Replaced door struts, pulled fuse 22, car now 30 percent cooler
 

Had fun playing with my new-to-me Vantage this weekend. First we popped in new passenger door struts. (Br. "check arms," I believe?) This was less aggravation than I thought it would be. After we put the front end on stands and pulled the wheels, we went ahead and removed the wheel well liners entirely, just for the fun of seeing what all was behind them. Wow! So many pretty pieces of gigantic aluminum! The braces that holds the door struts to the car are themselves a thing of industrial beauty. On the passenger side, the brace also holds (what I guess is) the ECU, but on the driver's side, it's just this Skylab-worthy hunk of lattice work.

Once you actually get your hands to the struts on the car, getting the old ones off and the new ones on took about one minute per side. I was delighted that the little clips on the ends of the struts, which look like they want to shoot off and get lost between panels, there to rattle forever more, do not behave that way. They pried up and stayed attach to the ball ends.

While we were there, we marveled at the roominess of the empty wheel wells. Most of our tinkering in the garage is on Miatas and an Elise. We were also impressed at the work truck-like lug torque spec: 130 pound feet, which is, again, a lot more than you have with a wee little Lotus or Miata.

Now the doors open, and stay open, until you pull them closed, whereupon they close. It's all very elegant.

Pulling fuse 22 produced less additional volume than I expected, and that's fine. I sort of thought it would be hilariously boy racer, and I'd end up putting the fuse back in after the weekend, but the additional rortiness is only enough to make me smile, while not so much that the neighbors are going to look at me funny. I think I'll leave it out. Three weeks in and I'm really digging this car.

Great write up! Glad to see that you are not afraid to get your hands dirty.

know exactly what you mean about the door struts, imho they NEED to be in new, infinite open state, whereby they stay wherever they are when you open them. not like the older examples i've seen where they barely stay open at it's fullest, and can swing back shut on a slight incline or when hit by a slight breeze.

After a year I can already feel my new door strut not as good as before haha

wow really? that's disappointing to hear. at least at $55 a pair they're not the most expensive thing to replace. i would just have to figure out how to do it myself :P

yeah, the way I see is that there could be more expensive consumable parts haha

Good ol' Doug Demuro just put out another article... mentions at one point that the dealership charges $351 to replace door struts.


Maybe I should start installing things for people... could buy a V12V in no time.

yeah I don't think that's too far off from what I heard from the dealer I was looking at a car with, not surprising considering the part and the fact they probably charge you 1.5-2 hrs of labor.

Have learned how to enter the car after replacing mine. Butt in with both legs out. Then swing legs around to pedals and pull door closed.
Was - one leg in other out. Hand holding door open other on wheel. Other leg in hand still on door. Finally slowly close door so doesn't slam.

Yeah, I definitely look more suave hopping in and out of the car now, without having to keep one finger on the door so it doesn't fall shut on me.

The guy at the parts/service counter certainly didn't have any trouble finding his way to the shelf where the door struts are kept. But yes, at least they're cheap. Dealerships oughta just put out a huge bowl of these struts on the front counter, like the bowls of condoms at warehouse raves.

What contributed to it running cooler?

lol, i think you're misinterpreting the headline. hilarious

He means he is a Cool Kat now.