Modding The Back Doors To Open All The Way
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AFAIK no one has done this. It would be a nice feature but one I'd be reluctant to take on for safety reasons. The rear doors are an integral part of the vehicle structure, and help hold things together in a rollover. Since the hinges do half the work of holding the door in place, modifying them could open up Pandora's box.
I understand what your saying but remember if you got a 07 or newer you should have "Side Air Bags" baby..... Did anyone watch the crash test and see the difference, its def. deadly if you don't have them because your head with go right through the window with your neck bending pretty crazy to the side......
Without:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNZdVkqjbr8
With
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfwt54v-nqc
Without:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNZdVkqjbr8
With
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfwt54v-nqc
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many 03-06 Elements have side airbags, just not the curtain airbags. My 03 has side airbags aka thoracic.
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i recently just bought a 2004 ex at element, how do i know if there are side air bags?
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Tag on the seat; see recent thread. Also see the VIN decoder.
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For what its worth... The doors swing 90 and with the current hinge configuration thats all your going to get. You would either have to have a double barrel hinge or have the pivot point outside of the vehicle... This isn't just a Mod your talking about MAJOR fabrication. I doubt highly that anything is on the market to get a 180 degree swing out of the rear doors.
Take a look at the rear doors of any cargovan. They are made to swing 180 and the pivot points are always outside of the vehicle.
I deal with door hardware on a daily basis. Granted it's not car doors but the priciples are the same. Hinges that allow for greater than 90 swing either have multiple linkage and pivots such a SOSS invisable hinges or have a single pivot point offset to the outside.
If your still willing to take a crack at this perhaps these websites might give you ideas. They are the leaders in Architectural door hardware concerning hinges and pivots.
http://www.hinge.com/ (SOSS)
https://www.bommer.com/
http://www.assaabloydss.com/library/catalogs/RIXSON/pdf/RC_Pivots and Pivot Sets.pdf
http://www.hagerhinge.com/
Good Luck.
For what it's worth. I agree with the others that any mod might greatly compromise body integrity.
Take a look at the rear doors of any cargovan. They are made to swing 180 and the pivot points are always outside of the vehicle.
I deal with door hardware on a daily basis. Granted it's not car doors but the priciples are the same. Hinges that allow for greater than 90 swing either have multiple linkage and pivots such a SOSS invisable hinges or have a single pivot point offset to the outside.
If your still willing to take a crack at this perhaps these websites might give you ideas. They are the leaders in Architectural door hardware concerning hinges and pivots.
http://www.hinge.com/ (SOSS)
https://www.bommer.com/
http://www.assaabloydss.com/library/catalogs/RIXSON/pdf/RC_Pivots and Pivot Sets.pdf
http://www.hagerhinge.com/
Good Luck.
For what it's worth. I agree with the others that any mod might greatly compromise body integrity.
SOSS hines FTW! I use those all the time.
You'd need something that's going to hold a lot more weight. Even with an outside hinge you'd need a way to stop it at a certain spot so your door doesn't just smash into the side of the car when you open it, and it wouldn't be a very solid door. The element is already missing a lot of frame construction with the doors closing into each other. After you did that, you'd need something like the front door sliding hinge that ducks back into the body when fully closed, then you'd probably have to move the rear axle further back so that the slider goes all the way into the body when fully closed and doesn't crash into the springs.
I'd say the fabrication isn't worth the results.
You'd need something that's going to hold a lot more weight. Even with an outside hinge you'd need a way to stop it at a certain spot so your door doesn't just smash into the side of the car when you open it, and it wouldn't be a very solid door. The element is already missing a lot of frame construction with the doors closing into each other. After you did that, you'd need something like the front door sliding hinge that ducks back into the body when fully closed, then you'd probably have to move the rear axle further back so that the slider goes all the way into the body when fully closed and doesn't crash into the springs.
I'd say the fabrication isn't worth the results.
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