Door Stay Reinforcement Plate Orientation

[jaustinmd]

My '82 911SC's passenger-door door stay is worn out and I thought I'd install a new door stay and a reinforcement kit also. I'm working through the speaker hole, but my speaker has a plastic surround or shield behind it that would not be removable without removing the door card and it only opens into the door cavity at the bottom. Because of this, I can't directly look at the door stay area inside the door. I tied a string to the old stay, unbolted it, and found I could lower it to the bottom of the door and fish it out through the opening in the bottom of the speaker liner. I intend to use this same string as a pull string and pull the new stay and reinforcement plate up to the mounting area.

The inner/larger reinforcement plate has a bent flange running along the longest side. If I could see inside the door, I'm sure it would be obvious which way the flange rests when mounted. But, in my situation, I can't see inside the door!

Does the flange bend forward or toward the front of the car or does it bend backwards toward the rear of the car?

Also, since that plate is roughly the same shape as the outer reinforcement plate, I assume it is oriented the same as the outer plate, which would make the bent edge run along the door-skin side, correct?

(Now the embarrassing part ... I installed the same kit a few years ago on the driver's door. I had the door card off then, so it was easy to see the orientation. However, for the life of me, I can't remember which way the bent edge went! )

[86 911 Targa]

Follow your own lead, and, do the pass door
as you did the driver's door.

I have never found a way to replace the door
stay without removing the card.

Best,

Gerry

[jaustinmd]

Originally Posted by 86 911 Targa

Follow your own lead, and, do the pass door
as you did the driver's door.

I have never found a way to replace the door
stay without removing the card.

Best,

Gerry

Contrary to your experience, there are numerous posts on this forum and elsewhere of successfully replacing the door stay through the speaker hole.

Now, back to my question, which way does that darned flange go?

[sc]

I think these may answer your questions...
-angled plate installs on the inside with angle facing outward and forward
-non angled piece is sandwiched between Sheetmetal on the jamb side of door orientated to match the inside plate

[jaustinmd]

Originally Posted by sc

I think these may answer your questions...
-angled plate installs on the inside with angle facing outward and forward
-non angled piece is sandwiched between Sheetmetal on the jamb side of door orientated to match the inside plate.

That's exactly what I wanted to know! THANKS!

[86 911 Targa]

Originally Posted by jaustinmd

Contrary to your experience, there are numerous posts on this forum and elsewhere of successfully replacing the door stay through the speaker hole.

Now, back to my question, which way does that darned flange go?

My experience has been that access to the door stay
was difficult without removing the speaker enclosure
which is screwed into the door behind the panel and
moisture barrier.

Can you please provide the links you quoted?

Thanks,

Gerry

[jaustinmd]

Originally Posted by 86 911 Targa

My experience has been that access to the door stay
was difficult without removing the speaker enclosure
which is screwed into the door behind the panel and
moisture barrier.

Can you please provide the links you quoted?

Thanks,

Gerry

It's not worth the trouble to re-research and find the links - I just finished the installation and let me tell you how I did it:

1. Remove speaker from door and disconnect stay arm from door frame, tie a string to the stay arm, unbolt it, and lower it to the bottom of the door.
2. Retrieve the old stay through the opening at 6 o'clock on the speaker shield.
3. Anticipating it would be a PITA to align the new stay, inner reinforcement plate, mounting holes in door and outer reinforcing plate, I used a couple of drops of super glue to glue the inner plate to the mounting face of the door stay.
4. Tie your pull string to the arm of the new stay with inner plate, feed it through the speaker shield opening, and pull it up and out through the door's hole for the stay arm.
5. Thread the other end of the string through the outer reinforcement plate and slip the plate into position, letting the door stay drop back slightly in the door so the plate can slip by and then pulling the arm back out through the hole in the plate.
6. Use a screwdriver or similar to align one set of holes, pull a little tension on the stay arm to keep things in place, and insert the mounting bolt, then insert the other bolt.
7. Attach the door stay to the door frame (I used a M6 bolt with washers and nylock nut) and lubricate stay arm.
8. Check door stay function (works great, no "click"!), check tightness of mounting bolts after swinging the door a few times, and go have a beer!

Having done it both ways (removing door card vs speaker hole access), I consider this considerably easier than removing the door card with all its associated hardware. I'll concede, however, this probably went so smoothly and easily because I was just installing the kit as a preventative measure since I needed a new door stay, anyway. The door in question had not suffered any damage that I could detect. However, if one's door had relatively severe damage, bent metal, etc., it likely would be difficult to install the kit without the much better access removing the door card provides.