Door sills Options

[michaelmoo]

I saw in the concours sheet post that they look for plastic rivets in the door sills.

Does any one have a good picture of what it looks like? I would like to make mine "correct"

Also what type of rivets (or screws) hold the rockers on (in the door area, I know they have screws in the ends by the fender wells)

Thanks,

Michael

[tod914]

75 - black plastic rivets on the threshold plates. white plastic rivets on the outer rocker panels. only clear plastic is available from Porsche now. I guess you could dye them. I believe in mid 73 they changed from aluminum threshold plates to black plastic. I would think your 74 set up should be the same as mine.

[AvalonFal]

Yes, from mid '73 the thresholds were black plastic with black rivets. The outer rail was held on by white plastic rivets. There's a small pic of the white rivets on page 78 of Dr. B. Johnson's book, "914 and 914-6, A Restorer's Guide to Authenticity".

[michaelmoo]

Cool. I'll look at it tonight.

Are these plastic rivets like pop rivets or the kind that have a small post the you push to spread the "arms" (dont really know what they are called).

McMaster Carr (page 3153 if you have a catalog or search there website) has Plastic Blind Rivets in white and black. These are like the typical pop rivets.

[sixerdon]

Yes, the rivets are "push post" type (or push pin) which expands when tapped in.
I have never been able to save them when removing the panels. You can tap them right through inside the box section.
I'm not convinced that the post '73 rocker panels have/had the white rivets. Any pictures out there that could convince me otherwise? Johnson's book is not clear. One picture shows white/white on the early cars and the other picture is not clear enough to show any white on the rocker panels. They look black to me. We need to see an original never-been-removed rocker from that era.

If you want to try those alternate rivets, go ahead. Just watch out for those judges who do know the difference. Buying the clear/translucent ones is the only sure bet. If you ordered them through Porsche, they have the authorized replacement.

Don

[Pat Garvey]

Yes, the rivets are "push post" type (or push pin) which expands when tapped in.
I have never been able to save them when removing the panels. You can tap them right through inside the box section.
I'm not convinced that the post '73 rocker panels have/had the white rivets. Any pictures out there that could convince me otherwise? Johnson's book is not clear. One picture shows white/white on the early cars and the other picture is not clear enough to show any white on the rocker panels. They look black to me. We need to see an original never-been-removed rocker from that era.

If you want to try those alternate rivets, go ahead. Just watch out for those judges who do know the difference. Buying the clear/translucent ones is the only sure bet. If you ordered them through Porsche, they have the authorized replacement.

Don

You are right on on this issue. If a discontinued part has an official replacement, any concours judge worth his salt should know it and accept it as factory. Example: the fuel line recall - the battery cover & strap used as part of that recall is NOT as-supplied, but accepted. Another example: replacement of 911 hydro suspension with "normal" struts - not supplied, but accepted - also for safety reasons.

If you go with the translucent make certain you don't get gigged & if you do - PROTEST!

Brett Johnson's book is a 99% book for 914 pfhiles. It does have some errors in it, but Brett said in the beginning that it wasn't absolutely perfect. Nonetheless, it is valuable source of info. I'd be curious to know who's spotted any errors/modifications/corrections that they confirm of this tome.

[Jasfsmith]

75 - black plastic rivets on the threshold plates. white plastic rivets on the outer rocker panels. only clear plastic is available from Porsche now. I guess you could dye them. I believe in mid 73 they changed from aluminum threshold plates to black plastic. I would think your 74 set up should be the same as mine.

Tod:

Having viewed Dave Cheek's original '76 at this past weekend's Zone 1 Concours, I noted that his threshold had the typical black plastic push rivet/pins, however the rocker had aluminum "pop" rivets. Dave confirmed that it was indeed original.

[sixerdon]

Good observation James. Since Dave is the O.O. he would know best. My '75 also has the black alum. rivets for the rocker panel. So I can keep mine undesturbed.

So now we know that the early alum threshold plates had the white rivets. The black plastic treshold plates had the black rivets.

Now the question becomes when was the change over from the plastic (white and black) to aluminum rivets for the rocker panel?

We need some O.O. feedback on this.

Don

[tod914]

The production date on my car is 12/74. The rocker rivets on mine as far as I could tell at the time, prior to removing for refinishing where original. The rockers were resprayed at one point in time while on the car. The white plastic rivets had black paint on them. That's how I could tell. There was another local 75 1 owner car I seen, also had the white plastic. Dave's car I noted that as well when I seen it. Be curious to see how many others have the metal rivets. I thought at the time maybe he had his rockers off. Next event I'll do some inquiring (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Maybe George at AA would know? Think he has or had some late model originals in his inventory.