Hi:

A friend noticed that the door strap was loose on my 944. When he tried to tighten the top screw, we discovered that it (or the backing plate behind it) was stripped.

What's involved in repairing it?

Thanks for any input!

Happy driving,
--Jody

 

There's a backing nut behind there that's welded to the body. Tighten too hard and the weld breaks and you have the issue you have now. You need to get behind it by pulling the trim aside near it, and hold it with pliers or something.

Sam

 

Sounds like Sam has done this before.

I never had this problem, but I was told during a PPI that it is a common failure when someone lets the door go to the end of travel with a lot of force. Bouncing door syndrome, I suppose.

Good Luck.

 

Just need to unbolt the door half of it and replace it with a new one, I've got a couple lying around if you need one.

 

If the part that's shown is still attached well you're lucky. Like someone said, replace the door half. On mine it's totally missing and the backing nuts/plate is gone. You can't get to it from behind. Any ideas n how to re attach it?

 

Had same problem. Nuts broke loose. Was able to get nuts started on new screws by holding them on a flex head wrench with tape and CAREFULLY getting them in position thru the holes in the metal on the inside. Got to reomove the carpet. Was not easy but doable, takes paitence and af few attempts, a few #@*"& and a small retireval magnet, to get the nut back when you drop it.
Good luck,
Bill

 

Been there, done that. Not fun but possible. On mine, the strap was bent out of shape and the mount on the frame was busted. This was one of my first repair jobs on the new...er latest... car. Took a while but eventually got everything replaced and repaired.

 

Have you had success doing this? Mine is loose, and both backing nuts are loose as well, but I am not sure you can get back there to tighten. Anyone do this?

 

Hmm, on mine the bracket on the car side of the hinge (the part you have a picture of) is cracked in half. I am expecting this same problem.

So, long story short, pull carpet, and try to reach the nuts from the back?

 

For the life of me I'm trying to remember how I did it. I know I contrived some half baked mechanism to hold it in place. I know I did it because it is back together again. I'll have to go stare at it for awhile to try and remember. I hate this AGE thing, I'm turning into grandpa Simpson.

 

Hey Zero10, I realise this thread is from 19 (NINETEEN!!) years ago but just wondering if you had any recollection in fixing the door strap on your 944? Specifically, did you have to be mindful of the bolts that are (in theory) welded behind? I ask as I am looking to change the door strap bracket as mine has cracked. Many thanks.

 

I just did these a few months ago. I cut the whole bracket off using a Dremel tool cut-off disc. I placed a strong magnet next to the heads off of the triple square screws and cut the heads off. I then "walked" the weld nut down with the magnet to the rubber bellow grommet where the door wiring harness passes through. Retrieved them through there. Just didn't want to have any possibility of rattling from the nuts dropping down into the panel. I then bought the rivet nut tool from Harbor Freight. Used a 6mm rivet nut and it worked great! IIRC I had to drill the holes a little because the outside diameter of the 6mm rivet nut is around 8.75mm. Use the appropriate drill bit so the outside diameter of the rivet nut just barely fits. Parts: 928.537.417.02 left support bracket, 928.537.418.02, right. 928.537.425.02, left seal gasket, 928.537.426.02, right. 928.537.419.03, door check strap screw. 928.537.459.02, bracket screws. I got the genuine triple square bracket screws because, IMO, they are less likely to strip and they just look cool. Also, these bracket screws come with red thread lock already on them. I think people get into trouble breaking the blind nuts off because they fail to apply heat to the screws before removing ---Lizard

 

You may not have a problem if you carefully heat those bracket screws before removing. See my other post.

 

Hey Lizard, many thanks for taking the time to write - much appreciated. I've purchased an OEM bracket and gasket. I am going to roll the dice slightly in so much as I will try to re-use the two existing screws (for the backet) and the one screw that fits vertically into the actual strap. Heating up the screws before removing from the old bracket makes a lot of sense although, I confess, beyond using a hand-held hairdryer I wouldn't really know how else to go about heating them up. Any recommendations gratefully received. Thanks again, Lizard. Scott

 

Couple of options for heating would be using inductive heater, or a pencil torch. Inductive heater would be safer for surrouding paint.