Warren928

Mark,

Nice product, but I already fiberglased my drivers side and it worked great. I do need a passenger one. Do you have any further photos from different angles?

Jim bailey - 928 International

The more damaged the armrest plastic the more you may need to rivet ,screw,glue, sandwich with large washers etc. But these metal brackets provides a strong base to tie it all together. Red UFO and by the same token a front fender is maybe $20 worth of aluminum . Steel is more rigid for the same thickness but can be shaped and bent without cracking like hardened aluminum tends to do. Besides that it what the guy making them opted to use

Mark Anderson

"Do you have any further photos from different angles?"
You can go into our store at http://www.mailordercentral.com/928i...tem=1&mitem=15

bd0nalds0n

Anybody have ideas about a contraption/thingamajigger to unwarp the tops of the leather door panels? I'm not the handiest with fiberglass, and don't really have the clamps, jigs, etc. to hold a form in place until the fiberglass cures.

Glenn Evans

If fitted between the door and the armrest, as shown in Mark's photo, the metal plate will have to be glued securely to reinforce it (and glue in tension is weak), otherwise it will not replace broken armest tabs effectively nor prevent further damage to the armrest.

Why?

The armrest door handle is bolted to ..... the armrest NOT the door. When you pull on the handle, the force is carried by armrest, and is transferred to the metal door structure via the six attachment bolts. The total area of the armrest whic transfers this force is the area of the six washers under the heads of the attachment bolts. Mild hamfistedness highly stresses this tiny area of plastic.

If fitted as shown without being glued, the metal plate can replace armrest attachment lugs only by transferring load back into the armrest via the little locating screws shown.; and very inefficiently, as they are well away from any of the armrest attachment points. Stress on the plastic will be reduced somewhat by using larger washers; but if the attachment point is already cracked, it will soon break further.

Mark's plate needs to be bolted OVER the back panel of the armrest. This clamps the armrest and spreads the load over a much larger area of plastic. When installed, you will be able to see only the two attachment tabs near the top of the armrest bin. Painting them black should make them effectively unnoticeable.

An improvement to the plate's design would be to add a metal tab which folds out at 90 degrees to pick up the armrest door handle's rear two bolts. I made and fitted such a reinforcing plate six years ago to resurrect a destroyed armrest, and it is still as solid as a rock.

I'll scan my pics and post them.

FlyingDog

My reason for asking about aluminum over steel is rust, not weight. After finding some valuable items rusted IN my house after being well oiled and cared for, I've become a little paranoid about car parts rusting.

Glenn Evans

One sorry passenger's (right hand drive) armrest. Note that four of the five rear attachment lugs are broken off completely. I fitted the rear section of my repair before I thought to photograph it.



The rear section of the armrest was nearly broken off. A PO had rivetted a thin strip of metal directly to the plastic; effectively only a zipper ready to crack open.



My repair plate, viewed from the botom quarter. The tab picks up the rear bolts of the armrest door handle.


Side view of the plate. (The shutter didn't sync with the flash, so the front of the plate is cut off.)


Direct front view of the fitted plate.


Lower front quarter view, showing the repair to the bin area.


Rear views of the repair.

kshipp

Brian - I have the same issue with my passenger side door. Hopefully, someone will offer some ideas.

BTW, please post some pics of your Venetian Blue.

jpitman2

I have done one of my doors with these, and apart from a little panel beating to get a tight fit on one part of the plastic (since passed on to the horse's mouth) it was easy. The important part as I see it is the small curly part (bottom right in pic), where the unseen end is screwed to the armrest by the screw that holds the door pull piece to the whole unit. This is transferring the door pull load (at the front anyway) onto the metal plate, and through its bolts to the door inner skin.
jp 83 Euro S AT 48k

Glenn Evans

Depending on how stiff they are, the tabs shown at the front and rear of the plate will transfer some force from the door handle via the armrest. The increase in the area of the armrest which transfers door handle loads is increased only a little in absolute terms.

Mark's plate, when fitted as shown (unless it is glued to the armrest), is a substitute for broken armrest attachments. It provides no reinforcement for the plastic armrest, so hamfistedness over time will eventually cause the plastic to crack around the screw and tabs (if these are stiff enough to carry a significant proportion of the load from the door handle).

If the lower tabs on Mark's plate fit, or are trimmed to fit, into the armrest bin, there is no reason why it cannot be fitted over the rear plate of the armrest. As I stated previously, only these lower tabs will be visible if the plate is fitted in this way.


Don't get me wrong. I would recommend to people that they buy Mark's plates and fit them over the armrest. I considered making more and selling them when I made mine, but felt that I would not be able to charge enough for the work that would need to go into it, including paying to have the double bend done in a press. IMHO, $US75 per pair is well worth the cost, regardless of differing over how it should be fitted, and the lack of the door handle pickup tab.

Glenn Evans

The designer of the plate shown in Mark's picture has been in contact with me, and assures me that there is a tab on the front of the plate which picks up one of the bolts at the rear of the armrest handle. This will transfer most of the load from the door handle directly to the door itself, thereby unloading the existing armrest attachments.

As he pointed out, one of his main design criteria was that the plate be invisible, which my fitment over the armrest is not.