Re: Door strut debacle

["twinenginedmc12" <twinenginedmc12@xxxx>]

I'm replying to this post to nip in the bud a misinterpretation that 
seems to be beginning to propagate.

My original post about the incorrect door struts, 26812, refers to 
the cylinder body being about 5mm longer than original equipment, not 
the full extended length of the strut, as Mr. Espey has 
misinterpreted. The essence of the problem with the Delorean Motor 
Company struts is that the stroke (the amount the strut can be 
compressed before bottoming out)of the Delorean Motor Company strut 
is 13mm shorter (much worse than my initial estimate of about 5mm) 
than the original equipment strut.

To explain, when your door is closed, the strut has to be compressed 
a certain amount. On my car, that distance is 129mm. Any strut that 
can compress further than that will not jam in the car, and be fine, 
when the door is closed. Any strut that can't compress that far, 
will jam when the door is almost closed, and exert a great deal of 
force (about a ton) on the mounting posts. 

The Delorean Motor Company strut can only compress 127mm. Its stroke 
is 2mm too short. 2mm is not a large distance, in human terms. 
There are probably many people who have had this problem and are 
unaware of it, or consider it trivial. 

Rick Gendreau




--- In dmcnews@xxxx, James Espey <james@xxxx> wrote:

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.

snip