[Dick Boneske]

There is disagreement on whether the '66 Tripowers had a blue or yellow throttle return spring. I've always thought they should be yellow, but many claim blue is correct.

Anyone have a '66 with the original spring?

[Dick Boneske]

Here are some pictures I've taken of both.

[Tom Vaught]

The old 1966 cars I looked at years ago seemed to have the faded yellow spring on them (at least in the Michigan Junk Yards I visited) so I was like you on that deal, Dick.

If I saw a Blue Spring, I assumed that the owner had acquired it at some point from a 2 bbl engine. The yellow springs did break occasionally.

Looking forward to seeing documentation on this topic.

Tom V.

[SR-71]

Dick,
According to the 1966 factory parts book there was only one spring for the V8 Tempest series cars. All the original cars I've seen have blue springs on them. I was never lucky enough to find a Tri-Power GTO in the junk yards I ever went to. Usually that was the first thing pulled off to be sold by the yard to sell separately.

[rexs73gto]

When I use to run the yards I always saw yellow springs on the ones , very few , were Yellow.

[Dick Boneske]

Originally Posted by rexs73gto

When I use to run the yards I always saw yellow springs on the ones , very few , were Yellow.

What does this mean?

[rexs73gto]

Sorry I was thinking about going to the junk yards when I started to type , but when I use to run the junk yards for parts for myself & to go to swap meets, if & when I found some tri-power units they always had yellow springs on them . This was a while back when going to the yards was still fun & you could actually get some good parts when you got there.

[Tom Vaught]

Originally Posted by SR-71

Dick,
According to the 1966 factory parts book there was only one spring for the V8 Tempest series cars. All the original cars I've seen have blue springs on them. I was never lucky enough to find a Tri-Power GTO in the junk yards I ever went to. Usually that was the first thing pulled off to be sold by the yard to sell separately.

I suppose that the info above is totally correct and when you got a V-8 Tempest, you got a Blue Spring. That being said, the Tri-Power GTO was a different animal vs the Tempest in several ways. A simple analogy would be why do Tempests have the the Lights in the Extensions and Lemans/GTOs have the tail lights going across the back of the vehicle. Different parts were sourced for those vehicles. All three vehicles are on the generic Tempest platform and I agree you could get a V-8 engine in a basic Tempest.

Tom V.

[SR-71]

Pontiac abbreviated the A-body Tempest, LeMans & GTO series as T8 or T6. They differentiated between GTO and options like Tri-Power and 4 bbl when there was one. However the 1966 factory parts manual shows only one spring for all V8 powered A-body 66 Pontiacs. The 1971 factory parts manual also shows only one part number for all V8 A-body Pontiacs. Now there may be differences between plants but they "should" all be using the same spring no matter what. Maybe the yellow springs didn't break as readily as the blue ones and dealers stocked only one. Who knows? Unfortunately I've only been into the GTOs since the late 70s and haven't seen everything yet. As for reading parts manuals I truly understand them since I get paid to do that for as long as I've been into GTOs.

[DANTIP]

My unmolested Fremont tri power has a blue return spring. The survivor tri power system owned by another very knowledgable member also has a blue spring.

[Tom Vaught]

So did you buy the 66 GTO (new like some of the rest of us did our earlier cars)?

Tom V.

[goatman65]

My parents 66 tripower GTO is unrestored and they bought it new in Nov, 1965. It is a Baltimore car and has the original spring with remnants of Blue still on it.

[Tom Vaught]

Maybe some other Baltimore owners will post up about their 66 Tri-Power Spring color.

Thanks very much. Glad you kept the car in the family. Wish I had kept my 66 Tri-power 4 speed Convertible GTO I bought out of Florida. It was a one owner too.

Tom V.

[goatman65]

I took pics of the spring but get them to upload from my camera right now.

Here are a few from a few years ago. My dad painted the engine in the mid-1970s with what I think is Ford blue.

[Tom Vaught]

I have noticed that the Blue Spring seems to have more spring turns on it vs the yellow spring and that people with original cars seem to have the spring attachment in the farthest hole away from the center carb on the throttle bracket.

Pontiac would not put multiple holes in a throttle bracket unless there was a reason for it. If you have the spring tension where you want it you only need a single attachment hole. Engineers do stuff for a reason. Why the multiple holes in the throttle cable bracket?

1966 was the most popular year for the GTO, almost 100,000 cars made. So maybe the company needed a second supplier of the spring to cover the extra volume required?

Tom V.

[Dick Boneske]

Regarding the multiple holes for spring tension, all the GTO Tripowers had these three holes for the spring. I've found that if everything is as it should be--accelerator pump adjustment, throttle plates adjusted so the throttle levers don't rub on the throttle body, and the correct accelerator cable is used---the front or weakest hole works fine. Drivability suffers if you use the rear hole, as accelerator effort is quite hard.

[goatman65]

My guess is that the 3 holes were for owner preference,maybe a lady or someone with short legs would like a softer touch?... Actually with the spring in the rear hole it takes very little effort to move the pedal. In fact I can move it easily with one finger to the point where the end carbs start to open.

I have a repro yellow spring on my 65 Tripower and it is much harder to work the pedal. I have the spring in the center hole. But the 65 pedal assy is different from 66.

[Tom Vaught]

My point, the spring rate and length looks different and allows you to have a softer pedal with the blue spring, even in the third hole.

The yellow spring DOES have a high pedal effort when installed in the other holes.

Instead of looking at pure physical changes why don't we look at how the changes in the set-ups affect "Driver Feel" when operating the throttle?

That may have been the reason for the "65 pedal assy is different from 66" and the spring change.

Tom V.

[Kenth]

1963-65 T/8 uses the (yellow?) 544922 throttle return spring.
Never saw a 1964-65 Tripower with a blue spring.

1966 T/8, 1967-68 T/8, F/8, 1969 F/8, 1969 T/8-GP/8 4BC and 1970 T/8 RAIII uses the (blue?) 9789460 throttle return spring.

Different part-#´s, different colors?

[Tom Vaught]

Great Info, Thanks Kenth.
Question:

Your list shows not only 2-BBL Carb Tempests, 4 BBL Carb AFBs, and obviously all of the Q-Jet carbs on the models you listed.

Looks like a BLUE "Generic Carb Spring" was designed with a capability to be used across the Pontiac fleet?

Tom V.