Door Strut Ball Joint

[Brent Beecher <brentbeecher@xxxx>]

For some time now, I have noticed that there was a little bulge in the 
roof stainless t-panel on the leading edge of the passenger side, right 
above where the ball joint for the door strut is located. The problem 
was that the pressure from the strut had pulled one end of the metal 
bracket away from the fiberglass. I didn't really know what to do, and 
this is a recount of the "solution" I came up with - comments are 
welcome:

What ever it is that the bolts screw into on the other side of the 
fiberglass was not holding any more - the bolt just turned and turned. 
I took that bolt out and thought about some kind of a molly screw, but 
figured it wasn't up to the task of supporting that much weight. (For 
those who have never seen this part of the car, this fiberglass piece 
is a "bubble" filled with foam - there is no easy way to get inside to 
put a nut on the back of a bolt.) So, I drilled a new hole through the 
bracket and fiberglass to the right of the original hole. Then, I used 
a Dremmel to cut a small window in the fiberglass above where the bolt 
went in. This window gave me enough room to put a washer and nut on 
the end of the bolt, and space to hold it with a small wrench. I 
tightened it down, then filled the hole I had created with epoxy. 
Seems good as new, and I don't think I comprised the strength of the 
structure (liberal use of epoxy).

I should mention that the hole into which the ball screws was not bent 
at all. The bracket was in good shape. I know that Rob Grady makes a 
heavy duty bracket, but I don't think that it is meant to solve the 
problem I had.

I have no idea if anyone else has had this problem, but I am curious to 
hear thoughts on the matter.


Brent Beecher
vin 893