Changing The Door Pins.

Hi, Some of you have seen the anti-rattle door pins on Ebay. I bought a pair and I'm very impressed with them. They've made the doors very quite - both in closing, and whilst drivng. Well worth the cost, and they look good too. The problem is in fitting them - you need to do a good job of it. Some of you will have the luck-of-Jobe, in that you'll just unscrew the old one and screw the new one in. It'll probably fit first time, and you won't loose all the numberous washers down behind the trim or worse - in the sills. Most of us will be less lucky! Now for the first photo.... You'll see that I've wedged a screwdriver into the gap between the roll-bar and the little steel box arangement that holds the threaded captive-plate that you screw the pin into. This box is larger than the captive plate to allow the plate to be moved to adjust the door-pin position. You need to wedge the screwdriver into this slot somehow, to stop all the big spacer washers from falling down into an inacessable place. This picture was taken with the seats out and the rear trim-panel removed. The silver thingy that the screwdriver is ontop of, is the explosive charge tensioner for the seatbelt. More to come....

Edited by rubber, 22 October 2005 - 07:05 PM.

There are a number of washers and spacers through which the pin passes (see photo). There is a aluminium gauze square washer that acts as a rough surface to stop it all moving about. This goes against the nut-plate box behind the fibreglass door frame. Next comes either one or two large aluminium washers followed by another washer with a lip around the centre-hole. This packs out the gap between the captive-plate box and the fibreglass door surround. The lip of the last washer mentioned protudes through the hole in the fibreglass door surround. My picture only shows one aluminium washer (I lost the second one down behind the trim!)..

Edited by rubber, 22 October 2005 - 07:06 PM.

So, starting at the captive nut-plate (and behind the fibreglass frame) the guaze washer goes first, followed by one or two sliver packing washers, followed by the lipped washer (lip pointing forwards through the door-frame hole). The large black washer is plastic with a chamfered edge, and goes on the door-side of the door frame, followed by a small black plastic washer, and then small shiny steel washers to ensure the door-pin protudes the right distance. These shiny steel washers (I had two one side and three the other) should be added or removed to ensure that the pin fits into the door latch slot correctly.

Edited by rubber, 22 October 2005 - 07:07 PM.

So. There's a set on Ebay now: -
http://cgi.ebay.co.u...1QQcmdZViewItem


If you're a bit handy, then I say buy them...



Steve

The problem is in fitting them - you need to do a good job of it.

Some of you will have the luck-of-Jobe, in that you'll just unscrew the old one and screw the new one in. It'll probably fit first time, and you won't loose all the numberous washers down behind the trim or worse - in the sills.

Most of us will be less lucky!

Fitted them today

Drivers side went like a dream - 10 mins in all

Then the passenger side

I knew it wasn't going to be straight forward when the existing pin needed the spanner to unscrew it all the way.

Once out the captive nut was floating about all over the place when trying to fit the new pin and there was no way it would screw in by hand. I was fearful of cross threading so in the end tapped out the captive nut and screwed in the pin very slowly using as little pressure as possible and unscrewing every so often to check that the thread was still in tact. Thankfully it didn't cross thread but it was still tight on the thread.

Also the captive nut assembly moved around quite a bit so i am wondering if the mesh washer Steve mentions was not fitted.

Anyhow the job is now done and i agree with everyone's comments - they work well with no more rattle . Just need to see if they stay that way afetr a bit of wear.

Can the gubbins behind the pillar actually drop out of the cage or not? I must have been pretty lucky cos literally took 2 mins per side (to fit - longer to actually adjust) Main difference i noticed is the doors open super smooth now as you dont need any tension on the pin to stop em rattling. Its another of those 'why werent they fitted from new' products

The nut-plate can't drop out of the steel-box that's welded to the roll-bar, but you might lose the washers that reside between the nut-plate and the fibre door-surround if the gap makes the fit a bit loose. Steve

Sorry everyone but the ones Steve highlighted on eBay are gone now Just wondering Steve, do you rekon a strong magnet would be sufficient to keep the washers and captive nut in place whilst you remove the old pin and fit the new one? For that matter, are they magnetic!!? EDIT: Not the aluminium washers obviously!

Edited by benw, 23 October 2005 - 04:10 PM.

Problem is, you'll need an aluminium-magnet. All the washers are ali

Excellent, so where do I buy an aluminium magnet? I wonder if my fridge door magnet will be strong enough to sandwich the entire lot between the fiber glass and the captive plate? Would make it a whole lot easier!

Edited by benw, 23 October 2005 - 04:13 PM.

You can get the pins direct from Nigel: - nigelkeech@yahoo.co.uk Steve

Sorry everyone but the ones Steve highlighted on eBay are gone now

Just wondering Steve, do you rekon a strong magnet would be sufficient to keep the washers and captive nut in place whilst you remove the old pin and fit the new one? For that matter, are they magnetic!!?


EDIT: Not the aluminium washers obviously!

Hi , Im Nigel the guy behind the pins that fit and Steve has generously put me in touch with you all. I am basically a Lotus owner however I did have a VX on order but delay of delivery (one of the first ) meant I cancelled and went for Lotus and so it goes. Anyway it would appear that me advertising is verbotten but Steve has done that for me - Thanks. I have a batch of these available and will see how it goes before reinvesting, at the moment there is no immediate shortage. I normally flog on ebay and contrary to the quote I dont think they are all gone ? There are more. Anyway if you prefer to deal direct then I will in UK but Ebay is easier really. Happy to answer any questions but having over many months personally tested many different variants this is the final product.

Cheers

Hi , Im Nigel the guy behind the pins that fit and Steve has generously put me in touch with you all. I am basically a Lotus owner however I did have a VX on order but delay of delivery (one of the first ) meant I cancelled and went for Lotus and so it goes. Anyway it would appear that me advertising is verbotten but Steve has done that for me - Thanks. I have a batch of these available and will see how it goes before reinvesting, at the moment there is no immediate shortage. I normally flog on ebay and contrary to the quote I dont think they are all gone ? There are more. Anyway if you prefer to deal direct then I will in UK but Ebay is easier really. Happy to answer any questions but having over many months personally tested many different variants this is the final product.

Cheers

Hi Nigel and welcome!
Sorry for my inaccurate comment about there being none left. For anyone interested there is one HERE!

Don't think advertising your product here is the fau pa you imagine - especially when it's s product that everyone wants! Out of politeness you might want to contact the chap who runs the forum - Thorney. I'm sure he'll be fine with it

So do I read the above correctly - you have to take the rear trim off to do the job? If I don't and i lose a washer I take it the door won't stay closed? Thats a big risk to take

So do I read the above correctly - you have to take the rear trim off to do the job?

If I don't and i lose a washer I take it the door won't stay closed? Thats a big risk to take

In a nutshell, yes. I guess it could be possible to get the door shut again - you'll just have to do it all back up minus a washer or two which isn't ideal and means it's loose.

Taking the rear trim off isn't the end of the world. Just make sure you've got the time to do it.

You've got to weigh-up whether you feel lucky or not! To me, seats out in 30 mins- rear trim off in 15 minutes - wan't a big issue. I did do one side in 30 minutes without taking anything out. On the other side, I lost a washer The benefit of these pins made it worth the effort to me. Mind you, I was taking the rear clam off anyway... Steve

I have fitted 3 sets of these but always to lotus S2, and about 20 times on my own S2 ! No one has reported a problem with this exception, maybe they havent fed this back to me. I have noticed that it is always the passenger door that is most difficult as the nut drops into the captive box but its always possible to pull it into position (using a pin with no external washers )then very gently engage the thread whilst pulling to the front of the car whilst tightening. It seems the VX is more difficult as highlighted in this thread, I havent done a VX. One thought I have is that getting a second person to hold the fibreglass against the serrated washer may help in stopping it dropping and perhaps this is why the Lotus appears easier as it is naturally tensioned against the frame ? Worth it in the end. Cheers Nigel

Well, they arrived today (1 working day delivery ) and I was feeling lucky so popped straight out and fitted them. Took all of 10 minutes - old pin out, new pin in, tweak it up and down a bit and hey presto! Couldn't have been easier. I did two things. First was to park up on a high kerb and do the down facing door so that gravity would want to hold the captive plate against the hole. And second was to place a strong magnet against the outside so that it would hold the captive plate against the fiberglass and hopefully prevent the washers from slipping. All that was left to do was screw in the new pin VERy carefully. I have no idea if any of the above helped at all (Hell, I don't even know if the captive plate is magnetic but something behind there was 'cos the magnet was sticking) but at least I felt like I'd done something. Of course a mandatory test drive took place and I can report that all the door rattles have completely vanished. Trouble is, I now realise how rattly the window glass and undertray are so that's another job to do!

Just got back from a 10 mile drive down rough old country lanes and I've decided to refine my opinion of the new door pins. They're not good. THEY'RE BRILLIANT. They obviously rattled a lot more than I thought they did because it seems so silent now. In fact, it makes the whole car seem much more solid (Probably just in the mind I know) Seriously, if you've got a few miles on the car now and the doors are rattling, get some of these new pins. It's a revolution!

Deffo a first class investment..... Like i said before, the main difference i noticed was the ease of opening/closing. To stop the doors rattling before, you had to set the pins so there was tension on the locks so they wouldnt rattle. With the pins now centralised in the locks the doors now open and close super smooth....