Chuck Z

I have noticed over the course of doing some restoration work on the 78 that Porsche seems to do a lot of parts that were originally plated in black now. A couple others that come to mind are drop links, coil spring seats and the bar between the headlights (actually I think laters cars came black). Really doesn't help when you are trying to keep things in the original finish! Guess if must be cheaper to paint/powder coat the parts.....

oh yeah, here's another:

Chris

That is because a lot of the plating material used way back when is now classified as hazerdous, there are alternatives but yes, sometimes powdercoating is more readily available.

Chris

BC

The yellow cad plating is a big no-no now Chuck. I have switched the entire 78 resto/upgrade to white flashed zinc. It will go with the dark silver color, but as you say will not be original.

SharkSkin

Battery hold-down? I bought one of those for my '78, was given Big-3 assurance that it was exatly what I needed.... problem is... there's no frickin way to mount that in the battery box! It just doesn't fit anywhere near the battery!

Garth S

Maybe your battery is all puffed up just thinking about its 165 amp feed source . I have that style clamp shoehorned into and bolted down at the rear of the '80s box .. snugging in a group 49 battery. A perfect fit, as they say ....
Chuck - mine is black, but I never noted its protective coating type to comment on plating vs paint - TBD(etermined).

SharkSkin

Garth, I too have a group 49 forklift battery; I don't think mine has any room to puff up... It's interesting that you found a use for that piece, but I don't think your battery box looks like this:

Chuck Z

Dave, There is no way to tie down your battery. If its like my 78 the only thing holding it in place and keeping it from coming up front in case of an accident are the cables, the cover on the battery box and the lid in the spare tire well. I'll dig up a pic of mine and post it so you can see if they are the same.

[edit] yup, it looks like mine.

SharkSkin

Chuck, you need that extra lid(made of unobtanium) and the four nuts to hold the battery in. Zim's was able to come through after an extensive search. I still have my doubts about you having any use for the part that you pictured, but I've been wrong before.

Chuck Z

Dave, I actually have the original lid and the four self locking nuts. I did have to buy the hold down for one of my previous cars though.

SharkSkin

Ah... from your first post, I had the impression that you bought this part for your '78.

Garth S

Well Dave, that is a tight one indeed ... air conditioned around the edges. Is that of the generation where the battery was a counter weight for the transaxle??
My '80 has the welded in box and uses the shoehorn Chuck pictured: maybe it will keep the battery from becoming a missile in the event of front impact ..

justin

On the early cars, the bar between the headlights isnt supposed to be black? What color are they supposed to be?

SharkSkin

Garth, the battery box is mounted only to the transaxle; somewhere or other I read that they thought it would help damp vibrations. It's one tough mother, since the boat-anchor original muffler hung off the battery box as well!

Chuck, I used a thick piece of closed-cell neoprene on the lid to help sandwich the battery in and keep it from moving. I think you could drop the car from 40,000 feet and not have to worry about the battery becoming a missile. I'd be more worried about the spare tire, which has no hold-down hardware of any kind.

Justin, based on what's left of the original finish on my headlight bar, it seems to be yellow cad plating.