Toyota Sera Doors
The humble and uncommon Toyota Sera has these nifty nifty doors. So-called 'butterfly wing'. These are the doors which inspired the McLaren F1 - which in turn started the recent trend for supercars to have butterfly wings.
So the Sera is a trend setter, but otherwise, it's a pretty ordinary 2+2 coupe...
Anyway, a downside to the funky doors is they do not fail gracefully, and when the gas strut which pushes them open for you fails, you find out they are damn heavy.
This happened to me, so I set about to swap the strut for the one on my newly 'spare parts' (ie, it's a minor wreck) Sera.
Contents |
Tools needed
- Socket set - 12mm socket
- philips head screwdriver
- shifting spanner
- two milk crates
Basic procedure
- prop door up on milk crates
- access then unbolt base of strut(easy). unbolt top of strut (little less easy)
- bolt new strut in at top (less easy again)
- bolt new strut at base (easy)
- celebrate
Gallery
Sera doors fit on stacked milk crates. Donor car behind
The operating theatre!
Tools required
Base of the strut with cover held on with single screw
Base unveiled showing two bolts
Base unbolted leaves it hanging
The nut at the top is fiddly to access
Donor on left, broken on right. Note diameter difference. I assume left is original toyota
Broken strut has original rubber sheath
Note different shaft sizes too
New strut in place, works perfect
Links
- http://www.omicron.uk.com/sera/forum/index.php?showtopic=3804 - pre-existing guide I more or less followed
