Kevin

Well I have finally had some time to post some more pictures of my little project. The next picture show me locating two holes directly in the back of the strap. The strap has wings that bend up and down with nothing bridging in the middle so I could easily drive a nail through the sheet metal. Another side note is that the metal is very thin and it didn't take muck to drive the nail through. As you can see by the tip of the nail it didn't get rounded.


This picture shows me drilling two holes with a head porting bit. What I'm trying to do is to locate the wings so that I can bridge the gap with welded metal and fuse it to the back panel. If you look hard enough you can see the strap through the holes.

Kevin

I have enclosed the picture with everything welded. It might look rough, but there was little heat warpage. I really filled the bracket up with metal and rewelded the existing cracks.

GeoT3

Kevin,
Nice work and images. Did you also weld the front of the anchor to the frame? The body shop that did mine did so. It made sense to me because 1) the weak sheet metal the base of the door anchor is welded to will tear again unless you strengthen it 2) by welding the top of the anchor to the sheet metal adds strength to the anchor points - you are cutting down on the lever arm.

George

Kevin

George;

I did not weld anything on the front side. However I fused the upper and lower strap together, and welded it to the back A-Pillar. I personally feel that it is adequate, if it cracks again I will open it up and weld in a reinforcement plate. I wanted a factory appearance without the exterior tack welds. Thanks for the compliments.

Marco Polo

*****,

The 9N6 cars have #40 torx bolts fastening the strap hinges to the jambs.

savvybt

I just found Rennlist and signed up as a member. Lots of great information.

I have the same problem with a broken drivers side door check strap. Kevin, I am planning on doing the same thing you did. Before I do I am wondering how your repair has held up. Also do you need to remove both the fender and the door?

Anyone else have feedback on the longevity of various repair methods?

Thanks,

Kevin

Rick;

I have not had any problems with my repair. You do have to remove the door. I think that this is a sound fix while keeping a stock appearance. I have thought about making a RS style canvas door strap to reduce the stress on the mount.

savvybt

Kevin,

Glad to hear it is working. I will do the same thing. BTW your pictures are very helpful.

Kevin

Bump- I can repost the pictures, to see the origin of the failure...

Mike J

Hi Kevin,

Please repost...I don't quite understand the backside and structure of the pillar mount yet since I have not seen one apart. I am waiting for my body shop guy to get a p-car in with a side impact...this may take some time. So if you can repost that would be great!!!

Cheers,

Mike

chris walrod

What can we do to prevent this from happening? I noticed that my drivers side has much more 'detent' than the pass side. Obviously they drag more as the check strap wears.

I have not yet removed my door panel to have a look at the detent mechanism itself, but I would like to somehow lessen the detent action. Has anyone tried this? I think this is a bummer of a problem with the 993.

Kevin

Mike I will repost them ASAP

Chris, It is a problem that does not have a cheap fix. I have tried not to swing the door to the stops. Typically there is only two small spot welds holding the strap to the back of the A-pillar! Very poor design.

Gee993

Chris,

The door strap itself goes into the door and prevents the door from swinging open too fast. There's a DIY in 101 projects and Robin's site shows how to take the door panel off. It's relatively easy and takes about an hour.

The bigger problem is where the strap connects to the frame on the a-pillar. There's a connector that sticks out and that connector is poorly designed. All the body shops I talked to are familiar with the problem and say it's due to the doors getting heavier and the design staying the same. Cost to fix (take door off, reweld strap, paint) is around $600-$1000. Ouch.

chris walrod

Thanks for the explanation. I guess what I am trying to describe is if we lessen the amount of load that this strap anchor takes when each of the two detents are 'detented', I would think it could prolong the life of this poor design. Of coarse opening the door all the way to the end of the door strap in a no-no.

I am under the impression that most everyone who had a strap anchor break, never opened the door all the way to the end of the strap, bottoming it out, so to speak? It was a result of these two detents that basically pull and push twice each time the door is opened and closed?

GTR 993

When I had the spoilers put on recently my Body Shop fixed the clicking as part of the deal. I asked how they were going to do it and they told me they would take the whole door apart and reweld it. I was worried about rattles but so far so good. I didn't realize this was that common of a problem.