Door Handle and Lock Install

Thought I'd snap a few pictures of the body-colored handle install and the door lock "blackening"... These techniques worked for me so I thought I'd share.

For the front doors, I popped the rear of the window out of it's guide and lifted it out of the door a bit. I then pulled the weatherstripping from the track and out the top. This will give you enough access to get to the handle nuts:




I didn't try to unhook the wire that goes from the handle to the latch while in the door - it is too tight in there. Just carefully pull it through the door as shown. You might want to mask the area to avoid scratches. Once outside the door, you can unhook the wire from the original handle and back onto the new handle:




For the rear doors, I was able to leave the window up and pull the weatherstripping up as shown. It's still very, very tight back there due to the guide rail for the weatherstripping. By sheer luck I was able to get the nuts back in place. Again, you want to attach the actuation wire outside the door. I also used a grinder on the rivets that hold the door handle support and removed it. Much more room that way. Some short #10 bolts will replace the rivets:




For the locks, head down to a well-stocked automotive locksmith and get a black keyhole cover and spring door. Bend and snip the original cover off the lock. I used some end-cut wire cutters:




Next, just place the black hardware over the original lock:




Finally, bend the four tabs over on the back:




The final results are good - way better than the originals that I didn't mask off before using a bunch of compound on the car. Yeah, the car's pretty dirty...

Nice. I had no idea that the black parts on the lock cylinder were replaceable!

jayoldschool wrote:

Nice. I had no idea that the black parts on the lock cylinder were replaceable!

Yeah. I bought a set of covers and spring doors from Dal years ago and misplaced them. I stopped by a local locksmith thinking I'd have to order them, and he had a bunch. I guess in order to re-key the lock or to make a new key for one, you need to remove the cover and install a new one. This particular locksmith had a bunch of black and a bunch of silver ones. They were $3 for the covers, $2 for the spring doors... so the black lock mod costs $10, at least at this locksmith...

Too bad they aren't body color,. that,d look real cool,.

Nick

phantom 309 wrote:

Too bad they aren't body color,. that,d look real cool,.

Nick

That would be sweet. I thought about painting some, but I got bad aim with keys, so that was a no go.

I suppose if I had a remote unlock thingy the paint would hold out pretty well...