Technical mechanical mechanism ideas for shaved door handles?

Hi,
(first post so feel free to point me in the right direction)

I'm building a 61 Cadillac with shaved door handles. I bought the car as an unfinished project so, while the handles were already shaved, the mechanism for opening/ closing wasn't finished.

I'd like to go down the path of opening them mechanically rather than via solenoids if possible.

Just wondering what set ups guys have done in the past that have worked well.

Cheers,
Greg

 

Welcome to the HAMB.
I'm not into customs, but that is one nice looking car, with amazing paint.
Perhaps read the rules and do an introduction post ?
Sorry, I can't help with your question.

 

Lots of guys will use cables running under the hood you can pull. Or leave a window down

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

I have an emergency cable pull under the front fender on my 46 just in case the poppers fail. Opens driver door only.

 

I shaved the handles off my Corvette about 30 years ago and used GM starter solenoids but always problems with switches, corrosion, dead batteries etc.. About a year ago, rather than fix it right with good stuff (since I only keep the car as an occasional reminder of my misspent youth) I just drilled small 1/8" holes right in the doors on the outside opposite the latch. A short 1/8" rod on a keychain poked into the hole pops the doors when the windows are up. The holes are all but impossible to see.

 

Kind of late to do flush mounted, body color push buttons. Next step is cables hidden somewhere, but not very convenient to grab, if you want to hide them. I'd just go with electrics, and put a cable in for back-up.

 

there was a thread a few years back that showed a guy who made the rear view mirror on the doors slide forward and pull a cable to open the doors. if i remember right it was a cool idea but he had a couple issues with it. i will try to find the thread.

 

I like the idea of using something other than electricity to do something like that. I've been thinking along such lines too for a whole bunch of unrelated stuff. Electricity has become the go-to medium for everything these days, and I suppose with reason, which isn't to say that it's necessarily a good reason, including propulsion. I'd like to have a car with only the most basic of electrical systems, just lights, basically, and everything else run on air or hydraulics, just for the hell of it. For instance, nothing is more traditional than vacuum wipers, especially an exposed vacuum motor in a hot rod; and my poring over pics of disassembled vacuum wiper motors on the 'net suggests that it shouldn't be impossible to get them to work on air from a bag set-up, thereby eliminating big cam/uphill issues.

But be that as it may.

I think what you're looking for is ideas as to what to do with the other end of the cable, if you use cables to pop the doors. A loop hanging out somewhere seems to me inconvenient and insecure, a creativity failure. You want something somewhere on the car that can work as a handle, and into which you can build a lock. How about this? Are you thinking dummy Appletons? Put them on some kind of hinge, so you grab the spot, tilt it up, and the door pops. You can have the keyhole right on the light. That's just off the top of my head.

Small pushbuttons with keyholes somewhere, like the tops of the A-pillars?

Corvette C3 door handles on the inside of the tailfins, next to the rear side windows? Then reverse the latches, so the pin is on the door and the latch is on the body: no need for cables.

The possibilities are endless.

 

Bicycle Brake cables running to the wheel well, use bicycle brakes to open the doors. As you walk past your car just reach under the wheel well, press the brake and presto!

 

How about a spring loaded rod that can be pushed up with your toe from under the rocker panel that goes through a hole in the bottom of the door to trip the latch.

 

Run the latch cable into the trunk. Is the trunk latch shaved?

 

The problem is that the latch is in the door, NOT the quarter. (although some have used 'bear claw latches' in the quarters, making a mechanical rod or cable ideal)
The door that swings open (and closes with a 'jam' around it) restricts the possibility of a straight running link to anywhere but the door confines.
A rod running down inside the door and projecting out the bottom would be an effective 'bolt'. (unless the rocker panel was slotted!)

 

Remove the wind wing gears so the wind wing swings free, reach in and open from the inside or 40's Linclon push Buttons

 

Quote "A rod running down inside the door and projecting out the bottom would be an effective 'bolt'. (unless the rocker panel was slotted!)"
Have a round disc welded to a rod that is through the bottom of the door and moves with the door. The rod through the rocker contacts the disc (pushes up) and as the door opens the rod slides across the disk, so no slot is required anywhere. This would require enough gap between the threshold and the bottom of the door to work. Hope this makes sense.

 

I used 1\8" threaded rod run up to window and an interior lock knob on the outside, Most people never noticed.

 

I did that on the suicide doors on the 48. Most guys never notice how you open the doors when you do it in front of them.
I think I'd rig something that was part of the trim along the window or looked like it was part of the trim. even a small hole in the trim to put a pin in to push a rod that slid in a guide tube to actuate the latch might be less noticeable than one in the side of the door.

 

Attach rod to bottom of latch inside door. Rod reaches down to a hole in bottom of door (flush so it doesn't catch on bottom door jam/rocker). Spring loaded rod in bottom of rocker-your toe pushes up rod that pokes up through bottom of jam/rocker and that little rod pushes up on the big rod you placed in door. Make sure you don't scrape a speed bump and open your door... -rick

 

If you're going to have wings, Leave the wing lock off the drivers side and just push the wing open and reach in to unlatch the door...

 

I shaved the handles on the convert about 30 years ago. I had done power windows so I placed push button switches in the door trim to run the windows down. The button is s/s like the trim so it sorta hides. I have a safety cable that goes through one jamb into the engine compartment - I've only had to use it once. I have a maser switch to cut power ar night on the road.

It's not entirely fool proof as the relay I used in the door was an older horn relay and they go bad in the wet. I'm redoing the car and will change to the sealed black box relays.

 

You always need a mechanical way to get in. I stepped out of my car at the barber shop and the door swung closed so there it sat idling with me outside. Good thing I had my cell phone in my pocket and not on the console plugged into the cord. I was able to call my wife, who bless her, did not even roll her eyes when she brought the spare clicker. Next time out I had installed a lawn mower lever and cable to the passenger door. There was no room for the lever on the driver side. My trunk is shaved too and I used a Corvette latch used on the glass hatch back models. It is electric and cable actuated. Got it off flea bay.

 

The last time I removed door handles, I left the lock cylinder in, drilled the cylinder lever and hooked a cable from that to the bearclaw. The solenoid was also hooked up to the bearclaw, with a hidden momentary button.

 

I've always figured some small tab that could move sideways that slight protrudes above the door in the window channel would be a slick, mechanical way to open doors, provided you could devise some system that converts that motion into opening the door

 

Thanks for all your info, guys! I'll take it all on board!
I did find a post on this forum from 2010 talking about mechanical poppers, it has good info and a couple of links.

I should have mentioned at the start, while I bought the car as you see it here, the paint job was no good and has since been stripped so drilling in the doors for hidden buttons isn't an issue.

I'll do an intro post shortly but if you're after the story up to now, here's a link which will fill you in.
https://capricephotographyautomotiveart.org/the-project/

Cheers!

 

http://www.jefflilly.com/fabrication/hidden-door-opener/

 

Wow, that Jefflilly website is awesome. Full of tech articles!!

 

Years ago I had a mild custom 1939 Ford convertible with shaved door handles, I used aftermarket bear claw latches and a simple chock cable routed just behind the door,B pillar and exited just inside the rear drivers fender....it worked but was a PITA.

Later I replaced it with a small power button to roll down the power window to access the inside door handle. HRP

 

Looks like I have poppers that came with the car and had already been temporarily installed before being packed in with the rest of the stuff. I'll use those.

I'm thinking of using the original button hole and making a flush mounted, coloured button as a mechanical way of opening the door. It's probably the simplest and most reliable way of opening the door. Plus here in Aus, we need to have a visible opening mechanism on the outside of the car.

I would love to hear from you guys your thoughts on how to best go about it and what is available to assist in constructing the button mechanism. I'm thinking something along the same lines as the door popper, just with a softer return spring? Maybe weld a piece of tubing inside the door to mount the "popper" to?

 

Here's some info about '40s Lincoln-style push buttons...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/lincoln-door-button-alternative.926155/#post-10444706

 

Can't help on the mech popper or the bottom. Love the car, good write up on the link.

 

Hi....I wanted to have shaved doors but here in Australia the ADR'S require the front doors to have a mechanism to open door in case of a wreck ....I had already shaved the doors when I found out about the regulation...What I did was create the door handle inside the door...Its actuated by a button slide to push down onto the internal lever handle...its made up of piece pipe inside another pipe cut to the shape of the door skin...internals have slip rings and springs to hold in place and hold tension on button....was pretty tight installation