DOOR HANDLES, Replacement Options

[struckn]

My '74 914's driver side door handle broke a couple months ago. It cracked in two and I tried JB Weld to get it back together. Seemed to work great until last week when it broke again where I had the JB Weld covering the cracked area and over lapped the pot metal beyond the crack.

So I'm waiting for an after market replacement I ordered from Pelican. Their cost was less then half of an original Porsche replacement Handle's cost. Pelican described the original 914 Handles as one of the major problem areas to fail.

We'll see how it goes, the reviews from others say it works, fits and looks the same.
I had taken out the original Handle once before. It's not a hard fix. Only concern is how to remove the original Key mechanism from the original handle and install it in the after market Handle.
I'll figure it out, can't be too difficult.

Oh, when I ordered the replacement Pelican shows it to be the last one that had.

Tally Hoe!

Doug in New Freedom Pa.

[URY914]

How did your original handle break?

Mounting tab or flapper?

[914Sixer]

Put the key in the lock and take the screw of the back. Gently pull up on tab, there is a spring under it. Spring may try to fly. Clean up lock and lube. Reverse assembly.

Poor chrome and lock not fitting barrel has been my past experience.

[struckn]

How did your original handle break?

Mounting tab or flapper?

PULLED THE HANDLE FLAPPER OUT AND THE DOOR DID NOT OPEN. REMOVED THE HANDLE AND SAW THE FLAPER CRACKED AND DISCONNECTED FROM THE BASS ANDWOULD NOT BE ABLE TO PULL THE OPENING MECHANIZUM TO OPEN THE DOOR. THE INSIDE HANDLE STILL WORKS NORMALLY.

PELLICAN SAYS THE PORSCHE HANDLES ARE MADE USING POT METAL. ALL THINGS CONSIDERED OUR 914'S ARE OLD AND WE HAVE TO EXPECT THESE THINGS TO SOMETIMES HAPPEN.

DOUG

[struckn]

Put the key in the lock and take the screw of the back. Gently pull up on tab, there is a spring under it. Spring may try to fly. Clean up lock and lube. Reverse assembly.

Poor chrome and lock not fitting barrel has been my past experience.

Thanks

Good to know. I believe the Spring and possibly other small parts are not coming with the replacement after market new handle so I need to check these things once I'm set to remove and install the new replacement handle.

Doug

[saigon71]

Hi Doug:

After going trough several used handles, I went with a reproduction as well. Fit wasn't perfect, but the modification wasn't bad at all. I felt more comfortable with this than 50 year old pot metal.

I read somewhere that the same supplier makes all these for different companies (don't know if this is true), so you may have to do the same mod - see post 38.

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...39125&st=20

Bob

[ClayPerrine]

How did your original handle break?

Mounting tab or flapper?

PULLED THE HANDLE FLAPPER OUT AND THE DOOR DID NOT OPEN. REMOVED THE HANDLE AND SAW THE FLAPER CRACKED AND DISCONNECTED FROM THE BASS ANDWOULD NOT BE ABLE TO PULL THE OPENING MECHANIZUM TO OPEN THE DOOR. THE INSIDE HANDLE STILL WORKS NORMALLY.

PELLICAN SAYS THE PORSCHE HANDLES ARE MADE USING POT METAL. ALL THINGS CONSIDERED OUR 914'S ARE OLD AND WE HAVE TO EXPECT THESE THINGS TO SOMETIMES HAPPEN.

DOUG

Why are you shouting at us?

[bretth]

Wonder if someone could CNC some out of a Stainless billet with all the tech we have available these days.

[URY914]

Wonder if someone could CNC some out of a Stainless billet with all the tech we have available these days.

I was working with a guy several years ago about making reproductions. Problem is our market is way too small to make any money on them.

[Mikey914]

Give me some time. I started on these some time ago, then new ones came on the market.
At the time they were $65 each, and it didn’t pencil out.
Given what I have seen I.m pretty sure I can make and sell in the $85 range pretty easily.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[struckn]

How did your original handle break?

Mounting tab or flapper?

PULLED THE HANDLE FLAPPER OUT AND THE DOOR DID NOT OPEN. REMOVED THE HANDLE AND SAW THE FLAPER CRACKED AND DISCONNECTED FROM THE BASS ANDWOULD NOT BE ABLE TO PULL THE OPENING MECHANIZUM TO OPEN THE DOOR. THE INSIDE HANDLE STILL WORKS NORMALLY.

PELLICAN SAYS THE PORSCHE HANDLES ARE MADE USING POT METAL. ALL THINGS CONSIDERED OUR 914'S ARE OLD AND WE HAVE TO EXPECT THESE THINGS TO SOMETIMES HAPPEN.

DOUG

Why are you shouting at us?

[struckn]

Give me some time. I started on these some time ago, then new ones came on the market.
At the time they were $65 each, and it didn’t pencil out.
Given what I have seen I.m pretty sure I can make and sell in the $85 range pretty easily.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

FYI
Mikey's (914 Rubber) pictures look like what I bought from Pelican and the cost was over $100. Not complaining as the Porsche price was way higher. Porsche made Handles appear to be sold on Ebay.

Also Saigon 1 (aka Bob) earlier post is a good reference to see what the Handles look like. All the failures I saw pretty much show the failure is at the tab and best to replace with a new Handle. The after market ones seem to be well made. Not sure what metal they used, and the entire handle front and back is Chromed.

Hardest part for me was is getting to the inner nut and bolt. The one to the tab is easy to get to but I had to drill it out from the front (easy to do it's soft Metal). The nut on the inner side had frozen to the bolt.

Doug (Struckn)

[horizontally-opposed]

Give me some time. I started on these some time ago, then new ones came on the market.
At the time they were $65 each, and it didn’t pencil out.
Given what I have seen I.m pretty sure I can make and sell in the $85 range pretty easily.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Ding. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

Was considering new handles from Porsche, but have heard mixed things about their quality. Then again, the old ones aren't exactly billet.

Going to hold off on replacing my old ones if you've got something coming. No hurry, but CNC'd with proper fit and good chrome would be fantabulous. Would happily jump from $85 to $100 if it helps make the product better. $15 is a few cups of decent coffee…

[struckn]

Give me some time. I started on these some time ago, then new ones came on the market.
At the time they were $65 each, and it didn’t pencil out.
Given what I have seen I.m pretty sure I can make and sell in the $85 range pretty easily.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Ding. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

Was considering new handles from Porsche, but have heard mixed things about their quality. Then again, the old ones aren't exactly billet.

Going to hold off on replacing my old ones if you've got something coming. No hurry, but CNC'd with proper fit and good chrome would be fantabulous. Would happily jump from $85 to $100 if it helps make the product better. $15 is a few cups of decent coffee…

E Bay has the said to be originals for $ 264.76 EA.

[horizontally-opposed]

E Bay has the said to be originals for $ 264.76 EA.

Would love to hear how good and/or how close these are to the originals from the 1970s.

Fit, action, etc.

[914sgofast2]

In my experience the outer handle and the plastic/nylon operating cam lever tend to break because the door lock itself has become gummed up with years of dirt, oil, grease and gunk deep down in the mechanism. Do you doors a favor and take off the door lock and soak it in parts cleaner overnight and then use an air hose to blow out the gunk the next morning. Oil it up and put it back on the car. I was amazed at how much easier my doors worked after doing this.

[URY914]

In my experience the outer handle and the plastic/nylon operating cam lever tend to break because the door lock itself has become gummed up with years of dirt, oil, grease and gunk deep down in the mechanism. Do you doors a favor and take off the door lock and soak it in parts cleaner overnight and then use an air hose to blow out the gunk the next morning. Oil it up and put it back on the car. I was amazed at how much easier my doors worked after doing this.

There is no doubt that a junked up handle will aid in stressing the handle. But remember too that these cars FLEX and the handle is at the point in the car that there is a lot of movement going on when you're autocrossing, flying RR tracks, etc. The latch and handle move and stresses the mounting tab.

Another reason is people pull the handle TOO HARD when they are opening the doors. You only need to unlatch the door with the handle. The door is very light you don't need to pull if off the hinges. This happens more often on the passenger side door. I willing to bet I've repaired more mounting tabs on right side handles because us owners know how to gently pull on the handle. But your buddy pulls it like he's opening the door on his '71 Camero.

I speak from experience with handles....

[horizontally-opposed]

^ Makes perfect sense.

Other passenger side casualties in great numbers include speaker box grilles and the "vent" window as well as then roll-down window. Jim @ EASY years ago told me that these are far rarer than their driver's side counterparts, while the opposite is true for the early window regulators. Which also makes sense...

[AAZCD]

I gave up on trying to buy a door handle in the classifieds here and then saw they were about $90 from most vendors. Screw that. Instead, I just bought another car *with* a new handle.

[Mikey914]

In my experience the outer handle and the plastic/nylon operating cam lever tend to break because the door lock itself has become gummed up with years of dirt, oil, grease and gunk deep down in the mechanism. Do you doors a favor and take off the door lock and soak it in parts cleaner overnight and then use an air hose to blow out the gunk the next morning. Oil it up and put it back on the car. I was amazed at how much easier my doors worked after doing this.

It should break (or flex) as it is a "fuse" in the system. It can be replaced. Better it than the metal.