I'm building a '49 Ford coupe and have installed '47 Zephyr style door push buttons. I wonder if anybody out there knows a good (simple) way to link them to the Bear claw latches I have installed. I know that'49 Ford latches were iffy so they needed to be swapped out so I'm sure that I'm not the first one with the problem. I would be common to most door handle swaps. This is a sixties style custom so I want to stay "period correct" (I was there). Thanks in advance, Jim
I think this is one of those jobs where if you gave it to 10 Skilled craftsman it will get done 10 different ways. I have installed several sets of Bear Claw latches but not the push buttons. I would suspect some kind of bell crank and rod system like I do for solenoid door poppers, but who knows. I'll be watching and learning along with you. The Wizzard
My 69 Camaro uses a simple door mechanism that the door button strikes. The mech wouldn't know what handle was being used. Easy to find and cheap.
Have spoken to shoebox central about this and they said bearclaw catch will not work with shoebox push button handles and advice solenoid and poppers
You will need to transfer the pushbutton inward motion to actuate the release lever on the latch. It will require some type bellcrank or other mechanism to make it work. Just look at the pushbutton, and the latch location, and then imagineer a way to transfer the motion.
Making the problem harder is the window is usually in-between the latch and button. Sometimes a cable and a pulley will get you down, around the window and back up to the latch.
Maybe you can get an idea or six from my bear claw install on my '49 Coupe... the final FIX was to install a bicycle brake cable that, properly adjusted, works in concert with the solenoid ... who the heck wants door handles on a '49 ???? Check it out..there are two pages https://49fordcoupe.smugmug.com/The-Doors/
I've learned a few things after doing several different styles over many years. One thing I know for sure is that cables stretch and fray. If you use a pulley to change it's direction of travel they sooner or latter come off them. Another big lesson is that you must match the total travel of your door latch mechanism to the Total pull travel of your electric solenoid. If you don't do this, sooner or later the door latch will come apart from being hammered past it's travel limit, or you will burn up the Solenoid from short travel. To do this means some kind of unequal bell crank. I like using this style bearing with a flange This lets me attach 2 arms of proper length each to get things done. Some times this isn't possible so a little different approach is needed but still needs to use total travel for both items. Here is the inside of my door on the 51 Vick. It's not real high tech but 15 years of abuse and it hasn't miss fired yet. You do need to stop and lube things once in a while. Lot's of ways to do this job but if you don't understand what needs to be done you sure can build yourself a large Head Ache. The Wizzard
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