Hello good people.
I am trying to strip down the drivers door to have it taken back to bare metal ready for repairs but I cant for the life of see how the external door handle is removed to free up the internal mechanism that holds the door shut. I have removed all the visible screws and the internal mechanism is free to move on the square bar that connects to the external handle. But the external handle is definitely held in place by “something” because it doesnt move (apart from the arc that it is supposed to move in). I am clearly missing something can anyone advise please?
Secondly the horizontal chrome trim on the outside of the door I can see is held in place by a series of nuts. Trouble is they all spin in place without coming undone so I assume the bolts have stripped the thread in the trim which is a bit of pain but any suggestions on how to remove these troublesome nuts as they sit behind the internal metalwork of the door…
Any suggestions to either little challenge would be appreciated. I am sure I am not the first person to have encountered this problem
This pic is of a 120FHC but I thought the earlier handles were held in the same way as Peter said. The screw sort of expands the end of the square shaft.
I would invoke the restorer’s axiom, wreck the cheap simple easily replaced part to save the rare complex expensive part, i.e. use a die grinder with a thin cutting wheel to cut the nuts.
The end of the squared shaft in the handle is split so that the little screw, which has a tapered upper shaft under the head, spreads the end of the square to make it grip inside the lock’s square hole. Your handle may be jammed in there and may just need some ‘coaxing’ to free it. As an aside, the tapered shank screws may have been lost by a previous owner and replaced with a conventional set screw. If so, it needs a spring washer and a flat washer to cover the square hole in the lock.
The studs on my Mk IV moulds are different to Rob’s description and photo. My strips have a centre rib along the channel and the studs are actually a screw with a slotted head. The slot engages in the slot to prevent rotation. Whichever style, they typically rust out and are seized. Destruction is the only way to remove them and you’ll have to make new ones, and grease them up well to give some water protection.
I forgot to mention, the handle is fixed to the moulding and can only be removed complete with the moulding.
These photos show the the centre rib. The channel has a curved base and the best (=simplest) screws I found that fitted were mushroom-headed gutter bolts. The screwdriver slot needs to be widened a bit to match the rib. I think a small amount had to be taken off the diameter.
Aaaah, I removed the bolt (from the end of the handle square bar) thinking that would allow me to knock the handle out but I dont like to force things unless I know they should move in a particular direction so knowing the handle is fixed to the strip is a big help and that would definitely account for why it won’t move when the lock mechanism is free.
I will proceed with cutting off the trim strip nuts and it is rather pleasing to know they are easily replaced and I am not damaging the trim.
Thank you so much to everyone for the guidance and photos
Door trim strip and door handle now removed. It wasn’t the easiest job to cut the rusted nuts off inside the narrow confines of the door panel so I am not overly looking forward to doing the other 3 doors but at least I now know what I am doing and the trim strip is undamaged.
Thanks to all
That’s a good result Chris. Early cars did not have any means of sealing against water entry behind body mouldings. Additing this little extra prevention measure took a few more decades to pass to realise.
