Door Poppers

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Major System Category: Body (Door)
Task: Install door poppers
Parts: Popper solenoid, cable, pulley
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: $75
Time Requirement: 4 hours
Date Started: November 21, 2012
Date Completed:  November 25, 2012

One of the issues I worry about is security. These cars attract a lot of attention. Chances are people have never seen a GTM.  I decided to go keyless early in the planning stage. This means the normal form of ingress (i.e. door handles) needed to go away. I'm not going to go into detail on the security system, except to say it is multi-layered and bio-metrically keyed to me. Yes, if I have a dead battery, she's going to be hard to start.

These are the pulleys and the solenoid base plate.

The first security layer is to eliminate door handles and rely on door poppers to open the door. There is a need for a manual override, and I have something in mind for how I am going to put that together. To operate the poppers I have a fob. The fob is linked to the RFlink module installed in the ISIS master cell. However, the fob can only get you into the car. It has nothing to do with starting the car.

The rear of the solenoid where I attached power and ground leads. This is clamped in a vice. I did  all the electrical work down stairs in my cave, as the temperature was dropping through out December.

I am using 60 lbs solenoid door poppers and a plungers to push the door open past the striker. The plungers (like the striker) need to be installed after the engine and transaxle are installed. The plungers need to be secured against the chassis and installed through the body shell.

The solenoid popper is bolted to the mounting bracket. The steel cable is looped around the end of the solenoid and the clamp is in place, but not compressed. Yes, they don't make vices like this any more. It was purchased 60 or 70 years ago.

The latch has a vertical orientation. The idea behind the popper is a solenoid attached to a wire cable that fires (i.e. contracts) been an electrical charge is applied. Unlike the rear hatch popper, it is not possible to position the solenoid so it is in a straight line to the latch.

Close up of the pulley with the steel cable threaded. At this point nothing had been tightened down, so that is why there is slack on the line. The pulley is riveted into place. You can also see the narrow end of the internal brace. Things are very tight on the rear edge of the door.

The solenoid works on a electrical charge that fires the solenoid causing it to contract into the housing. I attached five feet of 16 gauge wire for power and ground. This has to be threaded out of the door and into the front hood area where it gets connected to the power cell and grounded at a ground point on the chassis.

The popper solenoid and pulley before the steel cable is tightened into place. The cables from the window motor is just to the right of the popper solenoid and the black bracket in the middle of the photo (behind the brace) is the window track.

I use a 12 volt test battery to verify the connections are working and that they are solid (this is a lot of fun - it's a guy thing). The solenoids come with a heavy bracket. This is mounted to the bottom of the inside of the door. I used short bolts and nylon nuts to secure it in place. The last thing I want is for the popper solenoid to slide loose inside the door.

Everything is tightened up. Note: There is still some slack in the steel cable.

The idea to use a pulley and form a right angle between the latch and the popper solenoid is not original with me. I don't remember where I first saw the idea, but it really works. The pulleys are quite simple (a $2 part at Lowes). I think I found them in the screen door section. The pulley allows me to create a right angle between the popper solenoid and the latch. I riveted the pulley into place and checked for strength.

I threaded the steel cable from the latch, through the pulley and to the popper solenoid. The cable loops around the solenoid end and is crimped using the two channel clamp. If you lose one of these clamps, there are available at the little parts area where they sell pulleys at Lowes and Home Depot.

Once everything is tightened down, I retrieve my test battery and fire the solenoid. There is plenty to check:

1. The door latch actually opens.
2. The pulley doesn't stress.
3. The bracket holding to solenoid doesn't stress.

I fired the solenoid about twenty times. There is a significant bang each time. 

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