[144]

Just about any 70s Spider you see has a warped glove box door, mine included. I suppose this is caused by heat.

My glovebox door is made of a metal pan with the vinyl covering, just like the dashboard. At first I was hesitant to try and bend it back and thought of heating it to make it more pliable, but decided against that thinking it may cause the vinyl to separate. I tried bending the top edge gently, but that had no affect.

What DID work is to remove the inside plastic trim facing and metal piano hinge, then grip the door and put a steady, incremental diagonal pressure at the point shown in the picture below. It came out almost perfectly straight and much better than I thought possible.

So, fellow Alfisti, take it for what it's worth. You mileage may vary . . . .

 

[Bill]

Good one John, thanks.
I will have to try that on my '78 if I find it has a metal insert. It looks to be all plastic, but I my be wrong.

 

[144]

Look around the hole for the latch mechanism. The rubbery backer stuff is real thin there. Scrape some off and you'll see metal, I'll bet.

 

[sono veL.O.ce]

Both of my alfas have that nasty bend, I had always considered them hopeless. Im gonna try to straigten them this weekend! thanks for the tip, I'll report back what happens with mine.

 

[Bill77]

Thank you for this tip !!! I forgot that my glove box door is warped, too !!!

 

[Alfapaulic]

Nice tip John, I thought maybe the epoxy trick would work here too. Glad you did the leg work on this.

Paul

 

[breda65]

yahoo

Thanks for the idea. Mine was warped and your trick did the job.

 

[gadwhite]

Glove Box Door warped

I am going to try and fix mine on my 85, anyone know if the door construction is the same as the earlier cars( 78,79, etc). Anyone fixed theirs on an S3?

Oh and Im lazy anyone got any more pictures?

 

[Tifosi]

Assembly is the same for S2 and S3

Remove the lock and a few screws around the perifiery of the plastic trim on the inside of the door and you'll be looking like the pic above.

 

[Lokki]

I did this on my car, and it worked very well. The key is patience.... no hurry to bend that door. However there's still one thing that I'm working on.

While the door is straight, the latch mechanism has just a little too much room in the catch-holder that is in the top of the glovebox interior. That is, my door still has a slight unsightly gap where the door isn't closed far enough. At least the door isn't bowed any more.

 

[andy303]

I also benefited from this tip! You can adjust the catch on the underside of the dash by loosening the screws and moving them back slightly. You can also play with the hinge itself. On mine there were two sets of holes,slightly offset, on the door side of the hinge. On mine I found that the best fit was obtained by minimizing the amount of hinge visible, i.e. moving the door as low as possible at the bottom. It wasn't a lot of movement, but every mm helps. Also check the position of the rubber buffer on the left side and the light switch on the right. These can also be adjusted inwards.

 

[Gubi]

While the door is straight, the latch mechanism has just a little too much room in the catch-holder that is in the top of the glovebox interior. That is, my door still has a slight unsightly gap where the door isn't closed far enough. At least the door isn't bowed any more.

Mine was like that too. Near as I can figure it looks like the dash itself had warped upwards a bit.

Anyway, I got a piece of that black rubber stick-on weatherstripping. Not the foam stuff, the D-shaped rubber stuff in the small size. Put it on the dash along the top where it meets the top edge of the door. This closed the gap and looks pretty decent.

I'll take some pics when I get home.

 

[Gubi]

Here are those pics. My memory was a bit faulty: I put it along the back side of the door. Not the world's greatest pictures but you get the idea.

Looks good with the door closed and it fills the gap nicely.

 

[lgbalfa]

Here are those pics. My memory was a bit faulty: I put it along the back side of the door. Not the world's greatest pictures but you get the idea.

Looks good with the door closed and it fills the gap nicely.

very nice!

 

[gadwhite]

Thanks

Here are those pics. My memory was a bit faulty: I put it along the back side of the door. Not the world's greatest pictures but you get the idea.

Looks good with the door closed and it fills the gap nicely.

Thanks Gubi. If I get to this soon Il take a few more pictures of the removal etc and post them.

Gabriel

 

[Spacecommander]

Glove Box Light Switch - excessive pressure

I noticed an inordinate amount of pressure coming from the glove box light switch when fully depressed. I fixed the door - great fix idea, looks much better now! I also removed the switch and removed the spring. I'm going to hunt around a few sources - Ace, Home Despot, Radio Shack, etc. to see if there's a replacement that has a much lower spring rate. That way we don't need to do the door fix again in a few more years ;~)
A micro switch or other low pressure switch is readily available but I'm going to try to do a "stock" fix.

 

[Gubi]

If you loosen the screw holding the switch bracket you should be able to move it back a bit and reduce the pressure.

 

[Spacecommander]

Moved switch back, less force to close now.

Thanks for the tip - worked perfectly.

 

[Gubi]

There you go. There's plenty of voodoo involved straightening the door and then adjusting the hinge, the two stops, and the latch to get everything working properly and looking good. I think it took me about four years, actually.

 

[Exilemainstreet]

Another great and timely thread! My glovebox door has been curling up like a potato chip over the past 20 years, and I figured I would have to buy a new one, but today I'll take it off and see if I can straighten it out.