Well, I've been talking about doing it, and now I have most of the parts. I bought a pair of 99 Grand Prix door handles and mechanisms, and I got the metal surrounding the driver's side handle. Now all I need is the surrounding metal for the passenger side.

 

Good Luck with the project!!! it will be a lot of work, but it will be well worth the effort in the end i think.

 

Nice. Hot Rod used late model full size Chevy truck handles on a 3rd gen and it looked sweet.

 

I saw a Camaro on here a while ago that did it. I forget what handles he used, but they were more square instead of oval shaped. Personally I felt that the square shape was a better compliment to the overall body design of the thirdgen, but those should look killer anyway.

 

hey uh let me know how this project goes i plan on doing it myself but i want to know that amount of work and time that goes into it thx. good luck!

 

I think it was deadbird

 

Yea me too me too!!! Going to look great!

 

Really? I thought the opposite. I've got the pointed 91 Formula nose on the car and my cowl hood and side mirrors are kinda wedge shaped. I think that the tapered Grand Prix door handles go well with the lines of the car.

BTW, I found out that a lot of late model GM cars use the same handles, including Chevy, Buick and Olds sedans. If anyone has a line on a wrecked passenger side door that still has decent metal around the handle, please let me know. All I have for the passenger side is the handle itself:

 

I think that would look like absolute crap

http://www.deadbird.org/a/l08.jpg

... j/k

 

Hey Deadbird, did you run into any problems getting the mechanisms working after you installed the handles? I got the GP mechanisms and the Firebird ones, so I figure some combination of the two should work.

 

383.. the biggest problem to look out for is the depth of the handle itself. The Intrepid/neon handles I'm using clear the glass by a few hairs but some of the plastic on the backside still had to be shaved slightly. W/o the inner/outer windlace on the glass hits the handle holddown screw.
As far as making the handle work, I just pulled the inner lock rod from another f-body & cut & bent it to work with the existing latch mechanisim. The clip that hold the rod in place on the handle is the same as a GM one (that seems to be a universal part).
The other part is I had to shave down the pivot lever that the rod hooks too because with the window half way up, it shrouds the handle and trying to lift the handle, the pivot lever was blocked by the glass. I had to make a small metal piece that screws to the handle to offset the lever from hitting the glass (not shown in pic).

 

hmmm, maybe it's just my oddball thinking, but does that fix the rattles in the doors when you put in a decent set of subwoofers? i think my door handle is the only thing i can't figure out how to tighten up....if that fixed it, i'd be all over it. deadbird, you don't wanna write up some instructions or anything do you? :hail:

 

onto.. that was one of my reasons for changing out the handles on my car. The crappy pot metal handles on (damm near every GM car since '70) our cars have these stupid little wires and cast in clips on the backside that keep the handle from rattling on the door. Once the cast clip breaks (and they all do eventually) the 'rattle wire' is usless and the handle just flops around and makes noises when you hit bumps, the engine idles to rough, you look at it wrong or when turn up you stereo.

New handles are available at any chain parts store in the 'Help!' section for under $10 and installing them requires the obvious door panel removal and 2 thread cutting nuts hold the handle to the door.

Taking a jig-saw to a perfectly good door is not something for the faint of heart or most weekend warriers... even I had reservations about doing it... a little liquid courage & a few smokes tho & I got over it

This is about the best you're going to get out of me as far as tech articles go... http://www.deadbird.org/a/swappas.htm
I'm pretty bad when it comes to stuff like that....

 

A jigsaw? Nah, I had a little something else in mind...

 

:sillylol:

While that is funny.. I certainly wouldn't suggest using it (unless you really hate your door being smooth )

 

i don't have too much of a problem chopping my door apart, i tend to hack everything else apart and end up fixing it. My biggest concerns are how the linkages hook up and the location/placement of the new handles, do they mount up in the same location as the old ones or do they do higher or lower? How do you determine where they go? I don't wanna start and finish this only to realize that the passenger handle is 2" farther back and 1" lower or something...but if i have to put up with one more rattle, i'll go nuts. I like the ways yours look, i was thinking about doing it with newer model gm truck handles, but yours look ALOT better than mine did in photoshop...

 

nice.... nothing like liquid courage and smokes to get you through a tough task.

 

hey deadbird, that camaro hi-rise spoiler looks really good on a bird. I'm suprised it looks so good. Where did you get the spoiler from? I might do that myself instead of going with a wrap around spoiler.

Steve

 

 

anybody made any progress with this project?

 

ontogenesis: No progress yet. I'm still looking for the passenger side metal that surrounds the door handle. I'm not going to pay $300 for a nice door to cut up, so I'm looking for a wrecked door that isn't bent near the handle.

GM uses these handles on 80% of their new cars. Someone here must work at a body shop with a junk door in the dumpster. I promise to follow up with pictures and even a tech article if someone can help me find a passenger side door donor.

 

Amen to that! You guys forgot food, though. Brew & smokes & no food = TomP gets lightheaded, forgets what he's doing, cleans up, goes inside, & falls asleep

Keep us posted on your progress; I saved all the info deadbird sent me when I asked about this mod, it'll be interesting to see how yours turns out. I've gotta replace my doors soon and I'd love to weld in some new handles. I can't shave my handles b/c Englishtown Raceway Park won't let anyone race with shaved handles. So that leaves me with putting different handles on!

 

i'm still real curious about how the linkages are gonna hook up inside, i'm hoping you find a suitable handle so i can see how you do it before i dive into it

 

83TransAm.. The wing is an A&A specialties wing that came from Jegs. I believe the company went out of business shortly after I bought it a few years back. The is someplace that makes them with a 3rd brake light in it for around $160-180 I think, I don't know the link offhand but, I'd bet if you did a search you'd come across it.

onto.. I haven't really had too much time to screw with my car and it's just cold enough to where I can't do any painting. As far as the linkage goes that, there's no real trick to make it work. All you have to do is bend up a new latch rod from the handle to the latch body, the stock one (in my application) was just too short. Adding a lock rod is no different but, I've decided I'm going to put in remote locks and not bother with having the keyhole, it looks just slightly cleaner to me not having it.

Here's a crappy pic of the inside of my door, the flash washed out the pic so that's as good as it's going to look ...
*edit.. the other rod laying in there is for the lock cylinder.

 

****, that doesn't look near as bad as i was envisioning. I had the idea in my head that it was going to be a series of linkages and such....*sigh of relief* i think i'm gonna paint my car in the future if i get some cash and some time and it warms up, so i might as well do flush handles too

 

alrighty, i've got a bid on a driver's side 95 neon handle. Where do i have to clearance it and how much? Didn't by any chance make a template as to where i should cut on the door and what the new metal peice should look like, did ya? I'm half worried that i'm gonna have the handles placed differently on each side by accident. How hard do you figure it'd be to go a step farther than you did and hook the door locks up?....and can i put my lock cylinders in those handles? I'd feel stupid with a neon key next to my camaro key fob. Thanks for giving me a brain to pick, i appreciate it.

 

ok, i've got me a set of 97 intrepid handles off ebay for $20 shipped (mopar is cheaper than i thought ), does anybody have a template? i didn't get the surrounding metal, just all the linkages, and where do i clearance these bad boys? If i have to fabricate new linkages anyway, can i get away with not welding in any filler plates and just moving the new handle down some or not (real cold outside, don't wanna go out)? Deadbird, i guess these are all really aimed at you, since you've got it done and it looks damn nice...and i wanna thank you for all the help you've given me, and hopefully i get some more....:hail:

 

I don't know if this is going to make you feel better or not but, w/o a donor doorskin, the handles aren't of much use unless you to surface mount them (not a real good idea but you can) or have some sort of flanging tool. Even then, the handles aren't large enough to cover the oem handle and lock indent as can be seen here (sort of) where I've drawn the cutout on the door
http://www.deadbird.org/a/l03.jpg
When I got mine, I went to the jyard with my trusty sidecuts and just trimmed the handle, lock rods and skin straight off the door.
You can attach the backing plate and skin to the door w/o welding but, it's just as much work (I'd have to search for the post about that from awhile back).

As far as clearing things goes, one easy way to refrain from havng to modify the handle lever is to set the handle as far back towards the edge as you can. Unfortunatly, I didn't have this vision when I started mine so, I had to modify mine by using a small piece of aluminium and offsetting the lever pivot (or whatever it's called)



Since the front handles are slightly thicker than the rears, you'll need to shave the 'lever' flush to the recess area (circled area in pic). The recessed area will also have to be ground down to nearly paper thin (the non-spring side)



As far as depth, nothing on the non-spring side should be above the retaining screw and the screw needs to be shaved just slightly.



That's all I can think of at the moment. By no means am I some authority on doing this but I'll try to help if I can. I just wish it would warm up so I could finish painting my doors (gfx, hood, etc) and get my p.o.s. back together.

 

eh, minor setback, i'll figure something out...

i don't think it'd look too horrible if it wasn't flush mounted...maybe cut the hole in the door to the size of the handle, cuz the backing plate to the same size, and then have another plate that would actually secure it to the door, and smooth it all out with bondo...same effect as the flange, just more of a PITA

Also, from the looks of it, i've got a different type of handle...my retaining clip is U shapped, has two bolt/screws in it, the plastic wraps all the way around smoothly (yours looks like it kinda cuts in behind the handle) and the handle arm cradle deal (the peice that it all pivots on) is only on one side, yours go across the whole handle....

 

Junkyard success! I finally found a passenger side door donor for my project. It was a burnt out late-model Malibu 4-dr and I cut out the rear handle section with... tin snips. I cut it big so I could trim it down to size later with a more proper tool.

Deadbird: I had the sawzall in the truck and was about to go get it when I thought... hmmm, what would make me even MORE of a butcher

I also bought a nice set of used 92 GTA doors from a guy on eBay which I'm going to use instead of my dented doors. I should have progress pics in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, here's the ghetto version of flush handles...

 

Pass side (note the burnt to a crisp finish!)

 

looks good man, keep me posted, i'm practicing on my donor car...seem to bend the door skin whenever i try to cut it

 

lol. That's actually what I used to get the handle/skin off the car at the junkyard for mine. A bit more of a pita than I thought it would be but, it's not like I wanted the whole door and I doubt anyone was going to take it after I was done so....

I might actually start back to work on the damm thing since it's getting nice again. It would be nice to have the interior doorpanels back on for once...

 

Nah you got to shave it for that... Mine don't rattle!

 

pfft, those pesky nhra requirements, gotta have handles, your car doesn't go fast enough to see a track...j/k

 

You guys rule!! The stock doorhandles suck!! :hail:

 

No the problem is it sees the track for to long when it goes!

Well hopefully we will have a marked inprovement this weekend and reguardless, the engine swap is still looming in the future. Got to build the 82, then Raif gets a new seat of your pants motor!

Honestly, I got to the track 3-4 times a year, but it usually club events or at the local 1/8 mile track. Basically, they don't care about the door handles....

One guy had a good idea. It was a prank he used to play on his friends. He got the old door handle and cut it down fitted it with magnets and stuck it to the door. Got a few people to try to open the door! :sillylol:

 

lol, that would be pretty funny...i mean no insult red, your car is pretty nice...really red tho...keep me posted on your engine swap, i want before and after pics

 

I just thought of something.
Flush door handles with an electronic switch to activate door popping solenoids. No need to mess with the rods or anything.
Doors can be popped open with a remote or by pulling up on the handle. Having the Alarm armed would disable the switches in the handles and when the handle is pulled, the alarm will go off.

 

www.spoiler2000.com is the site that sells those hi-rise spoilers i think

 

hmm, musta been banned for advertising...

zepher, my only question is why bother? if you've got handles, why mess with a popper?

 

might be easier to wire up the poppers instead of modifying the metal rods to fit the flush handles.

 

nah, the rods are going to be pretty easy

 

I grabbed the long inner rod from a junkyard car to make new ones. Getting the correct length is probably the biggest 'complication'.
This is as complex as the latchrod gets...

 

that doesn't look to complex i mean the whole wiring in the poppers and all that stuff seems to me like it would be more complex but that's just me.

 

nah, i think zepher has some experience with poppers already and just got a nightmarish mental image of the door lock rods...

 

I've been retarded lately. Don't mind me.

 

LOL, I love this board, just when you think of doing something creative, you find out how many guys are all ready doing it.

I was looking at two different ideas. One was to use the Ford door handles that have the key pad built in.

The other idea was harder. I am not sure if any one has ever had a Nissan Pulsar, but their handles are mounted sideway and at the edge of the door.


Mark

 

you mean sideways like beretta handlesor ford deathtrap(aka probe) handles?

 

Yep, the down side is you would have to modify not only the door, but the 1/4 panel as well. The 1/4 panel would have a cut out for you fingers to get under the handle.


Mark