I was re-keying a lock for someone today, and thought it might be a good time to take some pictures & explain how you can do this yourself. It’s not rocket science, if I can do it, anyone can do it. Please correct me if I’m wrong, or use the wrong terminology.

I’ll start with a door handle, because that seems to be what needs to be re-keyed the most.
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Your standard 914 door handle.

Remove the screw that holds the tumbler in place.
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Once the screw is removed, remove the lever and spring.
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Insert the key in the tumbler and remove the tumbler.
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Once the tumbler is removed, you can see how the wafers sit. When you remove the key from the tumbler, make sure to hold the wafers lightly in place with your fingers (these little puppies can go flying).
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This is what you should have.
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This might be a good time to discuss the wafers
There are 5 different wafers
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From left to right, they are numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4. The last wafer is the infamous “valet” wafer. This is the one that keeps the valet key from working the trunks & glovebox locks. Notice the “ledge” on the wafer.


Here are the keys, so you can see the difference. The valet key has 2 slots, where the normal key has only one.
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Ever wanted to see a brand new key? Here you go.
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Before you start replacing wafers, wipe the accumulated gunk off of the parts. I’ve been told it’s better to put the wafers back in dry, and lube things up once it’s back together.

Now you need to move the wafers around until they are flush with the tumbler. Put the key in the tumbler, and look to see which wafers are not flush. Now look to see if they are not flush at the bottom of the wafer, or the top. One at a time, replace with other wafers that aren’t flush, until you have them all flush. Be careful not to lose any of the springs. They’re pretty small, and probably full of old lubricant, so they may come out when you remove the wafer.

Many times you can just rearrange the wafers without having to have spares. If you do need spares, I would rob them from another lock that usually isn’t used. For instance, when was the last time you locked your glovebox? Or your front trunk? These would be the ones I would rob for wafers. Just make sure you’re not using one of the valet wafers. If you’re like me, and have a few broken door handles lying around, you can rob them for parts.


Before:
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After:
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Since you have the door handle out, you should check the plastic actuator (these have a tendency to break) to see if it needs to be replaced. Yup, this one is broken. The originals were white, the replacements are black.
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Wipe it all down to remove the old lube, and re-lube with a good lubricant. I like either of these:
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DO NOT USE GRAPHITE!!! It’s an abrasive, and it gums things up.

Once you have all the wafers in flush, put the tumbler back in the handle. There is a small seal that fits around the outer edge of the tumbler where it meets the handle, and helps to keep dirt & water out of the handle. If the seal is still good, re-use it. If it’s in pieces, go ahead and reassemble without it. I haven’t had any problems with any handles that didn’t have this seal. The tumbler only fits in one way, so check to make sure it fits correctly, and make very sure the key rotates the tumbler easily, and with the key in either way. Once that is done, put the spring in place, and use the lever to help seat the spring. Put the screw back in, and you now have a re-keyed door handle!

That's all for now. I'll do more later on each of the locks on a 914. Here's a picture of all that we'll eventually cover.

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Good write up....

Thanks. My brain hurts now, so I have to wait awhile before I do more.

Mark, nice lesson. Couple of questions.
Are you setting the tumbler wafers for one universal key for all your locks or for a new key for each lock?

Can we save this to our own system or is it going to the classics?
Thanks
Cooley

I'm keying a whole set to one key at the moment. When you rearrange the wafers, it's for whatever key you want to use. I don't think there is a universal key.

You may save this however you like.

One additional thought to a great write up. If, after optimally rearranging the wafers, you end up with one or two that don't match the key and you don't have a spare cylinder, just leave them out - it won't hurt anything. The locks have more tumblers than most cars, even with a couple missing.

I just re-read the how-to over on Pelican. You might want to reference that one also when you start to re-key.

One thing I have noticed over the years, the pins do not always have numbers stamped on them.

I noticed that. I went thru & cleaned all of the ones I had, so I could find some that had numbers. I guess the only real way to tell is to compare them.

Mark, you are the man. I'm still going to pay you to do it when its time though. Remember, I part 'em out for a reason.

Ok, moving on to the ignition switch. tumbler There are differences in the early (70-71) and the later (72-76), and I believe there are even differences in the 72-74 to 75-76, but I haven’t knowingly done the 75-76 years, so I can’t state that for a fact. What I’ll do is show the 70-71 and the 72-up side by side.
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On the left is the early switch, tumbler & housing, and on the right the later switch, tumbler & housing. If I get the names for things wrong, someone please correct me.
I’m going to start with the later tumbler, because they seem to be the most common in use.
To remove the tumbler from the housing, there is a small hole that you put a small punch tip or screwdriver tip into that will release the tumbler. If you look at the early switch, you can see this hole. I *believe* the hole has to be drilled in a new housing, but I’ve never run across one that didn’t have the hole.
I’ll be using a standard Porsche tumbler to re-key.
These are the tools I tend to use for re-keying ignition tumblers.
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A couple of small needlenose pliers, one set curved, at least on punch, 1/16 in size, and a small hammer.

At the tip of the punch, you’ll see a pin. There’s one on each side that have to be removed. That’s where the small needlenose pliers come into play. These can be real fun to get out, so be patient. You *can* use the punch to knock them through, and if you choose to do it this way, make sure the key is out of the tumbler, because it may be in the way (I bent a punch trying to push a pin past the key). I prefer to take my time and pull them out.
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Once the pins are out, the tumbler is in 3 pieces. Take the time to clean everything up before you continue.
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Now you re-key the tumbler by replacing the wafers as we did with the door key. Again, it’s trial and error until they are all flush with the tumbler housing. Make sure you DO NOT use one of the valet wafers in this tumbler!
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Sorry for the blurry pictures, I must have gotten some lessons from SirAndy.
The pieces only go back together one way, so make sure you have it together properly before you put the pins in.
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The end piece on the left only goes into the middle piece one way, and also only goes onto the tumbler one way.
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I put the pins in using the curved pliers, then tap *lightly* with the small hammer. DON’T FORCE IT!!! You can bend a pin that way. Gentle is the keyword here, and tap the pins in a little at a time, checking the key each time. If the pin goes in too far, it can keep the key from going in all the way. The pins should be about flush with the top of the tumbler housing. As you’re testing the key, keep a slight pressure on the opposite end, it seems it’s needs some resistance to operate properly.

Once the pins are in place, make sure everything turns easily, and the key goes in & out smoothly. Now you can lubricate the tumbler, and re-insert in the housing.

That’s pretty much all there is to it. I’ll be doing a write-up on the early ignition switch next time.

Great Write Up, thanks. I need to get off my but and do it.

Cant wait to see the write up for the early ignition sw.

Ted

If you have a glove box or a front trunk lock but no key, can the tumbler be removed?

Yep. You need to have *A* key to insert to get the tumbler out, but they will come out without the proper key.

Ok, so now after reading all this, I feel confident that I am quite capable of screwing up my locks all by myself. I have one key with a red rubber top looks original and another larger key looks like a copy. The red key works the doors and front trunk and ignition as well does the plain key. However, neither key works the rear trunk. Will the above instructions make it so the rear trunk lock works with the red key? And if my door locks are really hard to turn where I am afraid that I may break the key, will this procedure loosen them up?
evan

awesome work for the thread. thanks

Re-keying the rear trunk lock is pretty easy, so you should be able to do it without much trouble. Eventually I'll do a walk-thru on each lock, but I'm too lazy at the moment.
If your keys are getting hard to turn, spray the inside of the tumblers with either of the items shown above, and see how they do. A lot of gunk gets built up in these in 30+ years. If it doesn't loosen them up, there may be other problems (like the door mechanisms needing to be lubed).

Excellent thread. I would like to see this make it to the classic section

911 ignition switch?

I've done an SC switch. Maybe after all the 914 ones I'll do one. Pain in the butt, but once you find out how to drill *next to* the blind pin to get it out, it's not too bad.

Thanks, informative thread.

I love this place....
Thanks for sharing, very interesting doing.
This expands my knowledge.

get off your ass and do the rest of the locks...come on hup hup hup

Geez, pushy!


I'm waiting for an early column I've got coming, so I can do an early ignition switch. I got to do a late one today, and finally figured out the trick for getting it apart. If you don't have the original key, you're SOL. Learn something new every day.

Thanks Mark!

This was an awesome thread. I experimented on my Brother-in-laws Jetta on the weekend (he had three different keys) It worked great rekeying all to the ignition key!

Now for the Teener.....


Cheers

I did one better...

This thread inspired me.
I went and looked through my pile of keys.
As all of you guys, my car has locks from several different cars...

I found the key that unlocks my car...wwwhooooo

Now, I can finally lock my car.

But, I would love to do the rear trunk...so do that one next...please...

Rich

I've been following along this thread and there is some really good info here.

I have but a couple questions:

1. If all you have to make a key from, where/how can you obtain a "good" new key?
(Mine are so worn you must jiggle them in the locks to get them to work)

2. Apart from other 30 year old tumblers, where does one get new lock pins? Are they Porsche parts or simply a german metric standard lock pin? Perhaps I just need to raid all my lock stashes.

3. Are all the lock pins (with the exception of the valet flagged pin) the same? (i.e. can I use a rear trunk lock pin in an ignition lock tumbler?)

There you have it. My questions.

Thanks

I'm really glad this is making sense, I'm never sure I convey my thoughts well.

John, to answer your questions:

1: To have a brand new key made, if you already have a key that kinda works, take it to a good locksmith and have him hand cut a new key. Or, (if all the locks are keyed the same), take the passenger door handle or the glove box lock to a locksmith and have them make a key for it. Pricey, but you get a brand new key.

2: The lock "pins" are called wafers. I don't really know if you can get them new, but I haven't had any problems using used ones. If you really want "newish" wafers to use, take apart the glovebox lock and the front trunk lock, these are the least used locks on the car. Re-key the ignition & drivers door lock with these wafers.

3: Yes, with the exception of the valet wafer, they're all the same. *With an exception* If you have a later VW ignition switch, the wafers *may* be different. I've seen wider, thinner, and taller wafers.

I'll do all the others once I get that early ignition switch done. I kind of want to keep it close to the other ignition switch in this thread. Patience, grasshopper! (sorry Barry )

The Early Switch

Since these are quite a bit different than the ones we’ve just seen, I’ll show taking the column apart too.
Take the steering wheel off, then this is what you see:
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There are 4 screws holding the horn plate on (OK, so I took 3 out, sue me )
The last one has the horn wire attached to it.

Here is the switch housing. 4 more screws hold it on at the corners.
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The turn signal switch does not need to come all the way off. Just pull it far enough out so you can get to the 2 bolts holding on the piece that retains the switch.

Here you can see the 2 bolts that hold the ignition switch retainer in place.
Remove them.
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Now you can get to the housing. This housing has the wires hard-wired onto it, so make sure they’re straight, and use a pair of pliers to gently pull the housing forward. The key needs to be turned to release the steering wheel lock. You don’t need to remove the whole housing to pull the switch (Yes, I know, the key on this one is broken off).
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Once the housing is pulled forward, you can access the hole that you use to release the tumbler.
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This tumbler is much smaller than later years.
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Here is a rear view of 3 tumblers. Left to right:
An unbroken tumbler, next is a broken one. This has happened to me a couple of times when pulling the tumbler apart. It develops a crack at one of the holes when you pry the back off. Notice the holes are different sizes so it only fits on one way. The last is a JB Weld fix done by a PO. I’ve used the same method myself, and it seems to work OK.
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Once you’ve pried the back off, you see the 3 pieces.
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Re-key the tumbler. Assembly is just the reverse of disassembly.
When you reassemble the tumbler, tap the pins that hold the back on with a punch or chisel to spread the pins slightly. If the pins don’t spread enough to hold the back on well, you may need to JB Weld it as shown above.
Not as tricky as the later (75-76) are going to be.

The Later (75-76) Switch

On this one, it seems the whole dern thing needs to come out of the column.
I didn’t do that, so I’m afraid you’re on your own there.
This is what it looks like off of the column.
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Sorry again for the blurry pics, I forgot to set the macro on the camera.
This is where the release is (in that recess)
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Once again, turn the key to release the steering wheel lock, and pull the tumbler free.
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Here is the pin that needs to be pushed through.
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Now it gets a little more complicated than what we’ve done before.

You have to have a working key to get the tumbler any farther apart. Turn the key to release the rear of the tumbler.
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There are 2 “ears” that fit into a slot, that need to line up with their release slots.
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Once the rear is out, then you can line up the “ears” with their slots for the front of the tumbler.
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Now you have the tumbler apart.
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Notice the 2 pins that fit into slots at the very front of the tumbler.
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Put the pins and the front piece back on, and re-key the tumbler as explained previously.
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Now you can begin to reassemble. Put the front piece on, getting the “ears” in their slots.
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Once the front part is on, put the spring and rear piece in place.
The rear piece is what I found I needed to get the “ears” in their slots first, the replace the front “ears”.
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Now you can put the pin in, and assemble back in the housing. Make sure the pin is in far enough to allow the end piece to fully retract, or the steering lock won’t engage. The tumbler will fit back together 2 ways, only one of which is correct, so make sure it’s correct when it goes back into the housing.
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The Front Trunk Lock

I did not have a key for this lock, so I had to use a cutoff wheel to get it out of it’s housing. That’s why there are grooves in it. Please ignore them.

The first pic is showing where the screw that holds it to the housing is located. The cable in the front trunk needs to be disconnected, then this screw needs to be taken out. You need a key, or at least have the handle unlocked, to remove it. Then the handle will pull far enough forward to get the cable off of the handle
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Here is the small screw that releases the tumbler.
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Note the locking pin, it needs go back in the same way it came out.
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Re-key in the normal way.
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Reassemble, making sure the locking pin is in correctly.
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Put it back in the car, and you’re done. This is a very simple, but time consuming lock.

okay all my locks are set, except my 911 ignition tumbler... PLEASE!

OK ALREADY!!

I'll take home a couple of 911 switches & work something up.

Great job on the "How to " thread! If a person has a little patience
it's actually pretty easy! I've rekeyed a few locks already with no problems!

Thanks,
Ron

Glad to hear it! This really isn't that hard once you see what it looks like torn down. My goal is to have everyone with single-key cars!

I finally got my truck and glve box locks done. One question Mark: The wafers used on the doors should have completely square openings right ?

Also, stopped by Balport Lock Shop in Newport. The guy there has done Porsche locks for many years. He said the wafers can be purchased from suppliers by locksmiths. The guy was really helpfull.

Since the lock cyls are curved, I would think the wafers would need to be slightly rounded, but I could be way off base there.
It's nice to know the wafers are available. I'll have to check with my local locksmith & see if he can get me some.
I really need to get ambitious again & finish this thread. Sorry it's taking so long.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I'm asking whether the doors get al square center wafers. That is they do not have the little step in the center area.

I know you refer to one type as the valet wafer--just confused over which is which anf what tumberls get what.

Also, in post 42: Does a screw attach the cable to the pull handle.

Correct, the doors & ignition switch get all square ones. No valet wafer. That being said, you can put a valet wafer in any of them if you want, or delete the valet wafers from any or all. It just depends on what you want to do.
It's been a while since I actually pulled a front trunk handle, but I think the cable end is threaded onto the handle. The screw keeps the handle from pulling all the way out of the housing.
Please correct me if I'm not remembering this right.