Anyone unfrench door handles ?

One thing I would like to change back on my 55 Pontiac is the frenched door handles, the holes were filled in and never finished as fas as hooking them up to make them operational. This was done before I bought the car so it's someone elses work.

The filler plates were tacked in from the inside of the door than filled on the outside with body filler. I tried taking some off it out and messed up the hole for the lock cylinder some. I have an extra door for that side, it's pretty rusted out, but good in the area I need. I could cut it up and use it for a patch p**** if needed. Replacing the doors isn't an option at this point.

Should I try and drill & grind out the patch or try to cut a die grinder with a small cutoff wheel from the inside of the door to remove the filler plates? Is there a good way otherwise to change it back?

Thanks for any suggestions or input.

 

if they are just tacked in you should be able to get all the bondo off and then drill on the patch close to the welds....sometimes a line of holes close together works. Then break the patch off and clean up the holes....or if they are welded solid like they should be, you can use a cutoff wheel (really thin) and cut the panel out,use it as a template to cut out the same piece on the donor door and weld it in....but thats a LOT more work.
Lastly they are "shaved" not "frenched" Shaved means smoothed off and frenched would be tunnelled in.
Good luck.

 

Shaved is what I meant, thanks for the clarification.

 

always glad to help

 

Grind the bondo off the outside. If the filler plates are **** welded into place, scribe a line all around the patched area about 3/8" outside the existing welded seam. Keep the edges of the new scribe lines parallel to the edge of the door and to the bottom of the window opening. Cut out with sabre saw or die grinder and cut off wheel. Using the measurements from the edge of the door and the underside of the window opening, lay out the same scribe lines on your donor door. Then cut the peice from your donor door, staying about 1/16" outside the lines. File edges for exact fit into the hole in the door which had the door handled removed. Use a couple or 3 big flat magnets to hold the new "patch" in position while you lay about 4 tacks (one at each corner) to position the new "patch" exactly. Remove magnets, weld all around from inside. Grind external tacks smooth. bodyfill, prime, and paint.

 

I thought there was a new custom trick fresh on the scene. Imagine frenched door handles... ughhhh.

Dig out the bondo with a grinder/screwdriver and start over. If you just want to shave them the right way, you could probably reuse the metal patch that is tacked in if its in good shape. Just finish weld all around the hole on the oustide and clean it up.

 

I was trying to figure out what a frenched door handle looked like. Might actually be a cool idea, put it into the body an inch or two? Eh, maybe.

 

Why do you want to put it back to stock?

 

It's one aspect of the car I would like to have back with the door handles. For looks and function mostly. The rest of the car is no where near stock - drivetrain, front and rear suspension & brakes have all been upgraded.