Rodger
True Classic
My check straps on my '79 were getting tired and one of the ones on my '81 had a broken spring. The original style of these are hard to find and the replacements seem a little on the cheap side, quality wise. I bought one of those years ago from Art Bayless, but have never used it as I just never liked it as it was mostly all plastic.
I was able to get a new spring from Obert's for the original style, but that was a couple of years ago and I don't see them currently available. But if your springs are still intact as on my '79's, and the strap just doesn't hold the door open as well, then you can replace the bobbin to restore them. What happens is that the narrow part of the bobbin where the spring rubs, wears over time and so the spring does not clamp it tight enough to hold the door open. New bobbins are available from Obert's as well as MWB and Henk.
Here is the strap housing that had the broken spring. The bobbin is held in with a long rivet that can be easily removed by drilling off the spread end.
I found this down at my local hardware store. It is a 1" x 1/4" shank with a threaded internal that a screw goes into. Here it is compared to the stock rivet.
The 1/4" fits through the hole in the housing, but I had to drill out the center of the new plastic bobbin slightly to fit it. The 1" is about a couple of mm's too long, so I just filed it down until it was just below the surface of the housing.
Here are the two different kinds of bobbins that I got. I can't remember who I got the white plastic ones from as that was a couple of years ago when I bought them, but I recently bought a couple of NOS ones from MWB, that were in a Fiat parts bag, but are gray.
What is interesting is the difference in the internal narrow part of the bobbin where the spring goes. I measured the old ones at the widest unworn diameter that I took out of the worn strap. One measured 15.5 mm and one was 17 mm. The white bobbin in the photo measured 14.64 mm and the gray one measured 17.75. Kind of like Goldilocks here.
I compared the two new bobbin fits to a new original style complete strap that I had found a while ago but had not installed yet. The replacement white bobbin was looser than the NOS one I had, but the gray bobbin was very tight and did not allow any play in the spring. It would be very difficult to install it in the car due to amount of spring compression needed to fit it into the holding loops on the door frame. I would be concerned that the spring would either break, or the force to open the door and flex the spring would be too much. I elected to go with the white one.
Here it is put together with some thread locker on the threaded part of the center shaft.
I was able to get a new spring from Obert's for the original style, but that was a couple of years ago and I don't see them currently available. But if your springs are still intact as on my '79's, and the strap just doesn't hold the door open as well, then you can replace the bobbin to restore them. What happens is that the narrow part of the bobbin where the spring rubs, wears over time and so the spring does not clamp it tight enough to hold the door open. New bobbins are available from Obert's as well as MWB and Henk.
Here is the strap housing that had the broken spring. The bobbin is held in with a long rivet that can be easily removed by drilling off the spread end.
I found this down at my local hardware store. It is a 1" x 1/4" shank with a threaded internal that a screw goes into. Here it is compared to the stock rivet.
The 1/4" fits through the hole in the housing, but I had to drill out the center of the new plastic bobbin slightly to fit it. The 1" is about a couple of mm's too long, so I just filed it down until it was just below the surface of the housing.
Here are the two different kinds of bobbins that I got. I can't remember who I got the white plastic ones from as that was a couple of years ago when I bought them, but I recently bought a couple of NOS ones from MWB, that were in a Fiat parts bag, but are gray.
What is interesting is the difference in the internal narrow part of the bobbin where the spring goes. I measured the old ones at the widest unworn diameter that I took out of the worn strap. One measured 15.5 mm and one was 17 mm. The white bobbin in the photo measured 14.64 mm and the gray one measured 17.75. Kind of like Goldilocks here.
I compared the two new bobbin fits to a new original style complete strap that I had found a while ago but had not installed yet. The replacement white bobbin was looser than the NOS one I had, but the gray bobbin was very tight and did not allow any play in the spring. It would be very difficult to install it in the car due to amount of spring compression needed to fit it into the holding loops on the door frame. I would be concerned that the spring would either break, or the force to open the door and flex the spring would be too much. I elected to go with the white one.
Here it is put together with some thread locker on the threaded part of the center shaft.