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I just got the car back 2 weeks ago for the dreaded door strap repair. To repair the strap, the remove the door and cut into the area where the strap goes into the body. Welded up the strap and reinforced it as well. They re-painted the area and the fix is undetectable. I had it done at West Coast Specialties in San Diego. The project was driven by Ryan Hernandez, the manager/owner. He does appreciate a good bottle of Tequila as does Ruben, the body man that did the work. It takes about 3 or 4 days to get the job done...these things take time. The cost was about $600. I will be going back to West Coast if I ever need anymore paint or touch up work. Also, they do all the paint and body work for Pioneer Porsche in San Diego.
Bottom line, it ain't cheap, but I do have to hear that cheap sounding click every time I open the driver door.
Sounds like they did it right! I guess they managed to get into the area without removing the fenders by cutting a hole in the pillar section?
What does scare me a litle is that the backside of the weld is not rust protected...like on my car. Might be a long term problem brewing.
I tried to make up some plates for the outside but have totally failed so far on making it work and look good simultanously. Most of the attempts look like a hack job at best....so the two choices may be to either weld up the front or dig in and weld up the back...either way its welding and paintwork. **Sigh** You figure with what Porsche charged for these cars the door strap would be at least at good as a Honda's!
*bump* Getting my driver side check strap repaired from a previous SH*T Weld job! Stopping by my shop on the way home and will provide pics. They have the door off and apparently they used filler or who knows.... They have to fabricate some bits to properly weld and repair. It should be better than new from the factory once complete. This sucks
I did the p-car fix and while the door swings smoothly, there is still an audible click as it crosses one of the detents.
Failure occurs when the welds on the bracket that mount the inboard end of the strap begins to break. Pulling forces will not break the welds. A combination of weak welds and too much resistance from the detent strap when you close the door will cause the failure. If you have modified the strap before the welds have begun to weaken, there is a good chance the bracket will stay put. If the clicking is loud, you may want to have another look at the detent and make sure you loosened it up enough.
Cheers
Allan
The price point would have to be a bit less than just having a proper repair done. A bolt in or just weld in reinforcement part that could be added through the inside foot well wall with detailed installation instructions might be a better kit/item. A home DIY person could even hacksaw metal from the inside under the carpet to install the fix and the result would not need painting, the door pillar will look original and once the carpet is put back in place would not be visible.
The price point would have to be a bit less than just having a proper repair done. A bolt in or just weld in reinforcement part that could be added through the inside foot well wall with detailed installation instructions might be a better kit/item. A home DIY person could even hacksaw metal from the inside under the carpet to install the fix and the result would not need painting, the door pillar will look original and once the carpet is put back in place would not be visible.
"Hacksaw"???? That's your new nickname, "hacksaw". :-)
Yes hacksaw, I believe this is what professional body shop guys use to do the through the inside repair. They use an electric hacksaw (Saws-All) or even an air cutting wheel to cut open a door into the "A" pillar from the inside of the car to do the repair. I was thinking a block of metal or frame that fits over the existing internal end of the pivot that is set-screwed into place or can be tack-welded.
I did one of these repairs several years ago.....sort of. I had the strap plate fillet welded top and bottom to the door pillar without the need to remove the fender. When I reinstalled the latch, the flex was not evident at the pillar; however, I still got the snapping sound when opening the door, even though I had replaced the old strap with a new one. I don't believe that the snapping sound is the result of the latch pin flexing in the door pillar. I think that the noise is due to the stiffness of the rubber bumpers that are encapsulated in the strap assembly. I've been lazy; but, I will eventually pull out the latch assembly and do the "modification" that has been common and has you shave down the height of the rubber stops in the assembly. I'll do that and then reassemble with adequate gease to ease operation of the stop assembly. Hope that solves my "snapping" sound.
04-14-2003, 02:39 AM
Thought I would resurrect since this issue never ends!
