Fuel Door Catch

[Davis Montham]

I need to replace the pin/bolt that the fuel door release latch pivots on. It holds the latch to the body of the car inside the fuel door area and allows the latch to pivot when you pull the release cable thereby releasing the door. The PO used a thin nail bent on each end as the pin but it does not work very well to release the door. I'm guessing that this part is probably not replaced very often. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

[wrxnofx]

What year is the car?
Do you mean #23 or 24? Or something else?


Here are the part numbers for '87-'89:

[Jack Stands]

Sound like you're talking about the pivot pin in part #24 in the diagram. Doesn't look like it's available separately, but I imagine any sort of small pin , rivit, (or nail!) should do the trick.

[targa80]

Item 24 in the diagram does not show that it consists of the pivot, tension spring, cotter pin and the mounting bracket to the fender. I have had that assembly apart with the mounting bracket still attached to the fender. I was unable to separate the mounting bracket from the fender. Needless to say this made putting the pivot, tension spring and cotter pin back together was a real pain. Be forewarned, if you take it apart it will need coaxing to get the proper spring tension and alignment to slide the cotter pin into the hole in the mounting bracket and the pivot bracket hole and the spring and then the other side hole of the pivot bracket and mounting bracket. I used a piece of string or stranded wire to pull the tension on the spring through the pivot bracket before install into the assembly to the mounting bracket. Again it was a pain and took me quite a while to get it right.

[sailchef]

Originally Posted by Davis Montham

I need to replace the pin/bolt that the fuel door release latch pivots on.

I think the pin/bolt is just a small cotter pin. It is a beotch to replace due to having to compress parts together with one hand (almost impossible) while feeding pin thru with the other hand. Below is a suggestion from the forum that I tried when doing this job. worked great.





I just got a small pin from the hardware store to go thru latch body and center of spring.

Getting the hole/center of the spring and the holes in the latch body lined up while pushing it all together is the trick.

Patience will be your friend.

[Daves911L]

The above posters are correct that it is a simple cotter pin that holds the two halves together. However, what is not apparent from the parts diagram is that the entire catch is fastened to the fender by a single bolt. If memory serves this is a 5 or 6 mm in-hex head. If you feel around the back of the fuel filler bowl in the fender, you will find it. It is usually covered up with dirt and undercoating. Its not the easiest thing in the world to reach. If you unscrew the bolt you can take out the entire catch and easily fix it on the bench and re-install.