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?

7427

Thanks, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[DMCMW Dave]

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

7427

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?

7427

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.

[David T]

Probably the "best" idea in struts would be if the vendors could have them made with a valve on them so they can be refilled. I agree with Elvis, the torsion bars never need to be adjusted unless they were tampered with to compensate for weak struts. There is a problem now though, different vendors sell struts with more or less power so it could be necessary to have to loosen the torsion bars if you get a set of overly strong struts. I also see some torsion bars that were set when it was cold and in hot weather the doors bounce WAY too much! You have to be willing to allow for diminished lift in cold weather. With some installing remote door launchers they want the doors to pop open ALL the way and that requires having the torsion bars set towards the higher side. I like to set the torsion bars so when you push the doors open all the way, they will stay fully open and not droop back. And at about 70 degrees F. This could be a good project for someone, to find a way to retro-fit a set of dead struts with a shrader valve and experiment with pressures. Shouldn't take much, just have to find a good spot to drill and tap for the valve and braze it to the strut.
David Teitelbaum

[Elvis]

David - there ARE struts available with such a valve !

I bought mine about 10 years ago, I installed 3 sets now on different cars.

www.deloman.de sells them now:
http://www.deloman.de/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=29&products_id=396


drilling a hole and installing such a valve on your own - DON'T DO IT !!!!

we are talking about 170 to 180 Bar of pressure inside the strut !!! -> 2600 PSI !!!!
(to compare - you fill up the tires with ~2 Bar -> ~30PSI )


But you're right about too strong struts being sold out there.
The car I worked on recently had exactly this problem.
The drivers door closed like sh.., torsion bar was set too low because of that
extra strong strut. The door twisted a bit and could never close nicely, it needed
the torque of the torsion bar to be set correctly.
That strut had printed 1200N on it, but I think it had a least 20% more.
As a result the attachment on the fibre glass was bent and loose !!!

[David T]

Just because it is a very high pressure doesn't mean it can't be done, it just takes the right tools and techniques. The link you posted goes to a site in German and I don't read German. Does he ship to the US? Can he refill the struts when they get weak? It may not be worth it to us in the US when you add shipping to it. It does seem like the way to go.
David Teitelbaum

[leroyvette]

I posed this similar question/problem several weeks ago in another thread---I was exploring the idea of stronger struts for cold/winter use, then change over to standard "lift" for warm weather/summer use. My doors droop in this temperature(35-45 degree), but were OK at 80 plus. I even tried to find stronger lifts at local auto supply, but no luck. The adjustable lifts would be the solution---any ideas, please let it be known.

[Ron]

Another possible option-
O'Relly Auto Parts has a thick catalog that let's you pick from A LOT of configurations and strengths...I can't get to the receipt right now and I removed the sticker from those on the doors, but your local store can chase the product line down with the number(s) off of the louver struts: 4404, 15607 (stronger than what their regular line listed for a D). They were not on their computer.
No problem summer v/s winter, so far.

[Rich]

The link you posted goes to a site in German and I don't read German....It does seem like the way to go.
David Teitelbaum

Same webpage in English here, not that it will help with the detailed questions:

http://www.deloman.de/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=29&products_id=396&language=en

[Elvis]

Just because it is a very high pressure doesn't mean it can't be done, it just takes the right tools and techniques. The link you posted goes to a site in German and I don't read German. Does he ship to the US? Can he refill the struts when they get weak? It may not be worth it to us in the US when you add shipping to it. It does seem like the way to go.
David Teitelbaum

This is Wolfgang, he sells to everyone who wants something.
He's the guy with the race Delorean, golden one, Bi-Fuel one, and he is the guy who
is bulding the cars to travel around the world with them in 2016.

Of course at the exchange rate at the moment the struts aren't as cheap as local
ones, but still not that expensive.

Refilling - last time I refilled them I used an air pressure gun pump.
Shipping them back and forth over the Atlantic to refill them makes no sense.
Instead we should look for a good and easy way to refill them.

180 Bar is nothing to play with !

Maybe you can find an american company who builds them with a valve, too ?

[Rich]

I posed this similar question/problem several weeks ago in another thread---I was exploring the idea of stronger struts for cold/winter use, then change over to standard "lift" for warm weather/summer use.....The adjustable lifts would be the solution---any ideas, please let it be known.

Yes, for the purpose of this thread let's separate "adjustable" from "rechargeable".

The deloman struts seem to be rechargeable such that after a few years one can renew them with high-pressure gas.

"Adjustable" struts would allow a compensation for temperature effects. This is difficult to achieve since normal gases in a confined volume naturally lose and gain pressure with temperature variation.

[David T]

I think instead of the word "adjustable" use "temperature compensating". Done with valving. Just a little more complicated and expensive but doable. Doubtful if you are going to find something like this in a catalog. It could be made up custom but in a small run would probably be prohibitively expensive. So, the ultimate in door struts would be a rechargeable, temperature compensating, door strut with a 2 stage damping valve so the doors would not bounce when fully opened. If enough people asked for such a strut maybe one of the vendors would have it produced.
David Teitelbaum

[robvanderveer]

Perhaps a stupid idea, but why not keep 2 sets of gas struts? One for summer and one for the winter? Then you'll never have to adjust your settings again.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Perhaps a stupid idea, but why not keep 2 sets of gas struts? One for summer and one for the winter? Then you'll never have to adjust your settings again.

Good idea but if they only last 3 to 5 years then you need to replace two sets of struts.

[robvanderveer]

It's just the same as the 'winter-tire' argument..

[dvonk]

perhaps this is a stupid idea as well, but does anyone actually take off their struts and store them separately during winter storage?

id think they would last longer if they werent compressed all winter.
(assuming the vehicle is dormant during the winter, of course)

[Bitsyncmaster]

perhaps this is a stupid idea as well, but does anyone actually take off their struts and store them separately during winter storage?

id think they would last longer if they werent compressed all winter.
(assuming the vehicle is dormant during the winter, of course)

Or just leave the doors open. I do this most of the time year round.

[dvonk]

that would avoid the hassle of removing the struts... :smile:

[robvanderveer]

that would avoid the hassle of removing the struts... :smile:

Indeed it far exceeds the complexity of opening a beer.