Door Strut Replacement

[Doogie]

I just received my Louver/Hood/Door replacement kit from DMC Houston, and am ready to replace all the shocks/struts. The Hood and the Louver is pretty straight forward, just use a little screwdriver to remove the struts and replace them with new, no problem.

The Door struts however are a little different, as they don't have the little "clips" on the ends to remove the struts with. What am I missing? Do you just "Pull Hard"? The kit came with some extra "fastening" clips also. What do I do with those?

I'm just getting into restoring 3589, but I'm seriously tired of holding up the doors/louvers/hood with brrom handles, so this is the very first thing to replace.

Anything special to R & R'ing the Door Struts? My Doors do not stay open at all (the passenger door will stay about 3" open if I lower it slowly, I'm hoping it just need struts. I really hope it does not need Torsion Bars ($$$). This car sat for 25 years in the back of a garage, hopefully, just a set of struts...

Thanks, Doogie

[Delorean Industries]

Hi Doogie,
The clips on the struts are simple to operate for the doors. The edge of the clip has a rolled edge. Simply flip this up and pull the clip out. This releases the ball stud from the piston end. To release the piston from the pivot studs you will need to apply a little force. While supporting the door use the palm of your hand to knock the piston loose. This is also a good time to check the condition of the failure prone lower ball stud mounting points. If the stud is loose or bent outwards away from the car this should be addressed.

If you run into any other issues feel free to call for tech help at 330 573 4129. I have the shop phone linked to my mobile for the holiday weekend and can offer tech advice all day tomorrow and Sunday. We are located just a few hours north of you if torsion bar issues are the rear cause of the door sagging issues and you required professional assistance.

[Doogie]

Thanks Josh! I will attempt the stut replacement on Saturday. Thanks for the advice. After I get the struts working, it's off to the fuel line cleaning!

Thanks again!

Doogie

[ccurzio]

The struts will help a little but the real issue is most likely the torsion bar. Good news is that it probably doesn't need a replacement, just an adjustment.

As for replacing the struts themselves, have a friend help you. Unless you have a sturdy way of holding up the door (I used a beefy metal curtain rod), a second person is your best bet. Since my curtain rod is spring loaded in the middle, it was downright scary when the door collapsed onto it once the weight was no longer supported by the strut.

[Doogie]

Thanks everyone, all done. I found the clips, thanks for the explanation. I think I had orginal struts. All 6 had the little safety wires, the louver and hood replacements did not, only the door replacements had them.

The ones I removed all say Lift-O-Mat on them with German writing.

The doors now stay up on their own, and will hold position pretty much anywhere, but if I open the doors say that the glass is horizontal (about 6 inches from full open) they will not continue up (but they will not fall down either). If I lift them all the way up, they will stay up. Is this the normal operation or am I looking for a strut adjustment?

Delorean with doors open.jpg

Thanks, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[DMCMW Dave]

Is this the normal operation or am I looking for a strut adjustment?

Delorean with doors open.jpg

Thanks, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What is the temperature where you have the car? If it's below 50 or so don't do anything until it warms up.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Thanks everyone, all done. I found the clips, thanks for the explanation. I think I had orginal struts. All 6 had the little safety wires, the louver and hood replacements did not, only the door replacements had them.

The ones I removed all say Lift-O-Mat on them with German writing.

The doors now stay up on their own, and will hold position pretty much anywhere, but if I open the doors say that the glass is horizontal (about 6 inches from full open) they will not continue up (but they will not fall down either). If I lift them all the way up, they will stay up. Is this the normal operation or am I looking for a strut adjustment?

Delorean with doors open.jpg

Thanks, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wait till summer to decide. You do not want the doors to slam or bounce at the top. They do change when it gets warmer. If your not driving much in the winter, it's no big deal to lift your doors when you get in or out.

[Chris 16409]

I say it's better to always have the doors open more gently. This puts less stress on the torsion bars.

[Doogie]

I have a heater in the garage, but it was about 50 degrees, maybe a little more..in there today. I'm satisfied with the way they open now (VERY thankful the struts helped the doors. Was a little afraid they would make no difference at all!) If they open better in the summer all the better! If not, I doubt the torsion bar was ever adjusted, so maybe I'll try to hook up with the club and adjust them later.

Since I'm enjoying doors that hold themselves open for the first time, I'm thrilled!

Tomorrrow, for my Christmas present, I might go ahead and yank out the old battery and throw in a new one just to see what works and what doesn't. (The Fuel pump is out, so no worries about running bad fuel through the system!) I'm dying to see if the radio works, the lights come on, the guages do anything, and if the windows will actually go up!

Doogie

[Elvis]

... If not, I doubt the torsion bar was ever adjusted, so maybe I'll try to hook up with the club and adjust them later.

Doogie

They have been adjusted in Dunmurry back then, that's porbably all they ever need.
Gas struts lose pressure, but I never heard that a torsion bar loses torque.
Many people mess with the torsion bars because they try to compensate the old an weak struts.
Ed Bernstein once wrote a good article about this and the result was - the best
torsion bar setup up is what you got from Dunmurry !
I'm really wondering why nobody tells this but instead everybody explains how to
mess with the bars.
What I like to adjust - are the gas struts ! We have them with a valve where you can
release pressure and refill them if needed. (Refilling isn't that easy yet :-( )

They can be adjustes in much smaller steps (release pressure). Once you have done this you get
a good feeling of the forces that are working here. Too strong gas struts bending and breaking the
joint to the fibre glass and so on.

By the way - I refilled my struts 5-7 years ago and the only reason I have to refill them again now
is because of the heavier new window drives.