Bill,
It certainly would be a lot easier to build the latch on the door, like the
Ortec.  The OEM VW carrier has the latch attached in the same place as where
I did mine.  Here's why I did it that way, and why I speculate VW did as
well.  The VW carrier is clamped tightly at the latch, as is mine, for
strength. A rigid connection designed to restrict movement in two planes. I
expect that there is a certain amount of flexing/twisting in the body shell,
so there is a small amount of movement between the vertical and horizontal
door jams.  However, I would expect that there is more movement between the
vertical door jamb and the actual door.  To this end it is better to have
all attachment points on the same structure, either the door alone or body
alone.
Does this make sense?  Let me know what you think.

Gary
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gary2a/rack/vanagonrack.htm

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Kasper" <dragonlist@ipmts.ucsc.edu>
To: "Gary Lee" <gary2a@telusplanet.net>
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 3:54 PM
Subject: Re: swing away tire carrier

> no worries, you've done a great thing.  one other thought i had was to
> do the latching in the beauty strip on the door rather than next to the
> light.  there's quite a lot of splash down there during rains, and
> unless the drilling was sealed up really well it might rust faster than
> a bolted plate to the beauty strip on the hatch; also easier to replace
> a hatch than that piece of sheetmetal between the license hatch and the
> tail light, i would think.
>
> keep up the outstanding work.  i don't know if i would buy one (i have
> a custom underfront carrier for my tire which works fine), but i know
> many, many syncro owners who have been looking.  keep us apprised.
>
> best,
> bill