t-von

iTrader: (8)

Ok there is some fab work that needs to be done so the mods may want to move this to the fab section. Hopefully it stays here long enough for those that may choose to copy the design. I know that the interior door panels are becoming very scarce. So reinforcement is now becoming more of a need. Since I'm currently replacing my passenger outer door skin, I decided why not go ahead and mod the interior door handle that is so prone to breaking when pulled really hard. Also since I'm currently in the process of doing a 20b swap, it's better now than later. My interior is very nice and still looks ne so I want to keep that way. Anyways here's my take on the mod.



Here are the mounting points I'm choosing to use. Notice that they have the reinforced factory lips on 4 sides.


Here I'm using a 1/4" drill bit to drill down the center of the handle. There's some really hard plastic inside that will provice all the support we need.



Now insert a 1/4" steel rod all the way through and then use a sharpie to mark the top. This is going to be the bend point.


Now take that 1/4" steel rod and bend it to a 45degre angle. If you dont have a bench vice, this is a Ghetto way of doing it. LOL!!!

t-von

iTrader: (8)

Here's the end result.




Here you wanna make sure the rod clears the power window switch.


Now here's is where the fun starts. I'm choosing to use a dremmel to cut away the yellow insulation on the door. You want a nice flat surface to mount your braket on. If you notice I accually cut through the door panel a bit. Trust me it's not a problem as the cover on the inside will cover the small holes. There is a lot of support in this area I'm going to take advantage of.

t-von

iTrader: (8)

Damn my cousin is buggin me to go to lunch so I'll be right back to finish the thread. Please try not to post comments till I finish.

$lacker

iTrader: (9)

Keep er coming, looks good

t-von

iTrader: (8)

Ok here we go again.

The next couple pics are just how I made my bracket pattern.



Now here's the tough part if you don't have the neccessary machinery. Take your pattern and trace it onto some 16gauge (1/16") steel sheet. You can go thicker if you want but it's not neccessary. Take a portable jig saw and fine tooth metal cutting blade and cut out your bracket base. The jig saw will work, you will just have to be patient and make sure you do relief cuts around the 3 radiaus sections. I'm fortunate enough to have a plasma cutter that I bought early last year of ebay so it took me all but 30 sec to cut mine out.


After cutting out my base and grinding the edges I did a test fit. As it is mounted, now you can see why I cut the yellow foam the way I did. The base fits nicely. I also have a section on the back to put a back brace.


Now I took some slightly thicker metal (1/8" steel) for the back brace. Tack weld this in place with the bracket screwed down. DO NOT fully weld this back brace while it's screwed to the panel. The heat will melt the localized area. Just tack it into place and remove to fully weld. Here's mine fully welded.

t-von

iTrader: (8)

Now back to the handle portion. Here I just welded some more rod to extend furthure out and cut a small bracket to screw on the 1st panel hole section. The length here is really importance in making the handle very stiff. The hole that you drill needs to be perfectly aligned with the hold on the panel. This portion is going to sit on top of the bracket. The reason I'm doing this as two piece is just in case I need to disassemble the handle.


Hmm seeing speaker holder bracket this gives me an idea.


Here's that bracket duplicated in a similar fashion. You'll see in the last pic why I made it.


Here are the upgraded screws I'm using. The 1st screw on the left is factory. Notice it's fine thread. I took some regular course thread wood screws and cut them to shorten them to use for the two bracket pieces I made. These are perfect and will thread deeper grooves in the mounting holes. They also wont strip nearly as easily.


Here's everything assembled and primed. The welds are terrible but I still got penetration. Hell know one is going to see it anyways. LOL! Anyways the pics clearly illustrates how everything is engineered to place all the load on the panel itself. You can also see the small bracket I made. That bracket is made to help keep the handle from pulling out when closing the door. The big bracket section is designed to put as much load as possible on the yellow foam. My door handle is extremely solid now. To prove I'm going to strap about 50lbs on the handle and lift the weight off the ground by holding my door panel verticle. This will duplicate someone pulling on the handle backwards while riding in the car. 50lbs should be plenty as not everyone can curl that much with just one hand. For now I'm very satisfied with the end result.

DMoneyRX-7

iTrader: (2)

that's good stuff.

red_dragon

iTrader: (10)

Maybe you could have just fixed and reinforced the piece of the handle that you're missing that attaches to the metal part of the door instead of extending the bracket out to the plastic trim. I do like the steel rod idea though.

I think most of our door handles are broken because at some point in time, some guy didn't know that you have to take the window switch out and unscrew a long bolt through the window switch hole BEFORE attempting to remove the door panel. And once that mounting point is lost, all the stress transfers to the already weak plastic part between the grip and the trim piece. And one day, it snaps and someone hits themselves in the face with it =).

Prometheus

iTrader: (2)

Wow, this is great!

I was thinking about laying down some resin & fiberglass sheeting, then vacuum forming the fiberglass sheeting to the rear side of the door skin foam for additional support.

This looks like a good little widget that could be refined & marketed (because the adverage consumer is lazy)

1. refine brace
2. Make a door skin template for foam carving purposes
3. Profit

thanks for doing a writeup like this!

project06tj

iTrader: (1)

I would definitely buy one of these if it were sold.

Great writeup though

t-von

iTrader: (8)

Yea I'm not interested in mass producing something like this. Just giving back to this community that I've been apart of for soo long. If they were made, then the install would be simple. It's funny now that I have my own camera, I'm just taking pics of everything I'm doing.

t-von

iTrader: (8)

What missing portion are you refering too? Also the stock handle is very weak. Most are broken by passengers that hold on for dear life. The Fd has that effect on a lot of unsuspecting people.


Edit: I think I know what your taking about. The lower section isn't the weak part. It's the top section that is mounted by those two screws in the flimsey plastic. There not circled in my pic. That's were all the flex happens. The bottom portion of the handle has a metal insert and metal bracket that already bolts to the door metal. If your lower half is moving simply tighten up all three lower screws. My mod takes care of the top section.

muibubbles

iTrader: (36)

sweet! very interesting way to reinforce it while keeping it aesthetically the same!

i had this problem as soon as i bought my fd but im more of a FG guy since, well, thats all ive really played with thus far...

hope you dont mind...
the tab where the handle screws in actually broke on mine so i decided to rip off the cloth and resin the handle in... i dripped resin on the contact points, and added some fg for reinforcement... bondo, sand, prime, paint! idont mind not having the cloth but couldnt think of any other way to keep it (it was also in poor condition)

only pics i have..

t-von

iTrader: (8)

I don't mind at all. Any contributers are welcome as the more ideas the better. That's gonna look very factory like when it's finished. Since now your handle is molded as a direct piece of the trim, I highly recommend that you use similar course screws as I did and at the very minimal install some washers under them. The washer will help spread the load more over the yellow foam. The factory flat head screws dont cover much and could be pulled through the holes if pulled hard enough. Without the washers, you may now run into the problem of that whole panel being pulled off.

muibubbles

iTrader: (36)

^^ i get what youre saying... my goal was just to fix the handle.. and believe me that handle is solid like a rock! lol... but you are right if they pull the handle the door card is still weak and prone to break....

jectrx7

going to have to save this thread. im sure i will need to reference it in the future. great writeup!

Radial GT

iTrader: (16)

This makes me laugh, because it is true ^

Mine is not broken yet, but seems to move quite a bit. I like the beefy-ness of what you did here. Thanks for the writeup