My Nephew has stored his 1980 L-82 in my garage for the last 3 years. He recently moved out and traded me the car for some furniture. I called him the other day to get the keys so I could move it into the driveway for a while. Unfortunately in the move he has misplaced them. In the event that they can't be found what are my options? Doors are unlocked, just need steering wheel to turn.

 

If you can't find the keys, I would just replace the locks. The door cylinders are easy to remove once you get the door skins off, they are just held on by a clip. The ignition cylinder is a bit harder, but I know there are threads floating around on how to get it out. Any parts store should have replacements, should only run you about $30 for them all.

 

If its threre your spare tire lock will come off if you take out the two bolts holding it to the car but thats only the door key .

 

A good locksmith can come out and make you a set of new keys in about 10 minutes, costs a few bucks for the service call.

My kids were always losing keys to thier cars when they first started driving.

 

I was going to say the same thing about a lock smith. That would be the least work. Get the door key made at the same time. Might even be a better key than a worn out spare that's been possibly cut and recut on a hardware store copying tool.

OTOH, being that it's an 80, if the cylinder is original, it's probably going to be crappy anyway and maybe better off replacing. You can get a replacement cylinder at lots of places for that car for about $20 or so. NAPA probably has them. Our local farm and barn has them for about $12. if you don't mind a little work you can replace it. Will need to stop by Harbor Freight for some needed tools like a steering wheel puller and a lock-plate hold down tool.

General instructions:

• Remove Horn cover in center of wheel
• Remove steering wheel (need steering wheel puller)
• Remove horn plate and assembly
• Use lock plate hold-down tool to compress lock plate and remove clip
• Remove turn signal cam assembly out of the way
• Should have access to the ignition cylinder assembly. Remove retaining screw and remove/insert new assembly.
• Reassemble in reverse order.
• Don't forget to swear and cuss at the engineers that came up with the locking plate clip retaining system (this step is very critical!)

Mark G

 

If you have never broken down a column before and chances are you probably haven't, and probably will never have to again, Hire a locksmith. He can break down the column, pull the igniton, read the code imprinted on the ignition and generate a key and put it back together in about 30 minutes if all goes well. 12 minutes?? Don't use him. He will leave parts out. I work in Lowell, MA, my occupation is locksmithing and our shop would charge about $125.00 for that service provided the column is stock and still has the original ignition.

 

I forgot to add, that if it has a telescoping column there are a few more parts and steps involved. It does add an extra level of complexity, but nothing that's not do-able if you take your time. But if it's something you don't want to get involved with, call the lock smith. I would pick up a new lock cylinder anyway and if the old one isn't very good (and they DO wear out) have him put the new one in.

Mark G

 

Im in the process of pulling my key switch from the column right now. I have a thread with the tool you will need, got mine from harbor freight. I broke a piece of my turn switch and now I`m wishing I`d have just gotten a lock smith to do it.

 

As usual thanks for all of the insight. I was pretty sure I would have to pull the cylinder but needed to hear it from someone else. I know the day after I pull the cylinder he will find the keys. I never seem to be able to circumvent Murphy's law.

This is a car I never wanted. It is not numbers matching so it technically is no longer an L-82. It also came from Florida and can't be registered in NC for 5 more years because it is missing nearly every emissions control device. So I don't want to invest a lot of time or money in it. I'd rather work on the 74.

Now that I have it I am looking at the parts I can use on the 74. I'm probably going to pull the parts I want, then part the rest of it out. The individual pieces are probably worth more than I could get for the car, and I'm really good at dis-assembly. One of the things I'm looking at is the TT steering column since the 74 has a straight column.

Right now I just want it moved to the top of the driveway. So I think I'm going to run by Harbor Freight on the way home and pick up some wheel dollies and then home depot to get some sheet steel to get them over the driveway joints. This way I get some wheel dollies for my money (I can also use them to turn the 74 sideways in the garage) and hopefully the keys will turn up in the mean time.

If the keys don't turn up then I will deal with it when I sell the car or pull and refurbish the column.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

Thanks Mark
I have saved the replacement steps. I never forget the swear and cuss at the engineers step.