Elan S3 door mounting tension help

[SeanB]

Hi Guys,

I did have a search for this, but couldn't find anything. when mounting Elan doors, how tight do people tension the half dome hinge bits? I set mine so the door sat in the middle of the aperture and tight enough so I don't get any up and down movement on the door when open, lifting from the outside bottom edge. Any advice on how tight they should be?

Plus tightening the lock nut without the plastic ball bit moving was really tricky, any advice on this?

My doors have been mounted for a few weeks now and they lined up great at first, but seem to have adjusted themselves out of alignment, so I need to have another play with them to get them back in line.

Any general door mounting advice greatly received.

Thanks,
Sean..

[512BB]

Sean wrote ' I set mine so the door sat in the middle of the aperture and tight enough so I don't get any up and down movement on the door when open, lifting from the outside bottom edge. Any advice on how tight they should be?

Sounds as if you have it about right. I adjust the doors to just take out any up and down movement then tighten the lower nylon thingy a fraction more. Then screw down the hollow locking nut onto the nylon bobin, at the same time prevent it turning with your 1/4" bar. I use the bar from my piston ring compression tool, nice tight fit. You can tighten the locking nut quite snugly onto the bobin, turning it with a spanner, it wont then move. Job done.

Leslie

[SeanB]

Thanks for your reply Leslie.

[bitsobrits]

A 1/4" socket extension and handle works well in place of a 1/4" bar...

And if you are really obsessed, you can buy low strength stainless bolts (5/8" if I remember correctly), cut them to length and gun drill them to replace the corroded factory hollow locking bolts

[512BB]

'A 1/4" socket extension and handle works well in place of a 1/4" bar...'

And the reason I do not use a socket extension is because the corners are rounded off, by design, on my Snap On extension, whereas on the bar, the corners are sharp and it is a very tight fit into the nylon hinge thingy, which is what you want, to prevent turning.

Leslie

[lotusfan]

'A 1/4" socket extension and handle works well in place of a 1/4" bar...'

And the reason I do not use a socket extension is because the corners are rounded off, by design, on my Snap On extension, whereas on the bar, the corners are sharp and it is a very tight fit into the nylon hinge thingy, which is what you want, to prevent turning.

Leslie

+1 to that. A piece of 1/4 inch bar stock is the thing to use.

[nmauduit]

depending on the condition of the receiving cups and nylon ball ends (spherical or worn out some), it may be that the initial setting position was not the lowest point because of the leverage that the door has on the hinge : you may want to wiggle it some before tightening the locking nut to make sure it is indeed resting at the pivot location.

It has also happened to me that the locking nut felt like locking but actually was only locking on old overspray, and the nylon screw would end up getting loose over time, with the door thretening to part way at the most annoying occasion usually... I solved that (hopefully) by taking out the holding brackets and nuts to clean the threads, and finding out they would lock at a much further down or up location (probably also denoting some cup or ball wear along the years).

One does not want to press too much on fiberglass yet it has to be tight (for a good shut line, smooth operation and no stress cracks down the road or premature hinge wear), nor to lock too strongly onto the nylon screw (to avoid thread stripping) yet it has to prevent hinge to unscrew, which in turn depends on the hinge tension : I guess some luck or trial and error may be necessary.

ps: I don't mind using a 1/4" screwdriver as I don't want to press more on the hinge than I can do fingertight while holding the door with the other hand, so the somewhat rounded corners are an insurance against overtightening (I've noted that the hinge screws tend to go easier in the tightening direction than the other, and had the difficult situation where I could not undo an hinge screwed too far in).

[SeanB]

Thanks for all of the help and advice guys.