Has any one changed out a Door Lock Mechanism on their C3 1970 vette. My lock froze up and I was able to open the door thank god and release the lock on the mechanism. After going on Ecklers to purchase new one they have a aftermarket one for $140.00. Are these tough to replace - allot of springs and things on my current one. I may just pay someone to do it - afraid my door my lock up if not done proper. Any feedback would be appreciative.

 

Many times the mechanism isn't broken---it is just gunked up--before purchasing a brand new one remove the old one and soak and clean, blow it with air and lightly oil the moving parts--might save you some $$$$

SEMPER FI--1970 Dave

 

Are you refering to the door lock, or the LATCH? The lock isn't that tough to change, the latch is a little more difficult, but not a killer either. Both require a bit of manual dexterity and patience.

 

Refferring to the LAtch mechanism behind the door panel. The problem I am having is the Lock portion of that. It looks like it is all one assembly. At this point I need to change it out because I had to force the lock portion of the latch mechanism with force and beleive it is un fixable. I am afraid the lock will freeze up on me with the door closed so to place it safe I should repair the the whole assembly.


Sounds like it is just time consuming so I will take a shot at it.

 

Ted,

I just went through and completely rebuilt everything in my doors. The latch is probably the easiest to get working again. It is pretty bulletproof. There wil be some wear on pivot points but it should be Ok. You need to remove the latch and clean it down by either soaking it in petrol or spraying and scrubbing it with a can of brake cleaner to get all the old greas off. Once it is clean then make sure everythin moves. Look for rust etc and clean as needed. The little rods that connect to it and most of the little clips are available from Eck#$$ and most of the big vendors. Once it is all clean and moving freeely add a little bit of grease and wipe off the excess.

If you have any questions give me a call and I will talk you through it. I will be home tonight.

Pete

 

yeah man i just rebuilt mine too, after cleaning the latch thoroughly and greasing it, i screwed it back in and reconnected everything, note that the pushrod from the exterior door handle MUST be at the right length (it's adjustable) or else it will bind up the latch, causing it to get stuck in the locked position.

 

Does anyone have good pictures/diagrams from a build manual on how the door handle, lock, and latch all connect? I pulled my latch out of the door and have it all cleaned up. I need to pull out the handle and springs next. They look shot to me. I have looked through Chiltons, Haynes, and my build manual and haven't found a diagram anywhere on how the innards of the door all hook up.

Thanks for help!!

 

I don't have a diagram, but I do have these pics I took when I had mine apart about a month ago.

 

Thanks for all your replys. These pics are excellent as well and with your feedback I feel comfortable removing this assembly, cleaning and restalling. Love COrvette Forum.

Cheers

 

Great pics! Do you have any of the how the outer door handle looks on the inside of the door? I'm pretty sure my problem is with the handle and or outside door lock.

 

[QUOTE=Kevin_73] I don't have a diagram, but I do have these pics I took when I had mine apart about a month ago. [QUOTE]

What did you use to clean them up that well?

 

I pulled the lock out of the door this weekend. It looks like my outer door lock as well as my outer door handle are dead I see how the latch hooks up to the outer door handle, but the spring that is attached was not. How does the spring attach? How do you remove the outer door lock? I see the clip, do I need to just pull harder?

 

Custum73,
I soaked those latches in kerosene overnight and used a variety of different sized brushes to scrub them clean. In some places where the grease was so old and hard that even a wire brush wouldn't affect it I had to use a screwdriver to carefully scrape it off. I followed up with a liberal application of synthetic grease to all the moving parts.

First, the outer handle assemblies are held in place with two nuts (7/16" if I remember correctly) from inside the door. Once the latches are out of the way these nuts are relatively easy to get at with a standard wrench. They unscrew downwards, then the whole handle assembly lifts straight up out of the door.
My driver's side handle probably had the same problem that you describe (the spring was not in place). What I found was that the rod that the handle pivots on had slipped backward, the front of the handle had become "unhinged" and the spring had fallen off.
The rod was originally just pressed into place in the pot metal casting, and after 30+ years of use pot metal had worn enough that it was not a press fit anymore. This allowed the rod to vibrate backward, and since the rod goes through the center of the spring to hold it in place, it fell off too.
I fixed mine by drilling the holes oversize and used JB Weld to glue in brass tubes to bring them back to the proper diameter, then a little more JB Weld to hold the rod in place. This is kind of a Bubba fix but it worked very well on mine, however since one slip of the drill could destroy the entire thing I wouldn't suggest that anyone try this unless they completely understand the geometry of these assemblies, and are comfortable working with metal.
An easier solution would be to simply purchase reproduction door handles which are available from almost any vette parts vendor.

I'll look through my camera and see if I can find any pics of the repair I did to my door handles, but I have a feeling that I didn't take any since it was such a Bubba job and I wasn't sure it was going to work until I got the whole thing finished.