Hey all.

Last night, when putting the TAZ away after a nice drive, opened the Xtreme Door and lifted up. Leaned over to get something off the passenger seat and BANG - the door dropped like a ton of bricks. The upper pin holding the strut to the hinge sheared right off at the hinge. This is what caused the door to drop. The door hit so hard I had no idea what had happened. Lucky my leg wasn't half out the door as it would have broken my leg clean in two.

The inertia pulled the hinge out back almost one cm back and about the same amount down. I have no idea if the hinge or other part was damaged. It took me more than thirty minutes just to figure out how to get the door closed. Even then the door contact switch would not activate - so I had to pull the interior lighting fuse and the overhead door light bulbs.

I can't close the door from the inside and need to get my old hinges back on before the 25th meet - or I'll be going in my pickup rather than the TAZ. I'm looking for some help from the local PFF community.

I have the old hinges and can climb over the console to drive the car. I cannot work in the underground and have no other place to work. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to spend a day helping me get my old dorr hinges on. I'd be happy to pay you for your time - or provide beer or whatever.

I emailed Chris and Kyle with no reply yet.

Is anyone out there who would be willing to help me? I know the rocker and front fender need to come off to replace the hinge - but could use some extra hands - especially with someone who has played around with regular hinges in the past.

Thanks in advance.

Dave

I'd like to help ya Dave.
Would depend on when I guess, as it's Father's Day weekend and I'm pretty busy.
"Mmmm, Beer"

Ryan

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86 LT1-4T60 Nitrous Roadster~84 Indy Northstar-Porsche Hatchback

Dave, P-M sent....

I'll be busy painting mine but your welcome to use my shop in Burlington. I'll be here tonight...all day tomorrow and all day sunday.

Mid, Bud and 2m8!

Thanks for the quick bounces! Augie (in Mississauga) might be able to help me in my underground. I can claim it's an emergency and had to be done. This way I can figure out if the frame (pillar or door) has been damaged without driving it a long way.

I'll keep you posted on how things work out.

Bud, I have my trailer up near Freelton (no not 4 seasons - but Emerald Lake) and if things don't work out with Augie could do something next weekend. I could even book a day off from work if it made things easier for you.

Thanks to you all!

Dave

No prob, Dave...OTOH, IIRC I think I did mention this exact specific issue on one of our earlier threads about the single-strut design VS the twin-strut, and what would happen in a single strut failure.

Ya know, it really-really-really sucks to be right. And if/when the Extreme guys see this thread?

I know, its a bad time to say "told you so"....just, ummmm, take a hint from this episode.

Hey Dave, sorry to hear about your luck. I had a spot to work on the fiero but filled it up last yesterday with a new addition and have the motor already pulled out today. Trying to get this one running for the 25th also for my dad to drive.

You say the door won't close fully? with the sudden drop, did the doorpin latch close itself or is it the lambo hinges causing the interferance?

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quote Originally posted by x-thumpr-x: Hey Dave, sorry to hear about your luck. I had a spot to work on the fiero but filled it up last yesterday with a new addition and have the motor already pulled out today. Trying to get this one running for the 25th also for my dad to drive. You say the door won't close fully? with the sudden drop, did the doorpin latch close itself or is it the lambo hinges causing the interferance?

Dave
I spoke with Wee Willy on Sat. His son Goldwinger85 bought a set of Extreme Door hinges after seeing yours the SOFA show last August.

Bill said that they noticed, during the install, that the strut mounting fasteners were too long, so the shoulder did not bottom out on the hinge plate.
This effectively reduces the fastener diameter by about one third.
Because the threads are left exposed and in combination with the reduced diameter this sets up a condition for work fretting to occur in the exposed threaded portion of the fastener.

I am not suggesting that this is the cause of your failure but it is a place to start looking.

The problem with all other cheaper kits derived from Decah is; they're like China-they cut corners thus cheaper parts and welds and later falling off or worst in a crash. Granted, the Decah kits have been around for some time now and I haven't heard any issues yet. Dave, just be glad the door didn't fall on your leg or wosre; if the doors had fallin on your head; you'd be dead. IMO I'd by-pass those Canadian bozo's and buy what has proven to work-Decah. Those guys in Canada are a joke and cannot be reached for technical help if your life depended upon it.

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"Friends don't let friends drive stock"

quote Originally posted by Tinkrr: Dave I spoke with Wee Willy on Sat. His son Goldwinger85 bought a set of Extreme Door hinges after seeing yours the SOFA show last August. Bill said that they noticed, during the install, that the strut mounting fasteners were too long, so the shoulder did not bottom out on the hinge plate. This effectively reduces the fastener diameter by about one third. Because the threads are left exposed and in combination with the reduced diameter this sets up a condition for work fretting to occur in the exposed threaded portion of the fastener. I am not suggesting that this is the cause of your failure but it is a place to start looking.

You are right on the diagnosis of the problem. That's exactly where the failure occured!

My prior post seemd to not go through - just the quote part. So in answer to that Auggie Doggie (Andrew) is coming over this evening and I'll post what I find when I get a close up look see. The short of it is I'm going back to my regular hinges.

Dave

quote Originally posted by DrCPU: Curly, Where can I order the Decah proven hinges?

Dave I'm just as mad as you are regarding the kit! You do have two choices; Decah or VDI. Jscott was the last person to buy a set from them and thus Archie tweaked them to fit #014 and from what Jonathan has told me; and his are working just fine. You need to call him Jscott for the prices. I think there about $1200.

Troyboy got the VDI kit which they bought the copy rights to make their own based upon Decah's design VDC kit. That kit cost about $600 bucks delivered, but once again Archie tweaked the kit to fit #022. So you see it comes right back to Archie and his magnificent Crew. Please give him a call ASAP!

That's a bummer, sure glad you didn't get hurt.

quote Originally posted by madcurl: Troyboy got the VDI kit which they bought the copy rights to make their own based upon Decah's design VDC kit. That kit cost about $600 bucks delivered, but once again Archie tweaked the kit to fit #022. So you see it comes right back to Archie and his magnificent Crew. Please give him a call ASAP!

Actually, it was quite a bit more than just tweeking. The part of the hinge that attaches to the door had to be cut off from the arm that it swings on. Then redone to bolt to the hinge holes on the door while the door was tack welded in the correct closed position. Then the new hinge arm was rewelded onto the area where it had been cutoff. Then the tack welds that held the door into place were removed.

I'd hate to think about doing all that while working around all those newly painted body panels.

I think I documented this in troy's build thread.

We had to basically do the same thing with the repairs to JScott's car.

Archie

Dave
this is a cropped picture I took of the driver's side door strut on your car at the SOFA Show last August. If you look at the fastener you can see it is not bottomed out against the the hinge there are still a couple of threads showing. It appears to be touching the door jamb, preventing it from being correctly installed

It's late so just a quick post.

Andrew and a friend showed up and we managed to get the driver side door XD hinge off and installed the old original hinges. The door now closes perfectly with the old hinges. It was a lot more work than I'd had thought. It took three of us almost three hours. Yes the next one will go quicker as we tried to remove as little as possible at first. Ended up taking off the front fender - most of the rocker, inside trim (lower part) outside trim, mirror and door skin and interiror inside door.

It's all back together except for the door centre trim - and the rocker lower bolts. Don't know how to get those clips to go over the center molding.... If anyone has any tricks I'd like to hear you on them.

I'd like to thanks Andrew (AugieDoggieDaddy) for his help. It sure is nice to know there are guys out there on the forum that are ready to help out when a call is made. I owe Andrew big time! Anything you need - just ask!

I also had a friend and co-worker (Aidan) throw in his help - and he was really needed and made a big difference!

The pic below has (from left to right) me holding my forehead in pain, Aidan and Andrew.

I have pics of the damaged XD hinge and will post a lot more in my thread later. I'll get the passenger door done some other time.

[This message has been edited by DrCPU (edited 06-17-2008).]

Good job

quote Originally posted by Tinkrr: Dave this is a cropped picture I took of the driver's side door strut on your car at the SOFA Show last August. If you look at the fastener you can see it is not bottomed out against the the hinge there are still a couple of threads showing. It appears to be touching the door jamb, preventing it from being correctly installed

Interesting. The threaded head appears to be similar found on our deck struts.


VDI


DECAH KIT:

Excellent news, glad you are able to fix them there. Does this mean I won't be seeing you this weekend?
I have removed my Xtreme hinges hinges from my car as well, and have reverted to the original hinges, but my pins/bushings are shot and my doors are sagging. Are they standarn GM sizes anyone? Can I get them at Canadian tire or PartSource?


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Jay Brintnell
Southern Ontario Fiero Association
Yellow 85 Notchback(A.K.A. GodFearN)

[This message has been edited by Eclipse (edited 06-17-2008).]

quote Originally posted by Eclipse: Excellent news, glad you are able to fix them there. Does this mean I won't be seeing you this weekend? I have removed my Xtreme hinges hinges from my car as well, and have reverted to the original hinges, but my pins/bushings are shot and my doors are sagging. Are they standarn GM sizes anyone? Can I get them at Canadian tire or PartSource?

Eclipse, Jay, and ever growing list of PFF'ers who offered to help. I thank you here and now.

The XD hinge on the passenger side has a blown strut - since last September. No need to replace right now as there is no stress on the upper bolt. I will get it done and might do so next week. I need to thank Andrew properly first and maybe convince him to come over for one more Monday session (teehee).

I really liked the lambo doors - but the thought of hurting someone, or really damaging my car badly has soured me somewhat on the single strut design. The way the hinges were bolted by XD leaves me scratching my head. I now have a massive inventory of washers, bolts and nuts. For a ture bolt on - the hinge should has threaded points just like the original hinges. With CAD today it's all to easy to get the exact dimensions.

I'll post a number of pictures of the XD hinge, the failure point and the weakness in the design - the way I see it.

So this weekend, everyone can breath easy and do their family stuff, hunting or fishing - or wrenchin'!

Thanks to a great forum - we are indeed very lucky!