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Well, I know this does occur on these older Porsche's as I've seen it on several 993's, although it's probably not isolated to the 993 model.
Why do these darn pocket doors eventually misalign? I can't quite put my finger on it, but the door pocket protrudes beyond the door lid over time until eventually the door lid practically falls inside of the door pocket.
Why does this happen? I thought the usual screw that hold the door pocket close to the panel was slipping, but I fixed it and it still does not align. Even though the pocket sits right up next to the door panel, it still protrudes a bit away from the door lid.
I've looked this problem up on forums but not much info on this. Anybody know what's the problem and how to fix it?
I thought maybe the door panels were warped, but even after I took them off the doors, although a little warped, it's not very excessive. And it occurs on BOTH doors equally.
This is a bad design and it doesn't happen overtime. I bought brand new door pockets within the last two years and they still look like yours. One of those quirks I guess. These is probably something you could do with a brace etc. but not sure it is worth it.
This is on my list of fixes as well. My drivers side is the same as yours, almost falling in.
There is a thread of someone JB welding a piece of alum (painted black) to better hold that one screw. Don't know if that helped w/align. issue though.....
This is on my list of fixes as well. My drivers side is the same as yours, almost falling in.
There is a thread of someone JB welding a piece of alum (painted black) to better hold that one screw. Don't know if that helped w/align. issue though.....
Guys, this is another issue with these door pockets. I can easily fix the broken plastic plate on the door pocket. But this I believe has little to do with my problem.
Even if you fix this broken screw hole in the door pocket, the door pocket STILL does not align up with the door lid. What is causing this and what a good way to fix it?
I just recently reinforced the usual break where the screw hole is on the inside of the door pocket where it mounts onto the grab handle. I tripled the thickness with ABS and JB weld and it turned out very strong. Then I noticed the hole it screws into on the grab handle had enlarged and this will be next project to strengthen by injecting it with JB weld and redrill/tap the hole. Once this is done it should mount the door pocket snug to the door. In my case for both sides the lid never really fell inside but closer to the edge because the door pocket being loose.
But as you say you fixed the broken screw issue I wonder if you could use moderate heat and massage the pocket back in shape. From the picture you posted it looks to me the pocket has deformed.
Guys, I really appreciate the help, but my problem is NOT the hole to secure the pocket to the door handle. If that were the case, I find the easiest fix is to just re-tap a hole below the older one. I find there's enough bite in the handle to hold it.
I looked at the pockets and they really didn't seem deformed. I guess I need to examine another door pocket to see how mine is different.
I had the same issue and thought I was in for some major surgery. As a first step, I removed the entire pocket by removing all of the screws. I then reinstalled, adding a larger flange washer to the screw that goes into the door latch. When I was reinstalling, I sat on the garage floor a really pushed my weight into the pocket against the door as I was tightening the screws. To my surprise, that was all it took to fix the problem. Hope this helps others.
Same problem on my 1995 coupe - the door panels are in good condition and the pockets aren't broken but the middle part of the driver's pocket is bowed out so far that the armrest / lid doesn't align correctly and falls inside the pocket with very little pressure.
Remove the door pockets and let them sit out in the hot sun and put some weight on the pocket area that needs to be depressed to align more properly with the pocket lid.
This thought may very well required that you reposition some of the door pocket fastening screws, but based upon what I see in the photo, pushing on the pocket to align better with the lid will move the end of the pocket out further thus requiring repositioning of those screws.
If you don't like that idea, get a small heat gun/hair dryer, and while everything is fastened together heat the area on the backside of the pocket and push on it until it better aligns/conforms with the pocket lid.
The door pocket lid is essentially the template for where you want the door pocket to eventually end up, contour-wise.
EDIT: Here's a link to the reinforcement kit that Foxman mentioned below, but Im not quite how this solves a bowed door pocket.
I had this problem with my zenith C2S. The pockets were bowed, and the elbow rests had no where to perch. The problem was solved when I repaired the door cards using BTB's $10 door pocket attachment reinforcement kit. When you reinstall the door cards you can tighten them up a bit and stop the bowing that occurs. There's also a small piece of plastic that the elbow rests perch on - this may have broken off as did mine.
Even before I installed BTB reinforcement piece (which is a great contribution to all 993/964 owners- Thanks) I notice that the alignment for the attachment screw to the door pull handle was far off. In fact I wondered if the “bowing” contributed to the failure as one can see in the photo. I’m going to remove all the screws once again and install the screw to the newly reinforced piece first then as jcontardi described. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
03-18-2012, 10:01 PM
My pocket door lids don't align any more
