How sturdy is the door-latch area of the door?

[facultyofmusic]

I'm toying around with a few ideas on how to improve my door latch situation and it requires cutting into the door-latch area around the small opening in the fiberglass. My main question is how sturdy is that area of the door? I understand there's a metal plate backing the door latch mounting area, but how big is that plate and how far does it go? Would dramatically opening up the opening like the picture in this post (https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?27043-Breeze-Door-Latch) greatly reduce the integrity of that part of the door? From the look of the opening that area is made up of super thin fiberglass... or is it something else?

[edwardb]

Opening up the fiberglass -- as long as you don't alter the underlying metal plate and frame -- isn't going to affect the integrity of the door. I assume you know the newly designed door latches from Factory Five use a bear claw style latch exactly like those Breeze has been selling for some time. But done a little more eloquently IMO than the link you provided. It does require a mod to the chassis side tab. But not, from I can tell, to the door itself.

[facultyofmusic]

I assume you know the newly designed door latches from Factory Five use a bear claw style latch exactly like those Breeze has been selling for some time. But done a little more eloquently IMO than the link you provided. It does require a mod to the chassis side tab. But not, from I can tell, to the door itself.

Right. I've been staring at the mechanism trying to figure out a way to use the new door-latches without modifying the factory frame welded tab. The extensions, although possible, sticks really far into the car and becomes a problem for seats as well as catches on clothes a ton. The claw-style latch is an inverted L that can sink into the door with very little modification to the FFR provided mounting brackets and (unfortunately) some modification to the door latch opening area.

It's good to know that the door will remain strong with the cutout expanded. I hope to share a mod that allows the usage of these new door latches without the need of extension plates soon.

[CraigS]

duplicate

[CraigS]

182530
Does this help? It is a MkIV but I am not sure of the year. John could tell you. https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/member.php?18888-phileas_fogg
I think the horizontal pieces are 3/4x3/4 square tube. They don't come together in the latch area. Rather they are joined by the sheet metal plate you see inside the door.

[Ted G]

Sounds like you got caught in between the new latches and the frame changes for them. Me too and I decided to go the route of a frame modification. So far, no problems with seats or my clothes. They are only about 1/4" further into the cockpit but I think the catch is shorter. Overall, I love them but still waiting to put the body on.

Here is a few pics of my mod, you'll see that I drilled three holes. Two of the holes were drilled completely through the frame, but the top hole is tapped into the frame as the other end had the angled tube welded to it. I was going to just go with the two bolts, but I thought is looked more symmetrical with three.

182534 182535 182536 182532 182533


Here is the final look:

182537

Overall, it was a pretty easy modification and looks way better than the mod that FFR supplied for this situation. You can see in the last picture, it doesn't interfere with the seat and is actually behind the seat.

[EZ$]

I actually bought a pair of the door pieces thinking that I could use them in Mr. Bruce's doors. Turned out I couldn't, but I still have them and I could take some pictures if you think it might help you figure this out.

[CABulldog]

Danny's got a pair I made for him, not sure of the difference in length between yours Ted and mine. I did design mine to weld on to the frame in replacement of the original and Danny had to use them in a different manor.

I would love to see the issue Danny as I have not done the welding on mine yet and there maybe something we can do to help you as well.