1976 - 911 Door Pocket Help

jkrubinlaw · 11-19-2003, 11:58 AM

When I bought my car the aftermarket replacement door pockets of unknown origin were in the boot. All of the origininal mounting hardware is either broken or missing. Can someone explain how these things are supposed to be attached? I am not very smart so pictures would be helpful. Thanks.

FranksPlace2 · 11-19-2003, 12:57 PM

This is from memory (which isn't so good because I have "sometimers"! )

Thereis a lid piece and a pocket piece.

One end of the lid piece sticks into the door handle device in the middle and the other end has a bracket at the door edge.

The pocket has two sections. The larger section has a screw hole to screw it into the door device. There is a small "crossover" bracket for the front. The bracket screws into the door and the pocket screws into the bracket. There is a similar attacment for the back. There are three skinny machine screws for the bottom.

Good Luck!

jkrubinlaw · 11-19-2003, 06:26 PM

The lid is in place. The problem I am having is with the pockets. They are one big piece that runs the length of the door. I can't figure out how to attach the bottoms.

koollay · koollay's Garage

The bottoms should screw right into the door panel. You are talking about the long pocket itself...right? If so I believe is should have a total of 5 screws that go into it. Two on the sides and three along the bottom/

FranksPlace2 · 11-20-2003, 01:32 PM

Five screws plus one in the middle, I think.

notmytarga · notmytarga's Garage

In my 1975 the three screws on the bottom attach the bottom edge to three brackets which are attached with two machine screws each to a floating plate in the metal of the door. Mine has a gasket like pad between this bracket and the door panel. The front tip of the pocket is attached with one screw to a plastic piece which is attached with one screw through the door panel to the door metal. The rear edge is attached with one screw to a plastic piece which serves as a hinge and stay for the door pocket cover. This piece is attched with two screws through the door panel to the door metal. A sixth attachment is a screw below the hinged cover which attaches it to the solid handle.

Hope this helps. I just removed mine (again) preparing for a repaint. If more clarification is needed I can create an "exploded view" and take a photo to post.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

I have attached a drawing of the factory configuration for your car (top) and the typical aftermarket setup (bottom). Most aftermarket pockets are deigned to utilze some of the existing hardware but usually eliminate most of the blocks anf mounts because they are either incorporated in the pocket or are unnecessary due to the increased rigidity of fiberglass over the original pockets. Most mount directly to the bottom of the door using the existing nutplate (1-floating plate at the bottom of the door) and eliminate a lot of the hardware. (see the second picture. The three bottom screws (2) are the difficult ones to source...they are pictured at the bottom of this page: http://store.yahoo.com/eagleday/washerkits1.html

They screw into one of the 2 holes in the floating nutplate (1). The other hole is left empty.

Aftermarket fiberglass pockets often come without the screwholes and you must drill them yourself.

Hope this will help.

jkrubinlaw · 11-21-2003, 07:02 AM

Thanks Finstone.

I think I have an idea how this goes together. Now I need to get the mounting plates.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

If you are talking about the floating nutplates (14/1 on the factory picture); are you sure they are not already attached to your door...they are captive and it seems too much of a pain to remove. The part number is 91155533300 and Pelican lists them as a special order part for $2.07 each...you would need a total of 6 for both doors. If they are gone, I think I would try to use some of those common plastic anchors/or automotive nutplates pressed into the existing holes with appropriate screws to save a buck or two.

jkrubinlaw · 11-21-2003, 09:08 AM

On the outside of the door panel I have one little black bracket held in place with two screws. It looks like I need 5 more.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

Sounds like you have the floating nutplates on the inside of the door intact which is great! For most aftermarket pockets, you remove that small bracket (on the outside) and use the screws that hold the bracket on to screw the pocket directly onto the door using the nutplates on the inside of the door(but only one, not 2 of the screws). There is a lip on the aftermarket pockets that is not on the factory ones that the screws go through. Take a look at your pockets (hold them up to the door) and see if it looks like there is a place to attach to that bracket...if so, you may have OE pockets or more eom-like reproductions than most. If there are 3 horizontal screw holes in the bottom lip of the pocket, they will not need those brackets. Just screws like those holding on that small plastic bracket. Look at your pockets, as if they were installed. If the holes are vertical, you will probably need the brackets? I can provide a picture if you like.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

This is how the bottom of an aftermarket set attaches:

This is what the factory attaching hardware looks like:

jkrubinlaw · 11-21-2003, 07:58 PM

The pockets do not have any holes drilled in them. I guess I need to line it up and carefully drill the three bottom holes?

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

loooks that way...if they have a lower lip like the ones in the picture. Hold them up where they would mount and see if you could drill holes through the lip so you can use the nutplates. Just to make sure your pockets were not designed to use the factory plastic mounts like the picture above.
If you decide to drill the holes, you might want to make a template to use to help you drill the holes. Maybe use a piece of posterboard or light cardboard. Place it against the door and punch each screw through and screw it into the nutplate. That should ensure they will line up. Then hold the piece of posterboard template up to drill the pocket. The other way would be to mount the pocket with the other screws...pull out the bottom and mark where you want the holes and then use a very small drill bit and make you holes..if they line up, then you can enlarge them as necessary. The nutplates float a bit which allows you to be a little off with the holes....on the other hand, it also makes them difficult to screw into after you drill because the suckers keep moving. Fortunately, you cannot see sloppy work under there unless you lay down with the door open. Good luck!......Unless you just want to do it your self, you could probably save a headache and get an upholstery shop to put the on for a $20.