green marks), the oil filler and dipstick (red spot marks) are also worth noting. My car came to me unmolested with about 20k on it, enjoying a dry-climate life since original purchase, and I've been careful to document maintain the QC marks. All that said, I have no evidence that suggests that other years have the same marks.
There are folks who look at a lot more examples than I have. They would have more info on the subject especially for other years.
Thanks, dr bob. It's interesting that you mention the different colors as some have speculated in other on-forums that different colors signified different torque values. E.g., red = high, green = low, white = medium, etc. Some have also said there's sometimes two paint lines; one from the assembler and the other from the person providing QC. Although I don't recall ever seeing two stripes on any fasteners on my car.
Someday I need to visit a Porsche concourse event and pick a judge's brain and hear what they think "right" looks like. Lord knows my car will never be in a concourse event--but I'd like to try and be faithful to its original appearance.
I have seen a lot of 928 underbellies but not many that have been untouched. Minerva didn't look to have been apart but she had 166K miles and 40 years on her, and there was no trace of any paint marks on anything. My '90 GT (108K miles but SoCal car all its life) had a couple of paint dabs on the front lower control arms that I didn't ruin by replating anything (hadn't met Greg yet...). You can see the mix of colors, at least one of which has both red and yellow.
Thanks, Rob. I wish I could leave things unmolested, but I'm too OCD to live with original nasty looking parts. The alternator bracket below is a good example. This is with homebrew zinc plating. Just thinking if it had paint marks at one time, it should have them again. Wondering what you, Worf, and others who re-zinc deal with paint marks and whether you bother.
Who owns Blue82 now? That car is probably one of the lowest mileage, least molested 929s in existence. Wonder if James took any detailed undercarriage photos while he had it?
When working on my own car i always have a cheap testors paint pen in hand to keep track of what i have tightened down.
lots of bolts on the underside/suspension....
04-17-2018, 03:06 PM
What Fasteners Originally Had Torque Paint Marks?
