'73 door popping noise from hinge

[billwagnon]

My 73 doors pop twice when opening. They don't pop at all when I close them.

At the PPI the mechanic told me it was easy to fix - but he didn't say how. This weekend I renewed the lubrication of the window assembly, and while I had the panel off I looked at the hinge while I opened the door. I can see the hinge, it's got plenty of clean grease, and it still goes "pop -- pop". There's a part that rotates in the vertical plane around the hinge and this part appears to be making the noise.

How do I fix this?

[KennyG]

Both of mine do this as well.

[k9handler]

ditto...it's the 911 Door stop.

Not that expensive, but I hear a little tough working in the tight door-jam area.

[john walker's workshop]

it's not the hinge. it's the check strap where it attaches to the jamb. drive out the rollpin and replace it with a 6mm bolt and nylock nut. tighten enough to bind the arm slightly, and the pop will be gone. adjust as needed from there.

[billwagnon]

JW, to make sure I understand, can this be done without removing the door panel?

[john walker's workshop]

yes. the arm sticks out of the front of the door. not a lot of room to swing a small hammer onto a punch, but enough. if the check strap is loose in the door, or if the door is broken out where it attaches, different story.

[skinnerd]

What has happened on mine, and what typically happens on old Porsches is that the hole that the pin sits in, elongates through constantly opening the door over time such that it's not round any more. Any one of the following 3 fixes can work:
1) Ream the hole slightly larger such that it is round again, and then get a machine shop to build you a new pin the fits the larger size hole.
2) Weld up the elongated hole and ream back to original diameter such that it will take the correct diameter pin.
3) Weld a new pin receiver in the door jamb.

All are somewhat extreme I admit, but will work. It's probably worth trying JW's fix first.

[Ray 911s]

I second JW's solution. I replaced the pin with a short machine bolt and self-locking nut on the bottom. Noise gone. Every three or four months I have to retighten a half turn or so when the noise begins to return - the nylock washer may do better. The job was easy enough with the door still mounted. Be careful though - without the strap attached the door could swing all the way and seriously dent the fender!

[Randy Webb]

that _needs_ to be fixed before damage is done?

[Superman]

Agreed. I think I started hearing that snapping noise too, and I believe I just jammed a slightly larger pin in there. You can ream it first. As far as obtaining a slightly larger pin, I have jars and jars of them, various sizes. I call them "nails."