Door sag on the new Delorean

[mluder]

Hmmm... at 55 degrees with new struts, they should be able to at least hold the door in the full open position. You'd also expect the new struts to mirror the performance of each other. And unless some kind of modification has been done, the doors roughly weigh the same, so there's no reason that they shouldn't perform as near equals unless there's a strut or torsion bar issue. As refugeefromcalif suggested, I'd try swapping the struts and see if you get the same results. That way you'll know if it's a defective new strut, or if it's the torsion bar needing to be wound up a spline or two on the driver's side. As the driver's side door sees more use over the life of the car than the passenger side door, it's not uncommon for the driver's side torsion bar to wear (lose elasticity - stored kinetic energy) a little quicker than the passenger side bar.

Also check the ball stud mounting (making sure that it's solid and straight) and inspect the roof box for separation issues, as either of those issues could also affect the performance of the doors.

Just make sure that you rule everything else out first before considering a torsion bar adjustment, as that is always the last fix that should be considered.

Best of luck

Not ruling out some of the other potential problem areas mentioned here, I have brand new struts from Houston and on a cool day like today (54 degrees) even when I help it up, it still sags back down a couple inches. Definitely wait until warmer weather before messing with the torsion bars. You could cause more problems down the road - like a bent door (taco-ing) or causing the roof box to come loose.

If you do find that it's the torsion bars then get some help with them. You can do serious damage (expensive) if you don't know what you're doing.

Cheers
Steven

[Rich_NYS]

44 degrees w/brand new Strong Arm struts, my doors opened ~75%. If I assisted them to the top, they stayed there.

[Jonathan]

Anyone out there can pursue perfection if they so desire, but the reality is that not every DeLorean you see is capable of having flawlessly opening and closing doors. Some only take a little adjustment here or there to the striker pins, latches, or new struts. Others may take adjustments to the hinges or torsion bars. Some may need the roof box reworked. Even something as trivial as the weather striping getting in the way can make for that pursuit of perfectly functioning doors to be very consuming or unobtainable. Maybe it is possible with every car, but not everyone gets lucky and has an easy fix. The doors can be a "good enough" part of the car for many as sticking with your own dead brown grass can be a wiser option than chasing your buddies green grass.

[NightFlyer]

44 degrees w/brand new Strong Arm struts, my doors opened ~75%. If I assisted them to the top, they stayed there.

That's only cause you're running superior (and cheaper) Amazon struts

[mluder]

Not to derail this thread too much more... My DMC struts were a couple years old and not getting it up any more. Thought I'd try something else so I ordered the "soft lift" struts from Special T... they're supposed to go up quick and then slow down the last few inches. With no adjustment to the torsion bar the door shot up and bounced at the top. I immediately removed them for fear of destroying my roof box.

Cheers
Steven

[NightFlyer]

When my stock/OEM struts finally go, I plan on trying to have them professionally rebuilt to original specs. Absent that, I'd probably go with the Strong Arm struts from Amazon.

[Rich]

....My DMC struts were a couple years old and not getting it up any more. Thought I'd try something else so I ordered the "soft lift" struts from Special T... they're supposed to go up quick and then slow down the last few inches. With no adjustment to the torsion bar the door shot up and bounced at the top. I immediately removed them for fear of destroying my roof box.

Are you sure you are not still overloading your roof box - at the torsion bar mounts now - because the torsion bars got up-torqued by a PO and have not been de-torqued to work with good struts?

Remember, the roof box (at least the part that the torsion bar brackets anchor to) sees none of the door bounce impact so removing those new "bouncy" struts will not keep the roof box from delaminating.

Yes, too much door bounce isn't good, mainly for the lower strut pivot mount. Maybe that's what you were trying to save.

Over-torqued torsion bars cause door bounce with new struts. Maybe not every new strut, but it's a pretty common event, something that is bound to occur if any uninformed PO or a hack wrench ever got hold of your car in the past and upped them more than maybe one notch from the factory setting. Even just one notch can do it. As noted in other threads, door struts eventually lose charge (normal), doors droop (normal and due to strut degradation), bars get up-torqued to (mistakenly) compensate because somebody was too cheap to buy new struts or just jumped to that solution, then eventually new struts are fitted and make the door bounce at the top because the (previously up-torqued) bars are over-lifting vs. design specs.

[Rich_NYS]

That's only cause you're running superior (and cheaper) Amazon struts

Yessir! Solid recommendation from the NightFlyer administration....

[mluder]

Are you sure you are not still overloading your roof box - at the torsion bar mounts now - because the torsion bars got up-torqued by a PO and have not been de-torqued to work with good struts?

Not too concerned about this - My torsion bars have been checked and re-set twice now by Toby at DMCNW. Both times were after new struts were installed. Unless all the struts I've been getting from DMC are under powered?

Cheers
Steven

[JRNY13]

When I got my car the doors didn't come close to reaching the top on their own. I replaced the struts with Houston ones and it was only marginally better. I then replaced those with Special T struts and it's a lot better. The driver's side goes 90% to the top on its own. The passenger side bounces a little too much for my comfort. I simply guide it to the top when opened. The trouble is reminding a passenger to do the same.