Vintage Calipers from 914-6 #11, ...the very first 914-6 to leave the factory Options

[Eric_Shea]

Well, we received the calipers to restore for #11. This is the very first 914-6 to leave the assembly line. The car was used by the factory as a demonstrator car. They loaded it with all sorts of go fast and stop fast goodies.

In the go fast department this car received a 2.0 twin plug motor.

In the stop fast department we will see some odd things. I noticed a bunch of "little stuff" that you don't see every day on your standard 914-6.

Let's start with the rear. These are the real deal. These are real factory 914-6/GT calipers and I would dare say the very first set. Here's some of the standout differences from your standard 914-6 or even later GT calipers.

#1 - These have the 911 M-Caliper hardware for sure. The first thing I noticed was the Ribe head cap screws with the R6 head. This differs from the rounded shoulder Ribe R5 hardware used on the 914-4 and 914-6 calipers of that era.



#2 The next thing I noticed was the spacers. These are the round shouldered spacers from an early rear M-Caliper of that era. Later GT and Ferrari calipers have sharp or squared off spacers that better match the caliper mating surfaces.



#3 The final note (of distinction) for the rears would be the color. It seems as though these are definitely "yellow" cad plated. On other 914-6 calipers it was difficult to tell because they were so light. When we tear into them we can usually see some yellow on the mating surfaces but, again, it's very light in color. These look to be 914-4 yellow in color, meaning; very obvious.

[Eric_Shea]

Thanks Kevin, (don't remind Pete... I owe him a caliper write up but my pictures came out bad... time to try again I guess) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

As promised, heres the final installment... the S-Calipers. I think this will actually be interesting to quite a few people. It will show you what's involved in saving a valuable S-Caliper and help dispell the myth that there's a "cheap" S-Caliper bargin out there waiting to be found.

Remember what these puppies looked like from page 1?



Again, one of the main problems we see on nearly 90% of the S-Calipers that come in is this... the plated pistons are rusted.



These pistons are plated to avoid a dissimilar metal bond. When they sit (and vintage Porsches sometimes do) they tend to rust around the top and where the piston seal rests against the piston.

Steven Stomski of Stomski-Racing to the rescue. This is where the myth begins to smack of hard, cold reality. These are the best stainless steel replacement pistons out there but... you're now out $240.00



Well... everything is back from the polishers and the anodizing shop and ready to get bolted together. These calipers have to be de-anodized, polished and then re-anodized. Myth-buster #2. That'll cost ya... the average cost on a restoration like this (with pistons) will be just North of $700.00 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)



New factory crossover pipes are a must for a restoration of this caliber. One was damaged in shipment and the other was just too rusty to plate up nice. We want #11 to look it's best... Oh, almost forgot, more ka-ching. These are almost $60-$70 a PIECE!