Outer door handle sticking out after install

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Gary Willard

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Dec 16, 2008
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Bates City, MO 64011
I recently had a deer jump in front of my 84' Hurst Olds and it did very minor damage, however I was lucky enough to score a total repaint from the claim. The car was taken to a well known local Hot Rod restoration/build shop where they disassembled the car in order to paint all of the body pieces individually. They are currently in the rebuilding phase of the project and tonight I noticed that the drivers side outer door handle appears to be angled upwards more than what I remembered it being before the disassembly. Both doors have the handles installed and the passenger side outer handle does not have the same issue. The drivers door latch operates, but it has much less travel to pull up and open the door. Is there some sort of adjustment inside the door, or can a latch rod be turned wrong that would cause the outer handle to angle up higher? I'd post a pic, but I failed to get one before I left the shop. Any suggestions or input would be welcome. I'd like to share my findings here with the builder so it can be adjusted correctly.
TIA,
Gary
 

pontiacgp

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Mar 31, 2006
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Kitchener, Ontario
why do the installers job, let him/her figure out what they are getting paid to do..... :unsure:
 
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69hurstolds

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Jan 2, 2006
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There's a rod that has SLIGHT bends in it that go down to the door latch itself. So when you raise the door handle to open it, the rod is moved down and the other end clipped on the latch moves a lever down against a little spring (handle has it's own spring as well) to release the latching mechanism. It's only about 4 inches long or so. If the door panels are off, you can look inside back there and on the outer side of the latch, you'll see the lock rod at the top and the door handle rod on the bottom of the latch assembly. It's hard to imagine, but if somehow, someway this rod gets bent, it will shorten it and something will have to compensate, like the outer door handle sticking out a little. But it shouldn't shorten the travel needed to open it. There may be something going on in the latch assembly itself.

The only other thing that MIGHT be wrong, and I hope this isn't the case, is that the door panel where the handle mounts is bent in at the top section. Doubt it, but something to check.

The handle and operating lever on the handle are made as one, and it's all potmetal. If it cracks, it may be able to be bent some, but usually it just snaps off with any pressure.

This is a headscratcher for sure. Most of the time it's either a stuck/broken latch, a rod clip that comes loose or rots off, or the handle piece inside breaks off.

And if you need to replace the outer handle, I would suggest you spend the coin necessary to get genuine GM handles. I'm not trying to spend your money, but I've had a whole lot better results and service with the GM parts.

P/N's 20099250 (passenger) and 20099251 (driver)
 
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Gary Willard

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Dec 16, 2008
21
2
3
Bates City, MO 64011
There's a rod that has SLIGHT bends in it that go down to the door latch itself. So when you raise the door handle to open it, the rod is moved down and the other end clipped on the latch moves a lever down against a little spring (handle has it's own spring as well) to release the latching mechanism. It's only about 4 inches long or so. If the door panels are off, you can look inside back there and on the outer side of the latch, you'll see the lock rod at the top and the door handle rod on the bottom of the latch assembly. It's hard to imagine, but if somehow, someway this rod gets bent, it will shorten it and something will have to compensate, like the outer door handle sticking out a little. But it shouldn't shorten the travel needed to open it. There may be something going on in the latch assembly itself.

The only other thing that MIGHT be wrong, and I hope this isn't the case, is that the door panel where the handle mounts is bent in at the top section. Doubt it, but something to check.

The handle and operating lever on the handle are made as one, and it's all potmetal. If it cracks, it may be able to be bent some, but usually it just snaps off with any pressure.

This is a headscratcher for sure. Most of the time it's either a stuck/broken latch, a rod clip that comes loose or rots off, or the handle piece inside breaks off.

And if you need to replace the outer handle, I would suggest you spend the coin necessary to get genuine GM handles. I'm not trying to spend your money, but I've had a whole lot better results and service with the GM parts.

P/N's 20099250 (passenger) and 20099251 (driver)

Thanks for the input! Much appreciated. I'm suspecting it might be in the latch *ss'y. Something weird happened when the handle was raised and I thought I heard and felt a click down around the latch area. The builder was hoping he could figure it out without removing the door panel again, but I think it's going to need to come off to find out what is happening. I've never seen the outer handle stick out like this before on any of the Gbody cars I've owned or been exposed to. That's why I posted this question. Yes, it's my builders responsibility to make it right, but I'm mainly trying to help figure out what might have happened to make their job easier AND to inform myself if I ever see it again. Thanks again!
 
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69hurstolds

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Jan 2, 2006
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There's a latch spring in there that may have failed, along with it being dirt/gunk build up in the latch mechanism. This can cause sticky operation as well. It's really hard to bend one of those rods on normal operation.

While not absolutely necessary, if you have to remove the latch itself, the 3 screws come from the factory with that Loctite like crap on them, so they're kinda tough to remove. Body shop probably has a impact screwdriver to break them loose. Then you can get them out using a heavy duty phillips head screwdriver/power driver.

If you need a new lock assembly for the door, it's GM p/n 16608235 for LH driver door. Around 175-200 bucks!!!

Goodmark sells aftermarket assemblies via Summit Racing for 69 bucks.

 
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