DIY Cup Holder Door Fix 991.1
 

I was changing the cabin air filter that is under the glove box yesterday, and I reached up to steady myself and somehow got the cup holder door open and snapped the tiny pivot connection on the piece that latches it.
DOH! Lots of cursing! How could I be so stupid? And how could the magnificent Porsche engineers build such a flimsy part? I can only assume they were punishing us Americans that insist on cup holders.

Sunccoast has the part for a mere $192 plus shipping so I ordered one.

When I got home tonight, I decided I would take the broken one out and see if maybe I could rig a fix for now. Well, I was successful, although I am not sure how durable the fix will be. Probably a long time since I already ordered the new part!

The assembly is easy to get out: Pop off the little panel to the right of the assembly, open the glove box, then you insert a screwdriver up through a hole on each end of the assembly to push the metal latches up while gently pulling the assembly towards you.

The cover is held on by 13 or so size 10 Torx screws, all the same size.
Once the cover was off, I was able to carefully pry out the center latch piece. The tiny plastic loop on the front was broken. It connects to a tiny pin that is pressed in to two loops on the door.

I carefully tapped the tiny pin out with a tiny nail and a tiny hammer. I wore my magnifying glasses - have I mentioned the parts are tiny? LOL

On the latch piece, I used a tiny hand drill to drill two holes right next to what was left of the loop, sized to allow some stainless wire I had to fit.
I filed a little off the inside of both loops on the door to allow the wire to fit.
I tapped the pin back into the loops on the door.
I cut about a 1" piece of the wire, looped it over the pin, and pushed it through the two holes in the latch piece.
I twisted it gently with some small needle nose pliers, as tight as I could without breaking anything.
I snapped the piece back into the main assembly, careful to not dislodge the swing pin thingy.

And the door worked again! WooHoo!
The whole thing was accomplished in about a 1/2 hour using mainly cheap Harbor Freight tools.
Total cost: 1" of stainless wire, maybe $.01?
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That was almost an expensive cabin air filter replacement. ;-)

Nice recovery!!

Have you priced the cabin air filters? Still an expensive change! LOL

Yikes.

Every time I use the cup holders I feel I'm going to break it.

Now we just need to figure out a way to get rid of the cupholder logo, which I cannot stand.

Nice work. Assuming you use your factory cup holders as much as I do (i.e. never), your fix will probably last forever. But if you are as much of a perfectionist as me, you probably want to replace it.

Nice job!

When you fix the cupholders to actually hold something larger than a 4oz water bottle, let me know.

Nice to have things working as they should but if you want cupholders that actually work well these are the only way to go: https://www.ultimatecupholders.com/

My 911 is my daily driver, so I use my cupholder a lot. I use a Contigo autoseal mug for my coffee that really does seal, which prevents the ever so annoying drip onto the center console.
I ordered the replacement 'cartridge' before I decided to see if I could DIY it, so the new part is in the garage awaiting the day my crude fix gives up or some other part of this thing fails. My crude fix is not really any flimsier than the original design, so who knows.
But I am quite certain this piece was a revenge item for the Porsche Engineers that were forced to put a cup holder in the car for American ('Murica!") drivers like me.

I built my own cupholder that is very similar that one (wonder where I got the idea..), but I find it awkward to reach compared to the factory location.
Everything else about the car still puts a huge smile on my face every time, even after owning it for over 4 years, so I am more than willing to put up with the sub-optimal cup holder design!

Why not just use a magnet to keep the silly door closed instead of such a complicated spring/latch system? Spend engineering time on engines and suspension instead of silly things.

I think you will find that a lot of here spend time on what you consider silly things, and we love every minute doing so.