Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Vertical Doors Installation Instructions
16 M8-1.25X30MM BOLTS WITH WASHERS
RIGHT AND LEFT HINGE ASSEMBLY
2 SHOULDER BOLTS WITH WASHERS
2 SHOCKS _________ PSI
2 PINS
TOOLS REQUIRED FOR INSTALLATION:
AIR RACHET, GRINDER AND CUTTER.
7MM, 8MM,10MM, 11MM, 13MM, SOCKETS AND EXTENSION.
FORK AND PHILLIP’S SCREW DRIVERS
SPACERS FOR THE DOOR GAP.
3/16 ALLEN WRENCH
1/4 TORX BIT
9/16 WRENCH
LOCKTITE RED
UNIVERSAL LAMBO DOOR KITS MAY REQUIRE SOME CUTTING, DRILLING AND WELDING.
"Installers with experience recommended"
1) Disconnect the battery.
2) Remove fender:
3)Remove all Phillip’s screws or fasteners from the wheel well. Usually you will have to remove bolts to loosen the bumper. Remove all the bolts from the top of the fender. Remove all bolts from the bottom of the fender by the door. Usually you will have to remove bolt holding the fender. At this point you should be able to remove the fender
4) Remove the door catch: Open the door and remove bolts from the body and from the door. Push the door catch inside the door. You will need to remove the door panel to retrieve the door catch.
5) Usually you will need to more wire slack: Remove foot trim, under it you will find wire harness use the fork to undo the wire harness and pull some wire. This will give you the necessary wire slack to fully open the new lambo door system. Some times you will have to remove the door panel and speaker and gain the wire from inside the door cavity.
6) Close door and use painter’s tape to secure the door in preparation for factory hinge removal.
Usually you will need a 13mm socket to remove the factory hinges. Hint* (You can make your spacer out of paint sticks and about 8-10 turns of blue painters tape)
7) Install new vertical door kit: In order for the vertical hinge to sit flat against the apron you might have to cut, drill or well depending on you particular vehicle. The new Vertical Doors Inc. system should sit flat against apron to work properly. Hint* Tighten the bolts on the door first and then install the bolts on the body. Important! Make sure you put grease on the body of the bolt and locktite on the threads of the bolts. Put grease on the bottom side of the shock end.
8) Once hinge is locked in place, break nut #1 then turn Allen set screw #2 on fig until it hits the block then open the door and continue to adjust until the door matches with the striker, open and close door making sure it closes like factory. Hint*(leave #1 nut loose until shock is installed Allen set screw will have to be re-adjusted after shock is installed.
9) Install the shock. Hint* (You will need a helper to raise the door). (Slip the spherical rod mount into the spherical ball bearing. Using a 1/4 Allen wrench, tighten the screw into the swing arm. After the shock is installed secure it by installing the pin in the bottom shock end.
10) After shock is installed re-install door panel and lift the door. Adjust door opening screw clockwise until distance between nub and swing arm is enough so that the swing arm moves up and down freely. Hint* (Fine tune the Allen Adjustment screw to realigned striker with door. After the door is align test door by opening and closing, lifting and lowering door several times.
Note: Do not install fender until the adjustment of the door is accurate, and the set screw is tightly secure. Also make sure everything is tight, adjustment is set and everything is Locktite.
11) Modify factory wire loom: In order to be able to open and raise the door, cut the factory wire boot in half and add wire loom to protect exposed wires.
12) Cut the inner lip of your fender to make room for the new Vertical Doors hinge. Note: After you have cut the fender use a sander or grinder and make sure the surface is completely flat.
SOME TIMES YOU WILL ALSO HAVE TO TRIM THE LIP ON THE DOOR (IF IT HAS ONE).
13) Close the door and replace the fender by reversing step 2. Hint*(Make sure the electrical wires don’t get pinched enough to damage wires)
14) For the other side just follow steps 2-12.
With a little patience and luck, you should be able to install your vertical door kit successfully. These instructions came in a universal kit from Vertical Doors, Inc. and were exactly what we needed to install our vertical doors. We do again strongly reccomend professional installation of these lambo door kits.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Featured Vertical Lambo Door Kit
Universal Lambo Door Vertical Door Conversion Kit
Click GT Factory Vertical / Lambo Door for more details and installed pictures
The Lambo Door Kit Includes:
Manual Kit -
(2) Diablo Hinges
(4) 150lb Gas Struts
All Necessary Hardware
(130) High-Rez Install Pics
Installation CD/Instructions
(2) GT Factory Stickers
Automatic Kit -
Manual Kit and
(2) Rod Bearing
(2) 8lbs Actuators
(2) Switches and RelaysNote: The door will have to be opened before the automatic actuators will lift the door up. To have the door open automatically and lift automatically please purchase the Automatic Kit w Door Poppers.
Showstopper Kit -
Automatic Kit and
Shave Door Handle Kit
(2) Door Poppers
These kits have Exceptional Features
Designed for universal fit & quick install
Limited lifetime warranty
The ONLY kit that goes 90 degrees vertical
Keeps doors straight up instead of hanging to the side
Totally reversible
Dual nitrogen gas lifts per door rated @ 300lbs force
4 infinitely adjustable points allows for unique look
100% CNC machined 4130 chromoly steel construction
Lifetime show quality finish
Electroless Nickel plated for corrosion protection & show
Paintable
Maintains factory safety, accessories & function
Detailed install CD w/ over 130 high rez pictures
Up to 90 degrees Vertical / Lamboly
Up to 25 degrees Horizontally
Fits any vehicle
Doors continue to utilize OEM latches & accessories
Jawdropping results. Available in Manual, Motorized, and ShowStopper
Vertical / Lambo Doors Movie to see kit in action
Click here for Step-by-Step Installation Instructions.
View our full line of car accessories for more great products, or pick out your vertical door kits at our Vertical Doors Lambo Doors Section.
Monday, March 19, 2007
USA Today Features Vertical Door Conversions
By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY
CORONA, Calif. — There's something about swinging your car door skyward like a jackknife blade that announces you've arrived.
At least arrived in the sense that you're making the latest cutting-edge auto fashion statement.
Along with big wheels and blaring stereos, car customizers are finding that upward-swinging doors are the latest must-have.
For those whose "ultimate accomplishment is to have a dream car," adding the door feature "definitely adds to the 'eye candy' of the vehicle," says Cory Nastazio, a BMX rider whose silver Mercedes S500 is equipped with the high-profile doors.
By Bob Riha Jr., USA TODAY
Customer Raj Shrikhande admires his modified Chevy Corvette at Vertical Doors in Corona, Calif.
The new fad has spawned companies such as Vertical Doors, started by some buddies who say they saw the trend emerging. The founders say that the 3-year-old business, located in an industrial park here east of Los Angeles, is on track for sales of $6 million this year. Several competitors are vying for auto enthusiasts, as well.
All receive their inspiration from the front-hinged, upward-lifting doors of the Lamborghini sports car. They call them Lambo doors.
But making the doors swing upward in other brands of cars involves some tricky engineering.
In the case of Vertical Doors, the challenge started with Samir Rai's 1997 Acura Integra. He was looking for an edge at car shows and was inspired by upward doors.
"I said, 'If a Lamborghini can do it, I'm sure a regular car can do it,' " Rai says. He and two friends in the auto-customizing business, Rob Baum and Paul Anderegg, created a simple hinge that allows the door to be pushed out a few inches, then upward. With another customizer friend, Louis Connole, Vertical Doors was born.
Connole says the business, financed without bank debt, has been consistently profitable. It has 22 employees, including draftsmen who design the hinges and machinists who make them. The firm is shipping anywhere from 500 to 800 kits a month to car dealers, body shops and individuals.
The kits consist of the hinges and a gas-filled shock that acts like a spring to make heavy doors easy to open or close. The company now has them for more than 100 models. They retail from $1,399 to $6,500 — the higher-priced units going to luxury cars, which can be more complicated — and generally cost another $500 to $2,000 to have installed.
Because the units bolt on, cars can be reversed back to hinged standard side-swinging doors, Connole says. "You would never know the difference," he says.
Some installations are difficult, he says, such as those for recent-model Cadillac Escalade SUVs. Installers need to cut away the existing door hinge. He recommends against trying to install the doors in new-model Ford F-150 pickups.
At the same time, Connole says new applications are becoming available. For instance, he says the doors have caught the attention of limousine builders.
By Bob Riha Jr., USA TODAY
Installers at Vertical Doors work on a custom-made door.
They are also proving popular in Hollywood. George Barris, the customizer who created the famous show cars for TV's Batman and The Munsters of the late 1960s, came to Vertical Doors when he was working on a new Pontiac GTO last year.
"Everyone gets a big kick out of it," says Barris, 80, about the upward-swinging doors.
Vertical Doors worked non-stop for nearly three days to design and install its hinges on a Lincoln Navigator owned by Shaquille O'Neal of the NBA's Miami Heat. Why the rush? Shaq wanted it done in time to be able to show off the SUV at a Friday night game.
"It looks really hot," says Albert Pineda, who owns Da Shop, a customizing business that claims O'Neal and other celebrities as clients. He came to Vertical Doors for the equipment. O'Neal liked the doors on the Navigator so much that he asked Pineda to have them installed on his Mercedes CLK 500, as well.
For now, Connole says Vertical Doors' challenge is to create as many applications for different vehicles as possible. It's also trying to fend off the competition with its patents. The company filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against five rivals last September. Vertical Doors' lawyer, Neal Cohen, says the defendants who have responded deny the allegations.
One of them is KW Automotive North America in Sanger, Calif., which is owned by a German parent. Business is booming. "We can't make applications fast enough," says managing director Glenn Cox, adding that he can't comment on the lawsuit.
Another competitor —one not named in the lawsuit - is Wing Doors, a San Diego firm that says its door swings even higher, up to 90 degrees. It also offers a $1,300 automated power unit. "Business is doubling every two months," says general manager Nicole Ross.
KW's Cox says the doors passed German crash testing. Wing Doors and Vertical Doors haven't conducted the tests yet, but officials at both companies say they'll hold up.
There can be a downside to the tilting doors. BMXer Nastazio says his fiancée didn't like driving the Mercedes because it can be harder to get in or out of the car, and "she gets too much attention."
Customizer Pineda worries that some brands might sag or fall out of adjustment under heavy use.
Die-hard car enthusiasts, however, aren't put off. Dora Andrews, 24, a licensed vocational nurse from Loma Linda, Calif., says she needs Lambo doors to compete at shows in her new Honda Civic.
"It's noticeable when you do car shows," she says. "Not every car has them, so when you do, it's a plus."
Friday, February 23, 2007
The Butterfly Effect
Butterfly doors, also known as Vertical Doors or Lambo Doors, originated to solve a problem. The lamboghini had a very wide base, and a traditional door design would not allow for easy entering and exiting, especially if parked next to anything. They devised a door hinge system that lifts the doors vertically, and only slightly out war, clearing the door of the opening, and also allowing the wide body car to still fit in traditional spaces.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
"Vertical" Door Kits
Vertical Doors are a great addition to any show car. Vertical Doors, Inc. is credited with the patent on the design we are most familiar with. There have been several company create similar products marketed under the product "type" called vertical doors. They are also refered to as butterfly doors, or 90 degree doors. Either way, they give our daily drivers a nice exotic sports car look.
There are some varieties of doors out there that will fit the bill if you are looking for that extra something to add to your show car. There are the traditional "vertical" doors which open vertically. See picture below. These kits use specially made brackets and gas shocks to open the doors outward slightly, then upwards. They can be adjusted to open further our before going up to make it easier to get in and out of, as a common disadvantage to the door kits is the increased difficulty of getting in and out of the vehicle.
There are other types of door modifications that can be done, such as suicide doors that open exactly the opposite of traditional doors. The hinges are moved to the other side of the door opening so it swings the other way. Also a cool upgrade.
Still my personal favorite is the Dalorian style door as seen in back to the future. These doors are hinged in the center of the roof, and raise straight up allowing for easy access in and out of the vehicle. This type of modification would call for some extensive mods to the roof system, as well as some fabricated doors, but I wouldn't put it past Majestic Modifications to try it in the future.
For cool products such as these, visit our online store for the full line of auto parts and accessories.
This post brought to you by Majestic Modifications.