Backing out of a garage with door open - door sagging

Sliver911 · 09-23-2016, 09:14 AM

OK I just pulled the stupidest move in my life with my beautiful SC...

Started car in the garage and proceeded to reverse out with driver's door open. That ruined my day. it hit the pillar between the two bays of the garage, but I stopped in enough time and was rolling at a low enough velocity not to bend it off it's hinges.

So now if I try to close the door on its own it glides fine up to about 4 inches from closing and stops. If I look at the window frame it sits about an inch lower than the door frame now.

But?

If I slam the door hard enough it can right itself and close properly. All gaps look normal. I do not see any bent parts or hinges out of alignment, So here goes the questions:

Is there something that may have been knock off alignment that I can re-adjust?
Should I try to jack the back part of the door back to see if I can force it back to the appropriate height? (I know brute force is not a wise choice usually but I had to ask)

Should I just go to my local Porsche mechanic (who also sources 911 restoration projects) and not even bother fiddling with anything myself?

I will post pictures tonight to further elaborate.

Sliver911 · 09-23-2016, 11:19 AM

Had my son take some pictures - looks worse than I though!

From the back

Side view looks like the window Frame is bent

bobrestore · 05:19 PM

its hard to tell from just pictures .... you say the door closes properly when slammed closed .... that's a good thing..... just looking at pictures the door itself... the upper hinge area does not look distorted ... the lower hinge area on the door does look distorted. it looks bulged out as you would expect for the forces you said were applied... you may get away with carefully pounding this bulge back in... do it slowly to assure the right things are happening.... compare the appearance of your driver side door to your passenger side door in the hinge areas. if the passenger side door has the same bulge then that is not it.... just take your time and look for subtle differences.. I don't think the door limiter strap is damaged ,(it could be internally and that might cause problems) but you could completely remove that to be sure if it looks suspect... if so do that first before pounding on the hinge..

962porsche · 09-23-2016, 05:58 PM

i have repaired many cars damaged the same way you did your mishap .
it is not uncommon at all a funny story about one countach customer because of the way you back up a countach the customer hit the top of his garage door 3 times two of the time was with in weeks of it's self .
any ways this is more involved then you may think .
many times some thing will not look twisted as it maybe only a 1mm out but by the time you get to the other end of the panel your 10 plus MM out .
It should be setup on a frame bench you then by doing so you get the measurements as to see if the A-pillar gas been rolled forward i'm sure it has as they take little force with a box of wood and a hammer to move the to adjust the doors .
i'm pretty sure the door mounting points on the door it's self have also moved as they are only on sheet metal .
question is why is the hing pin falling out ?
by slamming the door shut you could damage the latch and or striker do not do it !!!!!!!!
the door is spring and it needs to be pulled back into place .
you should have insurance coverage for this

Emo993 · 09-24-2016, 11:47 AM

Well 962porsche is the expert....the only thing I can add on an issue I just fought, bottom of 914 door to low was to add a few paper shims under the bottom hinge to raise door. It worked good, then I cut and drilled sheet metal the same thickness of the paper, primed and painted and installed.
Yours being down an inch sounds like a lot, I would follow 962's advice. Best, Mark

bobrestore · 07:06 PM

silver911 ... don't push the panic button yet .... you need to take off the door panel to get to an adjustment that leans the window frame in and out..... also you will probably find the door limiter area inside the door needs work... it is probably the reason the door hangs up 4" or so from closing smoothly...... if things work out adjust the window frame so that a dollar bill has a tight pull to it, all around the perimeter...

Cairo94507 · Cairo94507's Garage

This may be something best left to an experienced body man. I would be reluctant to go screwing around and possibly creating more damage.

962porsche · 09-26-2016, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cairo94507

This may be something best left to an experienced body man. I would be reluctant to go screwing around and possibly creating more damage.

yes very much so the hinges are spring screwing around with adjustments is not going to repair it ! if the door shell is tweaked too and it sure could be the mounting area is not designed for any force loads being pushed like that to then . then a new door would be in order . this you will see when the lower post is measured out .

bobrestore · 09-26-2016, 07:10 PM

I guess I am wrong about what the pelican web site is for.... I thought it would be an information and encouragement for a do it your selfer..... this stuff is not brain surgery ... and if you screw up a little you are actually better of for the experience..... let silver9/11 report back...... if he did not know how to remove the door panel and remove the door limiter strap then that will support your suggestions... if he removes the door limiter and the door closes better then you can judge what the next step would be....

962porsche · 09-27-2016, 04:08 AM

bob i do understand you do or did not do auto body for a living you most likely played around with some things in your garage what makes me think and say this is your plan of attack on projects .
i'm sure you don't know that a unibody car has 5mm of adjustment to then that would be 2.5mm plus and minus .
the window frame is more then the 2.5mm out . then look at the lower hinge that too is bent and sure looks to be more then the 2.5mm out as it pushed into the A-pillar .
when a car gets it's back edge of the door hit it commonly bends the mounting point/s on the pillar they tend to roll them selfs out as it's the easiest way for them to move .
the window frames tend to take the force load 1st as it sticks out past the low door body . this also tends to bow the window frame .
the 1st thing to do is to remove the door from the car. you remove the 6 bolts that hold the door to the a-pillar and the door check pin and pull the door off . from that point you need to measure the A-pillar to be sure it's in spec . the only way for us to do that in my shop would be to bench the car and using the chassis jig / fixture and bolt it up to see if the door pillar has been moved .
we in no way would start to adjust a dam thing yet as the thing is bent .
you need to 1st find out what is bent and repair it again you can see the lower mounting point for the hinge is ! so if it's bent there way would you want to be screwing around with the window frame ?
some things to note porsche uses shims to more the door back in the doors opening they tend not to use more then two shims for this at most with the countless porsches we have done is 3 shims and the amount of cars i have seen with 3 hinge shims from the factory i can count on one hand .
so what do you do just start adding shims to make up for a bent pillar ? NO you repair it if it is bent and do it once and do it the proper way .
the point of the site is to have people helping the DIY people do it them self's but do it the right way as it would be done in a shop . this will hold the value of the car to what it needs to be . it is not to start gaffing the crap out of the cars .
if a person wanted to take on this job them selfs yes this site is good for that we are here to help .

bob with all honesty a guy is wondering about his door gaps your 1st instinct is to get a BFH and a chisel and start hitting the back side of the qtr to close the gap .
this tells me you have never had to close a bad gap . the B series ( i think that's what his car was ??? don't remember the year of the car now ??) has nothing to do with the earlier series chassis help even the wheel base is different . if your looking at the tech drawings that millions of people have then your looking up the wrong tree .
this also comes down to having a 2.5 plus or minus of adjustment if you can't get it with that then most likely some place is bent or out of spec .

Cairo94507 · Cairo94507's Garage

I have no problem with a DIY'er but I am just saying you may not want to learn the fine art of body gap and panel fitment on a classic Porsche. Now if it was a Honda Civic, beat and pry away. I just hate to see someone with a problem that might take an experienced body man 2 hours to address turn into a project that takes 20 hours to correct.

962porsche · 09-27-2016, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cairo94507

I have no problem with a DIY'er but I am just saying you may not want to learn the fine art of body gap and panel fitment on a classic Porsche. Now if it was a Honda Civic, beat and pry away. I just hate to see someone with a problem that might take an experienced body man 2 hours to address turn into a project that takes 20 hours to correct.

thats for dam sure !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!