sfgand9ers

Bought the 71 2 months ago. Drive door wouldn't latch. Figured the latch was broken and ordered a new one from Willcox. Also ordered a bunch of other inner door items since there was a lot of rust inside.

When everything arrived, installed the new latch. Seemed like it takes way too much pressure to open the latch. Actually bent the threaded angle piece. So, I put the old latch back on and got it working. Even tho it's working, takes a ton of pressure to get it to fully open.

Along the way, I removed the panel from passenger door which opens ok. While it also seems stiffer than a latch should be, it does open, more easily from inside than out. But having the panel off makes it easier to see exactly how things should be arranged on the driver side.

The real question here is why are the latches so stiff? Why would a brand new latch be stiffer than one that has to be over 20 years old. May be original but I have no idea if it's been replaced.

C6DuffMan

Is it stiff when the door is open? Could be too much pressure when it's closed. From weatherstripping or the striker needs adjusting.

sfgand9ers

Thanks Duffman for the response. The new latch is stiff all the time. Spent the past few hours working on that door. The old latch is back on and inside handle works great. Now having issues with the outside door handle. Door handle rod kept spinning enough that it would slide upward through the door handle "arm". After blowing off a couple hours trying to get the rod adjusted to a good length, decided to look at functioning passenger side. It has some sort of clip holding the rod to that outside door handle "arm". Don't see a clip in the AIM nor in pictures at Willcox and Corvette America.

Anyone have any idea what kind of clip could be used to secure the door handle rod to the arm coming down from the outside door handle? The "Z bend" at the top of that rod doesn't seem to hold firm after several attempts at using the outside door handle to open the door.

BKarol

This is the clip that holds the rod at the top on the door handle:

zip # dr-345

http://www.zip-corvette.com/ProductD...GR-SR&CTitle=&


Or do you mean where the pointed part of the barrel inserts? then it would be this clip that slides on # zdr-322:

http://www.zip-corvette.com/ProductD...GR-SR&CTitle=&

Look familiar to the one you are looking at?

sfgand9ers

That looks just like it Karol. Thanks so much. Already have the second one listed. Threw away several hours today before finding out a clip at the top would have gotten me going much more quickly.

TT