Re: [DML] door strut questions (up or down?)

["Dave Sontos" <dsontos@xxxx>]

Hi Walt,
The last time we had a DeLorean get together in New Jersey Rob pointed out
to me that I had my rods pointing up which was wrong. We changed them on the
spot. Hope that helps.

Dave Sontos
vin 02573

----- Original Message -----
From: "Walter Coe" <Whalt@xxxx>
To: <dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2002 11:24 PM
Subject: [DML] door strut questions (up or down?)


> We just had a cool New Years Day DeLorean party at my place. Three (and
one
> half) DeLoreans were there. (woo-hoo!)
>
> Questions:
> What is the proper orientation of the door struts? Does the rod belong on
> the top or the bottom or does it matter?
>
> I looked at photos of Rob Grady's green DeLorean, and his has the rods
> pointing down. I suppose that if anyone knows then he would.
>
> My car has the rods pointing down too and are leaking oil. They have been
> leaking ever since I had the car (almost 2 years). I assume that if my
rods
> were pointing up, then the oil would stay in the bottom and not leak out.
> But then instead of leaking oil, I suppose they would loose their charge
> faster. Oil is thicker than the nitrogen charge, so if it is a choice
> between leaking one or the other then it would be better to leak the thick
> oil because it would drain a lot slower than the thin nitrogen.
>
> My struts are also probably over-charged. We took one off today to see
how
> far the door would open without the strut. It didn't. Instead it rested
on
> the latches. Since I hear that there should be about 4" gap between the
> bottom of the door and the door sill, then at least this tells me that my
> torsion bar isn't over-torqued. But with the strut in place, I have to
hold
> on to the door or else goes up with such force that it will bounce at the
> top of travel. I have already determined that I have 'cheap' struts that
do
> not slow down at the end of travel. Better struts have a dampening
> mechanism to stop this. Mine are Lift-o-mat brand. By the way, the weath
er
> was cold -- definitely worthy of wearing a coat. In hot Florida weather
the
> door has a greater tendancy to pop open.
>
> The other two guys (Jim Sleeth & Randy Stribling)'s DeLoreans had their
> struts mounted 'upside down' compared to mine such that the rods were
> pointing up. Jim said that his struts are fairly new, but are not as
strong
> as they were when he first put them on. My theory is that his struts lost
> some of their charge due to leaking nitrogen instead of oil.
>
> Does anyone have an official answer?
>
> Walt Tampa, FL
>
>
>
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