I picked up my boot lid handle and a lot of other parts from the chrome plater on Tuesday. Got a surprise, the plater now adds 3 percent to the bill if you pay by credit card. A lot of businesses have started to do that. Wish I’d known, I could have brought a bank check.
The handle shaft is crimped together, does not come apart easily so I gave it to him assembled. He said he could do it. It moved easily before I left it with him, and now it is stiff. I guess the plating adds a little thickness in the close tolerance places. Oil helped, but what I really need in there is some sand grit.
Also the square dog would not go in the square hole.
I had to file it out with a small file.
I guess it was worth it; the cost was $125 where a new handle would be over $200.
And now I discover that the tapped hole for the dog pin got plating in it.
It appears to be 5BA thread. Naturally I don’t have a 5BA tap.
#5-44 UNF is pretty close so I ran a tap in there to clean it up.
And the square shaft was now too large to fit in the square hole in the locking mechanism. Hand filing wasn’t getting anywhere, so I used a belt sander.
There was no rubber pad under the handle, so I made one.
All set.
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HI Rob
I am also in the process of fitting my MKIV boot handle , looks like both the MKV and IV are the same handle, I am missing the barrel lock for mine as it was lost in my friends garage prior to it the car been shipped to the US I, do you know if there is a common lock that can be obtained for these ?
I have found the chroming to be very expensive in my area compared to the UK, and I too have a problem with after chroming fittings, namely the rails for the runners in the boot and running boards, the rubber strips are supposed to press in, no chance with mine! I will have to make up some sort of stretcher to open the channels up as I fit the rubbers as I think the chroming has reduce the width somewhat, not looking forward to doing this for around 50 feet of rubber inserts
The Jaguar part number of the lock barrel is BD.1840 though I don’t think that will be much help. I haven’t heard of anyone offering them new. The source was Wilmot Breeden, which supplied other British car makers, so possibly the barrel was used in other makes. Notice in the picture there is a stub coming out the front end which fits in a slot in the dog and moves it up and down.
The key is the FNR series with one or two numerals after it, e.g. FNR 23
I found the trick with installing rubber strips in those chrome channels is to use dish soap as a lubricant.
I recall I used a wide flat blade tool like a paint scraper, blunt, not sharp. I put one side in and pushed the other in with the tool. It takes a long time and perseverance and you’ll have sore fingers. Because the underside is hollowed to clear the screw heads, the edge can bend down to slip into the channel. I guess they had a tool in the factory a bit like the tool used to fit filler beading into windscreen rubber grooves.
Just a hint. All mine had shrunk away from the tips by varying amounts - shrinkage is a common condition as rubber ages. To counter this, I was careful not to stretch it in any way during fitting. In addition, for the last 10 or 15 cm at each end, I left it out and cut it a bit longer than the end of the channel. I then forced the tip deep into the mitred end of the channel and worked back to ease the remaining 10/15 cm into place.
My theory was to have a bit more pressure at the end to resist shrinkage and to not have a point of rubber protruding. It may not work but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Make sure you replicate the end taper of the rubber to match the channel.
