Just a silly question to speculate. Why were the 914-6 (911) master cylinders painted and the 914 ones left raw? Did ATE cut VW that big of a deal NOT to paint them? Surely were are talking pennies here?

How about to distinguish them.

Is it because they were the same ones spec'd for the 911's & got installed on the Porsche assembly line?
BTW, lived in San Angelo '68-'71 stationed at Goodfellow AFB....Nasworthy had water & active sailing club but Twin Buttes was dry as a bone....Toured West Texas in our '68 BMW 2002.....ahhh those were the days.....jackrabbits bigger than the car!

Updated picture info.

The castings are actually made with the size on them, but it's definitely a cost savings.

IIRC, the 17mm 914 ones were the same as used in the VW 411/412 & therefore a later spec & production, than were the 19mm 911/912/914-6 spec ones - so the VW ones were gold Cad plated, while the Porsche ones were painted.

And there may have been an issue with painting & having good adherence over the gold Cad as well - especially with the paint removal properties of brake fluid, as anyone who has spilled some knows all too well!


It also helped to distinguish them quickly in the shop.

That's my guess on why they were different finishes.


Tom
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411/412 are different and painted

I'm sure glad this got cleared up.

Actually, Cad is a good base for paint. We do a full chromate conversion coating on our architectural aluminum projects.