What is This?, Testing the collective wisdom... Options

[Eric_Shea]

I found this in my center tunnel a while back.

I could be wrong but, there's a couple of things that make me think this could be a factory "tool" (for lack of better word). It has multiple layers of Saturn/Chrome Yellow paint on it. Seems like it might have been used for pulling the tub from one area of the shop to another on a dolly. I can't find any body mounts that would line up though... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

Has anyone ever seen one of these?

[r_towle]

Does that line up with the stock six motor mount somehow?
That would be a great place to pick up the back of a tub....

Rich

[Eric_Shea]

I don't think so.

It was in my 74 and Saturn/Chrome wasn't a six yellow but... stranger things have happened.

[KELTY360]

Would that line up with the bumper mounting holes where the dog bones go?

[Eric_Shea]

Possibly. The most logical place was the front apron where the latch mounts. There's a few M8 holes up there but... this is too wide for that.

I'll check the bumper but, I'm betting it's too wide for those as well.

[Eric_Shea]

The fasteners are 121mm on center. Too large for the bumper mounts.

[sww914]

Bet that made a noise!
Obviously it had about a million coats of paint on it, I think you guys are right on base with your guesses.
I wonder if they're still looking for it?

[Tom_T]

To me, it looks more like a heavy duty part of the industrial assembly line equipment, than an attachment tool used on the car itself - especially since they were on dollies & overhead trapezes to move them around the plant.

It could be something off of the dollies under the cars or trapezes carrying the shells in the pix below - even a close color! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

Main Karmann Line Trapezes in similar yellow:



.

Porsche Racing Dollies with 914-6/Racers (B&W) -



.

Hans & Franz are still commiserating in the hof brau over being docked pay for losing it! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/drunk.gif)

[Tom_T]

Here's another B&W of the main Karmann line with semi-complete cars on floor track dollies (possibly in the same yellow in parts) -



.

What say the rest of you?
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

[SirAndy]

What say the rest of you? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

I say, if it was found in the center tunnel it was either left there early on during the welding process, in which case it was part of the spot welding line or it got there later during final assembly, in which case it was used somewhere around the interior of the car or was left there while someone had access to the interior.

In the first assembly-line pic above, there's no way someone would crawl up onto a hanging 914 and accidentally slip a tool inside the center tunnel.

So, my guess is either very early in the process during welding or fairly late in the process during final assembly.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif)

[ConeDodger]

Clearly, it's a tiny surface froster... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

[scotty b]

I'm doubtful this has anything to do with the facvtory, possibly not even a 914. Looking at the first photo this is clearly a bolt welded to a bent piece of rod.Hardly the craftsmanship we normally see form the factory. Looking at the 3rd pic there are NUMEROUS layers of paint, most, but not all are yellow. I can also see black and white layers in there. My guess is this is something some owner made at some point, maybe for this car, maybe unrelated. Have you actually determined the thread pitch to see if it is even metric ?

[URY914]

It is the rust crank handle. All 914s had them to crank in the amount of rust each car was to have. Rare find my friend.

[Eric_Shea]

I'm following you guys on all these points... but, here's the caveat to that:

It "is" saturn yellow. It precisely matches the factory paint in the frontal area. And, It has multiple layers of paint on it.

I'm thinking paint shop, just due to all of the layers of paint (that chip isn't all the way through!) and the fact that the color is the exact same color as the car (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

I've never been a part of the 914 assembly line or the VW paint line but I have been in quite a few automobile assembly plants... one of the bennies of being a Michigander. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Sometimes cars would have to be pulled off the line to be repaired, sanded, resprayed etc.

Andy has a point though... how else would it get in the center tunnel? It came out through the shift console hole. It could get in there three ways:

Rear Opening
Shift Console
Front Opening by the Cluster

It was between the front opening and the shifter. It could have been pushed forward when the cables were installed. I found it while re-installing the brake line and everything else! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wacko.gif)

Maybe -- Unbolt it. Lunch bell or the final bell rings. Toss it in the cockpit and, like horseshoes, you have a ringer... it lands in the shifter hole (or most of it does). It takes a bumpy ride to the next station and falls completely in until the day I found it.

Or - it could be something from a bodyshop later in life. It just "looks right" if you know what I mean. All the layers of paint have me coming back to a paint area.

With a 121mm girth, it should leave some appearant clues as to where it was attached though.

[Eric_Shea]

Hardly the craftsmanship we normally see form the factory

I don't know about that... I've seen some pretty crude things from dem boys. Again... it smells right, which is why I saved it and brought it up here.

Have you actually determined the thread pitch to see if it is even metric ?

M8 x1.25

[montoya 73 2.0]

Is it just me or does it look similar to a GT door handle?

[Eric_Shea]

It's just you... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[scotty b]

o.k. then one more wrench. It is COVERD in paint meaning it was not used to hang. Wahtever it did it was bolted on using nuts, painted over while the car was being shot, then removed after drying. Had it been used to hang there would be odd spots where there would be no paint or most likely some sign of an indention from the hanging apparatus.

That said we can rule out ALL threaded areas, and focus on through holes in the car. Also consider if this was part of the original painting process, whever this part was will have a small ring wihtout paint on it

[Eric_Shea]

I wonder how they moved the chassis along the paint line?

You bring up some interesting points. I think it was used to pull the car... either by hand (fit is right) or a chain.

[Eric_Shea]

One more thing Scotty... the backside was never painted.