my passenger door broke a year or so ago. the pot metal is holding on just fine, but that nylon cam broke. I got some of those replacements from PP or AA (can't remember). and it's not working again. It didn't break this time, just that the nylon in the new model doesn't hold up well and deforms.

anyway, when it gets cold, the driver door gets hard to open and I fear breaking that side. with the passenger side DOA, I'd be locked out with neither door actually locked!

so, any other solutions to make the door latches work well from the outside? when possible I drive with the top off, so not an issue, but that's not as easy to do for the next several months.

I spray silicone into the key hole with the spray straw every three months or so.

Have you taken the door locking mechanism(door latch not the outer door handle) out of the door and cleaned it. In most cases the door mechanism has gummed up from the white grease that was put in there 40 yrs ago. Most need to be soaked in cleaning solvent overnight and then cleaned with a toothbrush to get all the gunk out. I would say this will help you problem in 99% of the time.

Just went through a related issue (I bet it is the same) last week.
I was adjusting the door to align it a little bit better.
The door was also hard to open when using the exterior handle
after I adjusted the door. I wanted to see if was due to the adjustment
I had just done or whether it was the latch.
So while the door was open I rotated
the latch by hand to see if was the latch, then I could not get it back/open again so the
door could not be closed.
At this point the good news is it wasn't the door adjustment I'd just done.
The bad news was that I had to disassemble the door and clean everything.
Here is what the latch mechanism looks like before cleaning (with 39 year old grease)
and after.
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment


After cleaning which required using a toothbrush,
I put it all back and it worked great to open the door from
the outside and the door lock/unlock was now super easy from the inside
but the door could not be opened from the inside.
Turned out that my door latch mechanism was only bolted in with the 2 screws
on the side. The screw on the door side was missing.
Adding that screw back made everything work again.

I used a lithium/silicon combination grease and the latch works great.
The door now closes with a simple push and the inside and outside handles
can open the door easily with not too much pressure.


It was amazing how much that gunked up grease affected everything.
I bet yours will work much better if clean up the latch mechanism.




--- bill

Clean and lube the latch. Buy a new or used door handle with the good hard white plastic part still intact.

If you need to break-in your car, get an skinny pole of some kind. I used a long skinny bamboo stake. Screw a small ~1" hook with thread on one end. You don't even need a drill with the bamboo stake. Use a big screw driver and pry the window open at the top corner by the targa bar. Reach across the interior and unlock the door lock and open the far door by pulling the handle with the hook.

ok, so the cleaning advice makes sense for the high-pressure required driver door. Are you guys submerging the entire mechanism in something like simple green? rinse with water, let dry, then lube with something light?

for the passenger door with the poor quality repro item (black instead of original white), no advice beyond finding a good original white unit? I was hoping someone had found a good jerry-rigging that worked here. I've tried using some zip-ties to keep it from deforming, but it just made it deform at a different point.

The real problem with these is deforming them when installing. It weakens the plasti so it flexes.

I used brake cleaner. A few sprays and most of the gunk wiped off with a paper towel.
Then a few more times with the tooth brush.
I did have a chemdip paint can that I was tempted to use but I'm saving it for
a carb rebuild.
I didn't think of using Simple Green and I actually have a gallon of it.
It wasn't that difficult to get off. It was sticky at first but it wasn't hardened
so it came off pretty easy.
Good thing is that everything in the latch is metal so no worries of chemicals
eating up any parts.

I have a repro plastic part on my passenger side door that I put in back in the late 80's.
I got it from AA. Can't remember if it was white or black but I don't remember it
being that big of deal to get in and it still works today.

Here is what I used for for lube/grease:
Click to view attachment

--- bill

The current reproduction door cams are cheaply made .

The plastic on the arms on the side are too thin, and it lets the cam distort. I have fixed them in the past by reenforcing them with a plastic doubler glued on with super glue. It works most of the time.

And there are no other alternatives available. The older repro cams are OK, then work, and the factory original ones are great. If you keep the mechanisms clean, the factory cams will last forever.

now "that" would be something to reengineer.

The new plastic ones are much more flexible than the stock ones were. You should take the lock piece off the end of the lock cylinder section when you install it on the handle.

Another problem with the doors being hard to open is the cars that are structually weak because of rust, a 400HP V8, a/x use, bridge jumping or movie chases. The doors get miss alined and so you have to pull harder on the handle. And the handle pops.

Talk about timing. I was workin on my passenger side door yesterday with the same problem. I cleaned and lubed everything and the handle works again. Interesting idea with the zip ties to reinforce the slider. Maybe use two or three strategically placed to reinforce it. I'll give it a try next time I'm in there. I'm going to need to replace the door handle anyway since it has a broken tab piece.

SD

Don't replace it. Send to me and I'll fix it for you.

Go here.... http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?aut...;showentry=1385

wanted to pass on that I think I got a good fix this time. 2 months of use and still works, though to be honest the passenger door isn't opened that often.

anyway, I used some scrap plastic as a separate "outboard" brace for the week legs of the fork. The tips of the fork like to twist a bit when the cam is taking pressure, so I pop riveted this outboard piece through there. Then zip-tied around the top to hold them in place up there (I used a hacksaw to cut a notch in the big chunk that pushes on the latch release, this way the zip tie won't shift.

this way there was no modification to any of the parts that slide on the metal, so no binding but firms up the weak nylon quite a bit.

sorry, I didn't think to take a picture. Took me several iterations to find something that worked well, and by the time I was sure, it was mounted in the door and I didn't want to pull it back out!

Good job. Whatever it take to get it to work for ya. Chewing gum, duct tape, super glue; all can be found in the 914 owner's bag of tricks.

I fixed the handle on my door way back when I was in college because I could afford a new one. That was about 30 years ago.

Years ago and I mean years ago someone was making them out of bronze or brass.
I have one here some place but need to find it. I would think that would be the way to go vs the plastic??

Anyone recall who makes or made them ?

Found it.... here's some pics of it..

Now THAT looks cool, I would be in for a few sets if I knew where to get them.

After so many years, the grease on the inner latch mechansim turns into glue, so cleaning it down to bare metal and re-lubing never hurts.

just went through this today. Couple of things:

1. Mark, you should check with Luke to see if you could cast those.
2. Real issues come when the inner assembly isn't cleaned or lubed properly. It's either old and full of gunk or the lube is gone or dried as Perry suggests.
3. Silicone dries rather quickly. To get them to work properly they need new, fresh grease. Most spray lubes are not heavy enough and will run off the cams and pivot points.

Mine was replated to new. I used silicone and various spray lubes. I was having troubles with the handle and the plastic cams but the more we dug in, the more we were directed to the internal latch. Once I got it out, the spray lubes were basically dry. I cleaned the entire latch and then rubbed new grease onto the moving parts. It was too heavy to get under the latch cam and on to the pivot shafts so, I used a propane torch to melt the grease under the parts.

Worked perfectly. Hope that can help others.

Totally clean and... Regrease. That should do it.

I like the idea if a cast brass part.

1. Mark, you should check with Luke to see if you could cast those.

Like Eric said I'd be in for that.