1988/89 Door Handle Strap

[DAVES89]

I think I found a cure for the black plastic "plugs" that hold the door handle strap in place. The plugs as you know are covered by a plastic cap. I was talking to a shop teacher friend of mine and explained what we were dealing with, with the plugs breaking and no replacements. He asked to see one and I after I showed it to him he said "I can make them out of maple. How many do you need?" I said 8 so he made me 17. 

 They fit great although I had to go to a different screw, a phillips head instead of the 10mm hex head that is stock.  Of course the cap no longer "snaps" on but it sticks very nicely with double stick tape. I originally tried velcro but the combination of the two velcro pieces needed make the cap stand too far away from the handle strap.

 

Below are photos of the plugs.

 

 

[Barney Eaton]

That is one possible solution.

I have always believed the problem starts when the screw gets a little loose, that allows the retainer to move when you pull on the strap,  that movement cracks the retainer and then the cap pops off.

You are lucky to have the cap.

My comments........maple is pretty hard so maybe it will not split from the pulling on the strap.   It also looks like the hole is not centered in the wood,  that makes for weaker sides.

You could have sanded off some of the wood so you could use the Velcro......

[DAVES89]

We chose maple because it is hard. The reason for the hole being off center is due to a 2 degree angle on the top of the retainer causing a slight deflection in the drilling.. I wouldn't have done the 2 degree angle, but the guy has a machinist mentality. The large countersunk hole still leaves about 1" of "meat" so I'm not to concerned of breakage.

 Still fits well and you know what? I have 17 of them which is way more then the one last plastic one I have. 

 I'm thinking I will take all the plastic retainers I have off and sell them. That's how confident I am.

[DAVES89]

I just finished my conversion from plastic retainers to wood. The pictures I have asked Ronnie to post are as follows. 

 One picture shows me making retainer covers using Gorilla tape. It looked and worked well. Another picture shows the two retainers [one wood, one plastic] side by side. The next one shows the wood retainer in place. Then we have the plastic caps with double stick tape on them just prior to application and then with the cap in place on the wood retainer. Looks factory and should work well. I am happy with what I did.

[Barney Eaton]

Here is a sketch showing the door pull retaining parts.....this system was only used on 1988-89 Reatta (did Riviera use a similar part?)

[Ronnie]

More Door Pull retainers

 

 

[Ronnie]

Looking at your photos, I believe I would paint the wood black and use a finishing cap on the head of the screws.  The finishing caps are available at Lowes dirt cheap. Just run the screw through the hole in the center and then snap the cover on for a smooth finished look.  The countersunk screw might be a problem but you could use a different screw. I'm not knocking your idea. I just thought you might like the way this would look.

 

[DAVES89]

Maybe after I run out of the factory caps which both the Red and Black now have. I still have 3-4 extra left in back stock.

[Ronnie]

I agree. I thought the photo below showed the finished product. I guess the photos got mixed up when I uploaded them.

 

[handmedownreatta]

1 hour ago, Ronnie said:

More Door Pull retainers

 

 

i think it would look better if it was aluminum and had an allen head screw.

[DAVES89]

My idea works good enough for me, but it sounds like something you can work on.

Edited August 31, 2018 by DAVES89 (see edit history)

[Barney Eaton]

Your ideas got me thinking...........not sure what the outside dimension is but a piece of steel tubing cut to the correct length....weld a washer on the bottom and you have the stand-off

Then use two sided tape, Velcro, or chewing gum to hold the original cover in place......... or maybe a piece of cork cut to fit inside the tube and glue the cork to the cover.... and the thoughts continue.

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, DAVES89 said:

My idea works good enough for me,

You did good Dave. That maple is hard enough that it will probably outlast the car.

[DAVES89]

I now have 5 wooden plugs out of 8 possible on both the Red and Black. Caps hold tight on the wood using double stick tape. Easy to install and easy to remove to get into the door.

 In my opinion a winner!

[AZVET]

We bought some furniture that came with dense foam packing blocks.  I cut out some pieces to fit, stacked 2 together and jam fit them into the door handle spaces.  I think they came out quite well.

 

[jgiotto]

New to Reatta, just purchased an '89 that was treated very well by the two previous owners. Had to remove door panels to repair speakers, which suffered from foam rot. Just curious, how is the opening side of the strap retainer oriented? Should have taken a photo before I removed the straps.