I am about to send my 73 246GT suspension bolts for plating but I am unsure of the colours (zinc, yellow, black) for these. Can anyone advise: Inner mounting bolts Inner mounting nuts Outer mounting bolts Outer mounting nuts Shockabsober bolts Shockabsorber nuts Anti-roll bar rear bolts Anti-roll bar rear nuts Anti-roll bar drop links I have done lots of research but can't identify what the original finishes were.
Hi Tony, That's interesting as my old ones look silver. I've looked at a lot of OMGJOHN's restorations and some seem silver and some yellow so I am looking to find a definitive answer. Simon
Simon, I cant' prove it, but I am fairly confident that the rear drop links on my late UK '73 were originally silver zinc plated. I have attached the photo prior to restoration. The car has a comprehensive services and repair record from day one and there is no indication that the drop links had been replaced prior to this photo. I looked closely prior to re-plating for any signs of paint or yellow passivate and saw none. It may not be clear in the before/after re-plate photo, but the parts on the right, including the drop links and suspension bracket mounts are zinc only, whereas the parts to the left are zinc and yellow passivate. As always on Dinos there may well be varitions in the original finish. Kevin Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks Daviekj, I agree the drop links should be zinc. In fact your right section matches mine exactly. Your pictures are also very helpful regarding the yellow section, although I do have differences. The handbrake levers and shock absorbed retaining half-rings on mine are silver and the half shaft curved washers are black, for example. Very useful info.
Although there are usually differences all over the place from the 206 through to the last E series 246, in this area I have seen almost absolute consistency in every car I've looked at. It is as follows. All suspension bolts (should be LOBO) are black. I cannot confirm if originally these were black oxide or black zinc, but black zinc is much more durable and is virtually indistinguishable visually from black oxide. These are high strength fasteners and should be baked for hydrogen de-embrittlement if zinc plated. Black oxide requires no such treatment. All of the suspension nuts (these are the ones usually with the yellow nylock) are clear zinc. The drop links are most definitely silver. I've tried a few different ways of getting to them to look right and in my experience nickel plate works best. Cannot confirm if this is what they were originally done with but based on the way they stripped during restoration I'd guess nickel. Best Regards, Paul
Shock absorber half-rings: You may well be right. I probably got carried away with the yellow passivating. half shaft washers: yes these were black/grey, possibly cadmium platted, cant remember. handbrake: I remember battling with what to do with this. On general de-grease it did look like the arms and fittings were zinc only. However, as shown in the photos below, there was fairly clear evidence of yellow passivate on the hidden surfaces. So I stuck with that. Last photo is before(post clean) on the bottom and after rebuild on the top. Suspension bolts: I was convinced these were zinc-yellow, although cant rememeber what evidence this was based on. They were and are the LOBO bolts and nuts with yellow nyloc inserts. However, any plating that was there was not in a good state pre-rebuild, so I could be wrong. Drop-links: I remember the original plating on these being very good with very little signs of plate wear. A little bit of white oxidation, but surprisingly a robust plating given the hostile environment. Could well have been originally nickel as you say Paul. regards Kevin Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Paul - What you said about the suspension bolts is exactly what I think mine are. Th bolts are black and the nylocs are zinc. I recently bought some new nylocs from Superformance which had the yellow inserts and these are in zinc. I then spoke to my plater who is trying to convince me that yellow passivate is a more duarble finish than black (I don't think he wants to do black). I am going to see him today. Kevin - I checked the handbrake arms carefully yesterday and I can see yellow passivate on mine in exactly the same place as in your photos.
All suspension bolts have been black (from 206 GT until late E-series) Also all yellow nylock nuts are blue zinc. Regarding blue and yellow zinc on other parts it`s more difficult.... In general it can be said, as older the Dino (206 GT) most is blue zinc, as younger the Dino (late E-series) most is yellow zinc....
This has been my findings too with more yellow zinc being used as the production of the cars went on. Early cars are almost all clear zinc (also called silver or blue zinc we are all talking about the same thing here). Regarding the hand brake assembly I have found later cars to have yellow zinc but the early cars had black hand brake components. Superformance now sells yellow nylocks which is awesome. Their shape is marginally different to original nuts which are 100% unavailable anywhere. All of the new manufacture yellow nylocks have slightly softer edges to their hex profile compared to the original ones that had clear defined lines.
to me it looks like Superformance selling yellow nylocks DIN 985... correct would be DIN 982, higher version!
Here is the "before" photo of the Suspension bolts for Dino 05702 prior to being sent out for Black Oxide treatment, confirming that this Dino is the same coating as Rob's. As in all things Dino, YMMV (been burned before on making generlizations). An interesting note is that not all on 05702 were marked LOBO, which seems to agree with the Parts manual; only eighteen were marked LOBO - ten M12x70 (Tav 31-10, 34-16) - four M10x80 (Tav 32-23) - two M10x90 (Tav 32-25) - two M12x55 (Tav 34-26) twelve not marked LOBO - two M12x140 (Tav 32-8) - two M12x70 (Tav 32-37) allen - four M12x74 (Tav 33-7) - four M10x150 (Tav 34-13) An even stranger note is that the Parts Manual might have an error in the count of Tav 32-21 which lists eight cap bolts are used for the suspension chassis U-bolts when six appear to be installed in my Dino. The interfernce fit of the front shock mount precludes a cap bolt fit and requires an Allen head bolt, which is labelled in Tav 32-37 with quantity two. I know that an error in Ferrari documentation is not unique but when associating parts for the first time then it can make you scratch your head. Image Unavailable, Please Login
My car (05898) matches Scott's photo exactly, and I also have 6 'normal' headed bolts and two Allen head bolts. Thanks Scott.
Yes, and here is my tracking spreadsheet Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Scott, thanks for sharing your plating worksheet!!! As a community we should complete this for each part (and note the variances where there are multiple possible platings for a given part). This would be a huge help to everyone restoring a Dino.
My Brake Caliper bolts are marked B*T has anyone heard of that brand? Update: add the engine mount bolts PART DESCRIPTION TABLE_NO ITEM_NO MARKING SIZE PLATING QUANTITY Bolt - Engine Mount through bolt 2 65 LOBO M10 x 115 Black Oxide 4 Image Unavailable, Please Login
Yes, a number of bolts including shock absorber mounts (from memory) are marked with this. Don't know who the manufacturer is.
This is great and confirms exactly what I'm doing right now! This could be a dangerous question - but does anyone have any images of their restored nuts? Want to get a better idea of the finish of original yellow nylocks.... or have most conceded and just bought new? thanks heaps
James, I've attached a photo of my suspension during the rebuild. All of the suspension nylocs look like this; silver (aka clear) zinc plated. Don't be surprised if the nyloc inserts are discolored during the plating process. Not to worry you can just scrape the surface with a knife and the yellow is still intact underneath. I've also attached a photo of the current production nylocs. They are very close to the originals. The most noticeable difference is that the hex profile is rounded off at the ends whereas the originals are crisp and sharp top to bottom. Practically speaking, only the most diehard anorak on his hands and knees would ever see these differences. More important is that the nylocs work as intended. If yours are too beaten up or the nylon is trashed, better to replace them. Best Regards, Paul Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
