RE: [DML] Door strut debacle

["Marc A. Levy" <malevy@xxxx>]

I read the claim below that that the extra 5mm is to improve the design of the strut for the purposes of opening the door more? We can hope that sometime was taken to calculate, measure and verify this design change before selling this part to the public. If so, what is the measured increase in the door arc? What is the old VS new angles of the door top to the T panel?If it is believed to be +/- tolerance on the location of the pin, what isthe range and how many cars were sampled? Did both the top and bottom mounts vary from car to car?

On both 06068 and 01860 with PJGrady struts, 3 of the 4 doors open fine, soI don't see why it is necessary to use a longer piston. The passenger side of 01860 does not open as far as the other 3 I think because the T panelis not adjusted properly and there is interference and even then, my passengers have no problem with ingress/egress with the door open.

Which bring's up another point with the extended struts; On a car where theT panel is not perfectly aligned, the added travel of the door is more likely to hit and bend the T Panel.

The ability to purchase a longer strut like this is great for cars that mayhave a problem due to manufacturing tolerances resulting in varied location of the piston mount(s). It is the option of the vendor if they want to sell a "stock" size piston, or "extended" size piston (or both!) but I find it irresponsible to not notify the customer that the part they are purchasing is not an exact fit and may cause serious damage to their car. I believe the vendor would (and should) be liable for damage caused by the part.

I suspect this problem has effected more than "the very small number of cars" stated below. It's more likely that there are a bunch of cars out therewith bent mounts and they don't even know it. This is what I saw in Memphis while helping with the door adjustment, in that small sample of cars there were a few bent mounts and the owners had no idea. When owners do findout, having shorter ends available will not fix the damage that has already been done. 

IMHO, knowing that this part can potentially be a problem on any number of cars is not worth the added room with the door open.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Espey [mailto:james@xxxx]
> Subject: [DML] Door strut debacle
> 
> 
<SNIP>
> 
> A 5mm increase in the length of the strut translates into a 
> couple inches or so with the door fully open, resulting in significantly more room for ingress/egress from the DeLorean - something no one will 
> complain about. For the very small number of cars that this affects, shorter ends are available for the struts.
> 
> Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
> 
<SNIP>