EL CAMINO Exterior door handle help

[James Griffith]

Hi all,

Brand new to the world of G bodies. I bought a 1985 El Camino a while back and am just now getting started on some of the stuff I need to do to make it safe on the road. The car was purchased with no exterior door handles or locks, and one of the interior handles was broken. A old friend of mine was going to work on it for me on the side, but we've since had a falling out. He ordered replacement parts, locks and keys - check!, interior handle - check!, exterior handles - check! exterior handle hardware - uh........

I have looked high and low and can't find what I need to attack the handle to the door. I see the two studs, so is there supposed to be a few nuts holding them on? I also noticed that the rod connecting the handle to the latch doesn't fit through the hole when I have the retainer clip out. A quick search on here didn't provide specific info on my problem, but I did see a post about a door handle gasket for an 87 Monte....is this something I need for my 85 El Camino, because if so its news to me!!

Can anyone provide for me a parts list, everything I would need to get the exterior door handles on and working, and also maybe a reputable source of supply for 1985 El Camino parts so that I am getting parts that fit?

Thank you in advance, and nice meeting y'all!!

~JL

 

[ck80]

The first part of this is going to sound somewhat off the cuff - don't take it wrong

The best/easiest path for you would be buying a rusty junky door that is conplete, someone parting out a car might charge $20 for it.

Here's why: there's lots of little metal rods, joined together by aged nylon/plastic clips. Some of these are a circle on one end for the bent tip of a rod to pass through, then two pinchers off the side to clamp onto another rod from the side. Combined all these pieces form a series of linkage that connects things together.

In the case of the door lock, that itself is held in from behind by a metal clip, looks very similar to the one that holds the breather filter element against the air cleaner canister where it passes in from the outside - it's u shaped.

Your problem is, if someone before you damaged and removed a bunch of parts you don't know how careful they were - some of your rods could be bent, and without looking at a correct door and comparing to yours there isn't a good way to tell that.

The path of easiest repair would be, if possible, trying to get a rusty door to use for the guts on the cheap...

 

[Clutch]

And post some pictures!!!!!
We like pictures

 

[Mike T]

Hi all,

Brand new to the world of G bodies. I bought a 1985 El Camino a while back and am just now getting started on some of the stuff I need to do to make it safe on the road. The car was purchased with no exterior door handles or locks, and one of the interior handles was broken. A old friend of mine was going to work on it for me on the side, but we've since had a falling out. He ordered replacement parts, locks and keys - check!, interior handle - check!, exterior handles - check! exterior handle hardware - uh........

I have looked high and low and can't find what I need to attack the handle to the door. I see the two studs, so is there supposed to be a few nuts holding them on? I also noticed that the rod connecting the handle to the latch doesn't fit through the hole when I have the retainer clip out. A quick search on here didn't provide specific info on my problem, but I did see a post about a door handle gasket for an 87 Monte....is this something I need for my 85 El Camino, because if so its news to me!!

Can anyone provide for me a parts list, everything I would need to get the exterior door handles on and working, and also maybe a reputable source of supply for 1985 El Camino parts so that I am getting parts that fit?

Thank you in advance, and nice meeting y'all!!

~JL

James,

I have an 84 Camino and a 79 Malibu. I just happened to have the passenger side door panel off in the Malibu. Attached are some pics of the inside of the door. They don't show every part (including the exterior door handle) but will give you some idea of what you are up against.
I did keys, locks, door handles inside and outside on the Malibu about four years ago and can tell you that:
The exterior door handle is mounted in the door kind of like a V with the connected side on top.
The V is compressed and you put your hand under the side sticking out from the car and pull up.
When you pull up, the V gets wider and pulls a lever rod, like ck80 was describing and that opens the door latch.
The exterior handle (V) is has two holes in it that slip over two studs sticking out of either the inside of the door skin or the door frame.
Either way, you push the door handle over these studs and tighten the nuts that fit and the exterior handle is mounted to the door.
Next is reconnecting the door opening linkages, etc.

I bought everything I needed fro AutoZone but that was four or five years ago. I'm a big clumsy $hit and I didn't have any trouble with any of it. Below is a link to one of the places you can get the parts but there are probably some local parts houses close to you that have them for about the same pricing. View attachment 85435 View attachment 85436 View attachment 85437

http://www.usautoparts.net/details/...9Vpuj25lSQKkaQmjcx5vMhUc7a3D0HVsaAqWHEALw_wcB

 

[James Griffith]

Awesome, that's the info I needed - there's supposed to be nuts that hold the thing on. I was thinking nylocks, but not sure if I need to use nuts that have shoulders. Do you remember what you used for nuts Mike T?

Both of you, thank you for your responses, and the test door is a GREAT idea. I will nose around the local junk yards and see if there is an untouched one lying around. I did order two books today, a Haynes - I know, internet days, but I love a good book on the bench, the other is a master parts catalog that I was able to score for free. Hopefully they will help out. In the mean time my two projects are the exterior door handles and replacing the gauge cluster with another unit I fell into. Expect lots of questions, I have ZERO experience with G body cars until this one!

 

[Mike T]

Awesome, that's the info I needed - there's supposed to be nuts that hold the thing on. I was thinking nylocks, but not sure if I need to use nuts that have shoulders. Do you remember what you used for nuts Mike T?

Both of you, thank you for your responses, and the test door is a GREAT idea. I will nose around the local junk yards and see if there is an untouched one lying around. I did order two books today, a Haynes - I know, internet days, but I love a good book on the bench, the other is a master parts catalog that I was able to score for free. Hopefully they will help out. In the mean time my two projects are the exterior door handles and replacing the gauge cluster with another unit I fell into. Expect lots of questions, I have ZERO experience with G body cars until this one!

James, the original nuts should still be on the studs if the old handles are still there. If not, I'm pretty sure that the nut is a standard size available at the hardware store. Your Camino may have a mixed bag of metric and SAE nuts & bolts, so if you can't fit it from SAE, it doesn't mean it is a custom thread.

 

[Injectedcutty]

Whattya know, I had pics of the inside of the outer handles as I'm assembling my car, but deleted them a few weeks back!

The nuts for the studs will be a M6-1.0 flange nut. You should be able to locate them at a decent hardware store.

 

[Injectedcutty]

James, the original nuts should still be on the studs if the old handles are still there. If not, I'm pretty sure that the nut is a standard size available at the hardware store. Your Camino may have a mixed bag of metric and SAE nuts & bolts, so if you can't fit it from SAE, it doesn't mean it is a custom thread.

Haha, you posted as I was typing.

 

[Mike T]

Great Minds think alike. Now I just need someone to tell my wife!!

 

[James Griffith]

Ok, some pics of what I have here.......

The two door handles were ordered by an old friend, and they mismatch. the passenger side fits, the driver's side does not. I can make it fit, but I'd have to cut a small piece of the door off so that the arm will clear for installation. Not excited about that AT ALL!!

side by side, driver's handle on the left:



driver's side door, you can see the paint chips where the handle hits, and also it looks like someone tried to bend the metal to make it fit:


Driver's side, you can see it hitting on the bottom right:


Passenger side, the one that fits:


Thanks for the info on the hardware, I will try to scare some up. I also need to find clips for the rods and a small screw for the gauge cluster bezel/face, the short one right by the vent on the driver's side. That's another thread......

Again, thank you all for the help!!

JL