You may want to wiggle the latch slightly (trial and error) to see if it would help getting that desired sound. those white plastic pieces in the latch move and serve as alignment and movement control buffers, and a very slight (1mm or less) tweaking can help imrprove door closing 9somoothness) and making that pleasant sound.
My '72E Targa had that pleasant sound on both doors. Just for the heck of it, I replaced the driver-side latch with a new one, and it destroyed that pleasant sound. Fortunately, I had saved and marked the old latch; reverted to it, and all is well now. Just my 2 cents worth.
1972 911E Targa, Mostly Original
2002 Porsche 996 C4 Cabriolet
2005 Turbo-converted MINI Cooper S
I agree with this, though I have also had the ping restored! One of my coupe doors never pinged, and one of my requests for the winter work was to have the ping restored. Low and behold, the ping has been restored. I'd also note that sometimes the rubber seals can interfere a little with the door closing, and watched an expert take a razor blade to shave off no more than a millimeter or two from mine, and it improved the shut immeasurably (I had a ping, but the door would bounce a little on occasion). Thus, you can fiddle a bit with the latch, and the rubber...but the ping is recoverable. And like many things, these cars shouldn't be driven without their melodic ping. Well...they should be driven regardless, but the ping is right up there with the stink as part of the experience.
MBR #3926
'71 911 T Targa "Rick White"
'71 911 E "Karen"
'70 S/T
'16 CD
'10 E61 "Vomit Comet"
Could it be that the restored doors have sound reducing pads installed? That would muffle the ping.
1959 Auratium Green 356A Super w/ Rudge wheels
1970 Irish Green 914-6 w/2.2S
Current -1967 Bahama Yellow 912 POLO 2cam4 #1
www.reSeeWorks.com
Personalized Vintage Porsche's and parts
I couldn't find the sports car of my dreams, so I built it myself-Ferdinand Porsche
Jay, no expert here but I noticed that both my doors "jumped" a little when opening with the door handle. They sounded pretty good but often a bit hard to close first time. I found the correct star tool to adjust the striker plate.
With a bit of experimenting I found both doors unadjusted did the jump. Once adjusted, both closed really well and the ping seemed louder than ever.
I suggest marking their location in the door jam with a lead or grease pencil to track the changes. And yes, the white plastic pieces do fail.
Hope this helps.
Haasman
Registry #2489
R Gruppe #722
65 911 #302580
70 914-6 #9140431874
73 911s #9113300709
I recently got all my locks rekeyed properly. As part of that I removed both front door panels to get at the handles and locks and lubed everything I could, including the window mechanisms. The right side door didn’t quite ping the way the driver’s door did, but after lubing everything and reassembling, they now match nicely. There is a rubber standoff that supports the rod that goes from the handle/lock to the interior push/pull black locking thingy that you use to lock/unlock the car from the interior. The passenger one was long gone. The rod is likely the source of the ping and if the standoff has fallen apart, that tends to mute the sound. The part is still available from Porsche.
Ravi
Early 911S Registry # 2395
1973 Porsche 911S in ivory white 5sp MT
2015 Porsche Macan S in agate grey 7sp PDK
I always assumed the source of the ping was a spring vibrating?
Brent
'70 911S
'68 TR250
The spring makes the noise, if you give the latch mechanism a good preservation lube job, they won’t ping like when they are dry.
Thanks for all the suggestions to adjust the striker plate. Sure enough. Just a mm or two, and the door opens and closes much nicer - and there is a distinct ping now.
if you look at the workshop manual it shows that the receiver on the lock post must be vertical with torpedo level.
then it also "should" line up the points with the bumps on the lock post
you close the door just enough that you can peek into see how the door male part is entering the female catch.
the mail piece should enter initially without touching the female part until it touches the back part. that is what activates the closure.