[V8] interior door handle pinch plate fix?

[Peter A. Green]

BTDT
had my passenger side window broken by a '#$$$%$' and took it to my regular mech (who usually does a superb job) - this time it came back with new window and problem you experienced!  Thought I would drop V8Q into the mechs when I had time.... however, a couple of days later I passed through customs and an agent came to the passenger side, motioned me to wind down the window (shucks.... I am going to have to fix that broken wire loom in the door!) so I leaned over and pulled the door handle to open it.  Bad move.... it came out attached to the wire that operated the lock mechanism.  So I leaped out of the car and ran round to open the passenger door from the outside.  Bad move.... it caught the immigrations/custom agent by surprise (they pack guns!).  The pinch plate and the wire loom immediately came to the top of my 'to-do' list!

The problem is - there is a plastic assembly on the inside of the door with a rather flimsy piece for the rather substantial type woodscrew retaining the pinch plate.  If the pinch plate screw and the anchoring plate are not lined-up before turning the screw, it doesn't go into the screw hole. A mech having experience screwing self-tapping screws into north American cars just presses hard on the driver and turns - hence, broken off plastic retaining plate.  Fortunately the plastic is the non-oily type and can be re-epoxied-on.  The broken part is at the bottom inside of the door. (if not a flange can be made out of a suitable piece of plastic).

Hope this helps.
Pete
'90 V8Q Pearl

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Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2006 18:15:51 -0800
From: "Karl Middlebrooks"<coalblacksmith at gmail.com>
Subject: [V8] interior door handle pinch plate fix?
To: "V8 list" <V8 at audifans.com>
Message-ID: <20060214181551.1474638656.coalblacksmith at gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain

The PO of V8 #1 removed the screws from the driver's side interior door handle, rather than just loosening them. According to the manual, you shouldn't remove them completely, since that will foul up the pinch plate that holds the handle to the door panel.

So now, pretty much every time I close the door from the inside, the handle slides partially off. All the controls and everything still work, but it's annoying to keep having to shove handle back in place after I close the door.

Any ideas on a permanent fix? I haven't poked around with it much, just because I don't want to inadvertently make things worse.

Unrelated to this...In replacing the glove box handle on V8 #2 to solve the permanently open glove box problem, I discovered that the PY (Y = yo-yo) didn't accidentally break it off has he claimed. He pried it off, lost all the parts of the inner lock, and nearly pried the facing of the glove box off the frame in one spot. I'm glad I was able to save the car from that fool.