All day, all door.

[Mark Haymond]

The driver side door on my P-15 always had to be jiggled and lifted slightly to get it open. So I found a latch on E-bay and ordered it. I removed the inner door panel, removed the window, and the old door lock mechanism. But I had trouble routing the new handle arm through its hole in the door. Got it in with a little bit of force, installed the screws in latch mechanism which fit perfectly, and only then noticed the door handle arm was six inches too short. Must be for a rear door.

OK, no problem, I will take the latch back out and use the arm from the old unit. It is riveted to the latch and I had to drill out the rivet. By great fortune I have some old rivets of about the right size. I don't have to stop and go to the hardware store, I can do this in one easy morning. I cut one to the right length and pound that puppy onto the working latch. When I try to push it through the hole in the door I still have trouble. (Whaaat?) It is because I put the correct arm on, but upside down.

I didn't like the looseness of the rivet anyway so this time I use a slightly larger and stronger one. Oops the larger head wants to interfere with the locking mechanism. OK, no problem, I file the head of the rivet down a bit. But the diameter of the larger, better head still limits full travel. OK, no problem, I use a Dremel tool to cut a small sheet metal tab off the latch and allow full travel. The larger rivet is stronger but is harder to mushroom correctly. I end up with a stronger but ugly rivet connection.

The latch goes back into the door. It works. I start installing the window which goes well except for attaching one of the wire clips on the back of the window regulator/lift arms that is hidden from sight and has to be done by feel. It takes a long time and I drop parts often and have to start over each time. When I put the inner door panel back on one of the pins to hold on the door handle suddenly does not fit anymore and I have to drill out some small burrs in the hole. That is why I named the thread "All day, all door."

Frustrating times like this bond my soul to this old car. "No sir, it is not for sale, I have too much invested in her."

[randroid]

Mark,

All told, sounds to me like you did it the easy way.

(Who's been there, done that. I hoped you learned more from that than I usually do.)

-Randy

[Niel Hoback]

I'd say you had a pretty good day since you made no mention of blood or flying tools.

[Joe Flanagan]

Man, does that sound familiar. I've had more experiences like that than I can count with my own project. What seems like a straightforward job turns into something that's got more plot twists than an Agatha Christie novel.

[RobertKB]

"No sir, it is not for sale, I have too much invested in her." Any one who can say this about his car has the true love all things old automotive. The value of the car is not monetary but aultruistic. No blood this time but probably in the past. Things go wrong and have to be corrected. A simple project ends up being elbow deep in grease and way beyond what was planned. Anyone who enjoys his old cars can tell stories like yours. Thanks for sharing!

Edited October 1, 2011 by RobertKB
Grammar

[Joe Flanagan]

Nothing against Jay Leno or anything, but I doubt he will ever have that experience.

[Don Coatney]

Nothing against Jay Leno or anything, but I doubt he will ever have that experience.

You are most likely correct but I will never have the experiance of opening my wallet to buy repairs such as Leno does.

[Rusty O'Toole]

Nothing against Jay Leno or anything, but I doubt he will ever have that experience.

I bet he has similar experiences or worse every car he works on. He owns lots of cars that parts are not available for at all, they have to be made or the old worn out one repaired.

The difference is he can afford to hire someone or buy what he needs.

[Bingster]

I remember Jay when he was a long haired comedian on Letterman's first show. He was a motorhead back then, and he probably did get grease on his hands back then and loved it.