I need a little help on my door jamb. The PO put bear claw latches on this car many moons ago and finished out the jambs. It is a 34/5 window coupe and I am going back with the original latches. I also have my striker plates from Macs auto parts. Here is my problem. He evidently cut out the factory dip that housed the striker plate to install a device to hold the bear claw post. I need a photo from someone showing the original area in the jamb housing the striker plate, and an approximate measurement of the overall depth and length of the concave dip that the striker plate fits in. Thanks in advance. I can't find pictures anywhere on the web.
The indentation is a 1/2" in from the inside of the door. It is 2 3/8" tall on th bottom of the indentation 2 3/4" at top of indentation the indentation tapers in from the outside to bottom of the indentation. The indentation is 1/4" deep
What was wrong with the Bear Claw latches. They should be better/safer then the original ones IF installed correctly.
Dumb question, What's wrong with the Bearclaws? The factory latches aren't worth a shit. Hit something and they come open.
@31aford thanks, but what you are showing me is exactly what my door looks like after I reinstalled the original latches. Now on the body jamb there must be an indention to hold the dove tail striker plate that corresponds with the striker latch. Can you post a photo of your jamb? To answer the bear claw latch question, I never could figure a good way to mount original door handles on the car. The guy street rodded the heck out of this car with hidden hinges / door poppers and other 80s crap that looked like a total mess. I have got the body back like I want it finally, and this is my last hurdle.
Top one. That is exactly what i need. If u can tell me how far up from the top of the dove tail indention the indention for the striker plate starts and the length of that indention, i can build that back. Thank you so much.
Here is all the measurements. The pocket is tapered on all three sides. The top and inside are less of a taper than the bottom. Vertical measurement at the bottom is 1.5". Horizontal is 2" at the bottom from the inside of door jamb. The taper for the horizontal start at 1/4" from the inside of a pillar. The taper for the bottom starts 3/4" from top of dovetail upper indentation. The distance between the top and bottom taper is 2 1/4"
Thank you sir. This is one of the reasons I love the HAMB. If you ever need anything, let me know. Joe
Well , here's to the HAMB. I am pretty excited after about 7 1/2 years, I have a door that opens and closes factory without all the street rod hidden hinges, among other crap like the poorly installed bear claw latches. I am not nearly done, it is all tacked in and ready to finish, but it is functional and even if I did do it, I think it looks pretty darn good. I will turn the car around and tackle the passenger side next, heck, I may get this thing done before too long. Thanks @31aford for your help as well as @ss34coupe for the help on the door latches a while back, I will send you a couple of pics when I get the pocket dressed up. Without your help, I would have done pulled what's left of my hair out.
Yeah, it is an old picture, I have posted it a few times. This old car has been started and stopped on so many times, but this year, I have really picked back up on it. Not having a reference car locally really hurts on these types of jobs. I will get there though.....
It's in the plan, (safety latches) that is. I had to scavenge for 2 years to come up with enough hinges to get both doors presentable. I certainly do not want to go through the work involved in that again. Or worse, an open door at highway speeds is not my idea of fun.
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