driver's door will not open (unlocked)

[David Kase]

Thanks Huw.  I will look at the spare door and see if I can get to the 
back of the screws.  I took the latch off the spare door to study it.

I have a few spare leather door cars.  Hopefully the upholstery shop can 
transfer the cloth insert over to one of them as I have a feeling the 
door panel with be trashed tonight.

I will report my findings.  I think Peter is on to something with the 
regular lubrication of these bits.  The passenger door latch on the car 
is a bit gummy.

Pardon my "french" but F-me...

Dave Kase



Huw Powell wrote:

> Dave,
>
> Since it sounds like there is a good chance that the latch mechanism 
> itself is pooched, you might be able to drill out the screws that hold 
> it to the door to open things up.
>
> The latch is a cigarette pack sized chrome plated doohickey, attached 
> to the door with two stainless steel bolts (from the jamb area where 
> you can't get to).  If you can drill them out from the inside, the 
> door should swing open free of the latch, after you disconnect the 
> lock and latch actuators.  You can determine where to drill by looking 
> at your spare door.  I just looked for my spares to see how hard it 
> would be to do this, but they mustbe stored somewhere "special," not 
> in my "door parts" box.
>
> Just a thought.
>
> PS, I just looked at a sedan front door in the attic, and the bolts go 
> all the way through the latch, so you can see them to start drilling.
>
> They may start to undo, and the heads might scratch up your body door 
> jamb area when they do this.
>
>> Just thought of something, since you have a spare door.
>
>
>>> I'm already in there DeWitt.  I have a hole cut in the door panel.
>>> I also have an extra door on the garage floor for reference.  It
>>> looks like it is going to get ugly...
>>
>