Door latch operation
 

Are most of you CR owners using the bicycle type lever to open your doors? If not, what are you using? I would like to change this setup but I am unsure of what to do. The doors and the body of course are already setup with the standard latching mechanisim.


Thanks in advance, Terry

Terry,
The release cables, although are bycycle shift cables they are made out of stainless steel cable. I have never had one break out of hundreds of installs and they work great. May I suggest you take the decal off the front of them, looks a little better, then pull them apart and remove the small white piece of plastic built inside- the 'clicker" this will make them work very smooth. Then take both flanges that actually wrap aroung the bycyle tub and flatten both out. cut off one end with the flair on it then install. They will be hidden by the front edge of the seat and will work great. Or you can go with full electric solenoids to open the locks by pushing an installed button- just more thoughts..
DV

Remote control (key fob) and solenoids.

Just added picture of my door latches to my gallery

Terry, Don Scott built my CR, as mentioned by DV:

Or you can go with full electric solenoids to open the locks by pushing an installed button-

Works fine, have not had any problems or failures

Don,
What you are saying is that you have the cable pulls or did CRII put in electric solenoids?
I like the idea that Art has and I had a similar idea but I am concerned about road grime and water coming through the hole in the body.

Terry

Terry:

" did CRII put in electric solenoids? "

Yes, I am the 2nd owner of a CR I built by Don, not familiar with the actual installation and parts used

DV, can you help ?

Terry,
The door latches in my car are similar to Art's. They are located just behind the seat back on the inner body of the car. The lever is pushed straight down to release the door. I can take pictures for you if your interested. I have to pull the rear tire to get at the mechanizm, its accessed through the wheel well.

John

John,
I would like to see pictures of the latches from under the fender and from the interior. On the interior mainly the lever in relation to the seat. How easy is it for you to get to when you get out?

Terry

It's no problem to operate for me but newbies (passengers unfamiliar) need a little help. Pictures are gonna take a little while. Maybe tonight or tomorrow.

John

Thanks John. No hurry.
If you look at Art's pictures there is an interior view that shows the lever (page 2 picture 1000851). Is yours the same? I am guessing that there is a flat plate with a slot in it and a rubber gasket with just a slit in it that bolts onto the interior body panel. The lever would slide through the rubber gasket and into the slot. The rubber gasket then would not allow debris/water to come through into the interior. Does that seem about right?

Thanks, Terry

Another option
 

Terry, I took photos of my handles today. I will try to get them into my gallery, tonight or tomorrow. I have a mechanism very similar to Art Burtt's and in the same location as his.
The difference is I choose to make the linkage move upward with a lever mounted to a shaft which passed through a bronze bushing epoxied to the body. This way I can use the billet aluminum levers from Watson's street works (supplied by CRII). The issue of water should be greatly reduced if not eliminated. A little silicone grease between the shaft as it passes through the bushing should be enough.
I'm just using a round plastic knob presently while I have the car off to the painter next week, so the billet levers don't get messed up.
Hope this gives you another oiption.
I hated the though of using cables, too. Tom

TWOOD,
The pictures show it well. So instead of moving a lever up and down through a slot your lever rotates on a shaft which leaves little room for debris and water to get through. I wonder if a tight fitting rubber washer in the fender side would help also.

Question though on something else and maybe DV can help with this. Is the brace that runs from the door latch to the frame necessary? The body of my car seems to be very stiff there. Is there really a need for that brace?. My brace on both sides are ground down from the tire rubbing on them. The material is ground down to almost a knife edge. It could be because the guy that I bought it from raced it before taking it apart.

Thanks, Terry

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this, yesterday was paint a Cobra day. When I dedicate myself to painting nothing else exists!

Somebody mentioned "Watson Street Works", if you don't have this in your computer shame on ya. Watson's has a lot of neat stuff and have used them for over ten year.
You will find the perfect solenoid door opener kit that includes everything you will need but the switches to make them work. Pulleys, cable, connectors for the cables-everyting. These are the most powerfull ones I have ever found and work great. I have tried every known manufacturers solenoids in the Cobras and the street rods I build-none of them have the power to consistantly work right. (The little plastic ones, even Fords old "screw" type " will not work over 40% of the time!)
Very easy to mount and wire up especially since CRII already provides the wiring at the rear wiring harness.
Take a look at both links, they also have the mechanical openers you guys are talking about, sealed, gasketed, and Billett!

http://www.watsons-streetworks.com/k..._releases.html
http://www.watsons-streetworks.com/i.../L22N_2007.jpg

Terry, YES the mounting bracket should be kept and used! If not, after 'X' number of times closing the door, without them you could develop cracks in the body, AND under hard launchs they help to keep the body from twisting. The best way I have found these pieces to work, especally with oversized rear tires (up to 17") is to actualy cut the flat part that bolts to the door latch, bolt the flat piece in with the latch in place with the part seperated from the frame side, bolt the frame side in place then mig weld the two pieces back together. You will have a perfect fit, keeping the structural integrity and be able to put oversized tires on.

The Cobra I just painted is having the mentioned solenoids installed along with very, very small pressure switches which will be hidden just behind the top of each door under the carpet along with two small square release buttons installed in the dash. The point is when you are in the car you can use the bycycle releases or just hit a botton on the dash to open either door. The hidden switches work great for being out of the car and you can simply push on the carpet, behind the seats and open you door. No one will even detect how you go the doors opened!

I'll take some pictures of my install but it will be a couple of weeks before it's ready and by that time you guys will probably be past this stage.

Good luck, and remember to slow down....this is all fun!
DV

DV, Good info. Shame on me, I had not even heard of Watson Street Works. It is in my favorites now. That would have given me all of the info that I needed on the latching system.
Ok, I will bolt on the braces. I really did not think that they would not be there if they were not needed but sometimes manufactures do some things that are overkill. Now I understand why they are needed. Although I am not a door slammer, that does not mean that someone else is not. My dad would have kicked my a$$ if I slammed a door, hood or trunk. I tought my childrern the same. I always go by the rule, dont force it. If you need to force it then there is something wrong.

Thanks again, Terry

Terry,
There are pictures of my door latch mech are in my gallery now. If you click on the pictures you should get a caption explaining each one. I do like what I saw at Watson's. Nice finished look, thanks for the heads up on that DV. As far as dirt and debris getting through...as you can see there wasn't much done to prevent it on my car and it has never been an issue even being exposed to all flying road debris kicked up from the tires. I like the idea of electric solonoids but not for my Cobra, that's just my opinion. I like Art's set up too.

John

John,

The pictures gave m a lot of info to use.

Thank You, Terry