Wider Opening Rear Doors

Looking from above it is obvious that the rear door does not open very far. This made it hard to get in and out and with putting down a ramp for our door to walk up and on to the back seat. The second picture shows how far I got it to open after the modifications I made.

The stock door opens out to 885 mm. After the modifications it now opens to 1075 mm, or nearly 200 mm/8" further.

It is not only the check strap that stops the door opening further. If you expand the pictures above you will see an arrow pointing to the 'fingers' in the hinge that prevent it from opening further as well. So I first pulled the check strap pin using side cutters.

Then used a 5" angle grinder to reduce the thickness of the fingers. Can see how they have been ground down in the second photo. You must do this to both the upper and lower hinges and make them all even so they touch at the same time. Just do a bit on each and keep checking to see how far the door opens making sure it doesn't hit the back edge of the front door when it is closed.

Can see now how the fingers wrap around the other part of the hinge. Next job was to make the check strap longer otherwise the door will not stay open when parked on a bit of a slope. With the strap fully pulled out I only had to add 1/2". It depends on how much you have ground away the fingers. Make sure also that a longer check strap does not interfere if you have manual windows. 

You can cut and add a piece any where along the straight part. Take note that in the first photo the end piece is the wrong way around. Make sure you bevel the edge so can get a good solid weld. I also made the fill piece slightly wider so it could be ground down smooth on the edges afterwards as there are rollers that run along this edge.

Been painted the then the edges were rubbed with a dry lube stick. It is a good time to clean the rollers and re-oil with for a smooth operation. Make sure the strap and the fingers all work together. If you made the strap a bit long you can place some panel washes over the studs on the inside. Been a couple of years nearly since doing this modification and it all still works perfectly.

[Index]