D Car — November 2003

Wise’s new gull-wing: an easy, innovative mechanism explained in detail. The new Wise gull-wing uses a two-damper system. The added damper assists the door’s sideways opening and closing, while the original damper’s mounting angle is changed so it does not provide lift assistance when the door is lowered. This makes opening and closing smooth and easy.

The main damper controlling vertical door movement has a revised mounting angle, and the bend in the stay has also been redesigned. This makes the damper’s assist force act firmly on the door when it is raised. When lowered, the force is directed away from the door to the pivot ball at the support point, making the door much easier to open and close.

Gull Wing

There was a reason I asked Wise to build it for me: I heard their gull-wing conversion lets you return to the original doors… so I pushed them to make it for me…

A new gull-wing mechanism using dual dampers

‘As a Seven owner, I’ve always admired Amemiya’s gull-wing doors. I thought, “Maybe someday…”’

…so that’s what I asked for,’ says owner Mr. Shimada. ‘So I made a bit of an extra effort. We varied the damper strength between the driver’s seat, where Mr. Shimada sits, and the passenger seat, where his wife sits. We also introduced a new structure,’ says Aoyagi of Wise. ‘A new structure?’ See the article below for details.

CAR OF

The November

This month’s

with…

By revising the stay shape and damper position, the assist force is eliminated when the door is lowered. It won’t rise even if you let go!

It rises smoothly and easily! ♪

The damper assists the lift, so the door rises easily. So far, this is the same as conventional systems. The big difference in the new system comes when closing it.

Achieves a feather-light feel!

With two dampers that perform different functions

Pivot point

Sub-damper

(sideways assist)

Shown as an illustration…

Main damper

This is Wise Gullwing Ver. 2. Its key feature is the use of two assist dampers. It’s hard to see here, so the illustration explains how it works.

This is a simplified diagram of Wise Gullwing Ver. 2. The angle of the door-support stay has been changed, and two dampers are fitted: one assists vertical door movement and the other assists sideways movement.

(vertical-motion assist)

[How the sub-damper works]

[How the main damper works]

Door open

With a bit of mechanical magic…

The pivot point is…

The damper’s force fully…

inside

…is transmitted upward

The damper pulls the door outward, sliding it…

Support point

The damper’s force escapes toward the pivot point

When closing the door

Sub-damper

The door stay’s pivot support—a ball joint—can move freely up, down, left, and right. When the door opens sideways, the stay moves with it, applying force to the sub-damper mounted on its flat surface. This is how the system assists the door’s sideways opening and closing.

…to make it…

Door sliding open

Door fully closed

Pushes the door upward

Force: zero

D Car — November 2003

About this issue

Page 116 — English draft translation