SC Door Stop Question

[asgi99]

I just bought an '83 SC (my first Porsche). The door stay on the drivers side was broken so I ordered the kit from Pelican Parts and then took off the door panel. On checking the damage, it is worse than I had hoped. A large chunk of sheet metal had torn off inside (about 2 by 3 inches). When I offer up the reinforcement plate there is not a lot of remaining steel for it to mate against. If I beat out the torn metal I can probably salvage a couple of square inches at most. Has anybody repaired something this substantial? Should I try and get it welded? The 101 Projects for your Porsche book mentions that welding may require complete door removal which I am loath to do.

Additionally (and this is probably a stupid question), do I need the door stay? What function does it fulfil? Is it to stop the door swinging open only, or does it serve to help the door swing true? In other words, If I elect to not replace it, what will be the long term repurcussions?


Many thanks in advance.


Ash

[sagacis]

Both of mine are broken. I just open the doors carefully and hope it isn't too windy. The stay doesn't support the door, only keeps it from swinging too far. If it swings all the way out, more metal can be bent.

You will probably need to repair with welding if the sheet metal is significantly mangled.
--sagacis

[Hetmann]

I lived with broken stops for several years until I finally got them fixed right. That involves taking the doors off the car and apart and getting the sheet metal welded/reinforced. If you are careful, nothing will happen. The first time the wind catches you off guard, you could get a nasty crease in your door from it swinging too wide.

You can wait until you are doing a repaint and need to take it all apart anyway or be very careful with the handling and repair.

[kjb]

For a professional opinion, try to give BodyStyle in San Jose a call (408) 436-1616. I talked to Cecil (the owner?) about this issue some time back, and he claimed to have been doing these repairs for a couple of decades and sounded knowledgeable.

I haven't used their services myself, but I'm considering letting them fix my worn driver's side lower door hinge.

/ J

[asgi99]

Many thanks for the advice. Do you think using a cable instead of the door stop kit would work? The advantage would be that I could attach it to a intact part of the door. I am not sure if it would get trapped when I closed the door but maybe I could position it is such as way that it retracted into the door when the door closed. Or maybe I could attached some kind of spring to pull it into the door.


Ash

[Paulporsche]

Ash,

It won't look stock, of course, but a cable would work. I did one a few years ago to limit the door swing when I was in a tight parking situation @ work.

[asgi99]

Originally posted by Paulporsche
Ash,

It won't look stock, of course, but a cable would work. I did one a few years ago to limit the door swing when I was in a tight parking situation @ work.

What kind of cable did you use? Did you just drill a hole in the interior of the door to attach it? Or was there something you could attach it to without drilling?

[fintstone]

You can really lose a lot of metal and still do the repair kit. Since it sandwiches the remaining metal between the two plates, as long as the hole is not larger than the plates, it is doable. The front plate slides between the stay mounting area and the door skin. The outer skin provided the needed rigidity.

[Paulporsche]

Ash,

I used a small chain since I knew this was only going to be a temporary situation. I drilled 2 small holes to run a screw through the link into the door and into that little ledge @ the top of the pillar area, next to the dash. You could also use a braided steel cable w/ swaged loops on the ends. You might want to put something like silicone where the screw goes into the body to keep rust from forming. Sorry, my car is not here w/ me so I can't post a pic.

[asgi99]

Many thanks everyone for the advice. I tried using the reinforcement kit but the door skin is completely warped so there was not enough for the plate the grip. I will give BodyStyle in San Jose a call. In the short term I may attach a cable to prevent damage to the door.