Bare Claw install and keeping dove tail in 34 Ford door??

So I'm working my 3 window doors. Going to install Bear Claw latches. Looks like best bet is install the claw in the door jam and the pin/latch in the door itself.
My question for those who have done this in a 33/34 Ford, is:

Should I rebuild and keep the dove tail door guides or just junk them??

I ask because I have to rebuild them if they should be retained , and that is a ***** to do believe it or not.

Thanks for your input, I do appreciate the help since this is the first time I have done this .

 

You are probably gonna do what you want here, but seriously I think the striker needs to be in the jamb as that is the more reinforced pillar and then the latch can be easily cut into the doors rear edge[less heavily reinforced area]....
it is close but it will fit between the C channel strip and the door's rear edge.

I never saw a latch in the jamb that was either good to look at or as safe as in the door,plus the ease and convenience of having a door handle on the door seems handier....

I know there are folks who even use a solenoid alone to open the door from the inside ,but that is another whole story there.....

 

X 2. Rebuild the dove tails. They are there foe a reason.

 

That messed up, don't know why.

Thanks

 

I have installed the Bearclaws in three vehicles The latch itself has always gone in the door and the pin in the door jamb. A couple things to consider is how you plan to activate the latch? (cable or with the original mechanism or even remote), and making sure there is no interference with the window mechanism. I have always used a cable system w/ Honda trunk cables and older VW inside door handles mounted under the car. I think you can go either way with the dovetails as long as they are not in the way of where you plan to locate the latch and they may help in keeping the door aligned.

 

Well the last time I was around these parts was 7/4/13 so I thought I'd update where the car is and yes I still have it and it is close to a driver. Not finished by any means but close to road worthy. I wanted to give a big thanks and shout out to a real friend, Jim Carmichael. Jim lives behind me, and is the car guys guru of guru's. I do ok with the build up to where you see it in the Avatar, but as for wiring and some other gremlins that showed up, well just say I am dumber than dumb and dumber. Jim has so much knowledge and likes the car so much the is doing it because he is my friend and does love the car. Says his reward will be when it is doing 60 down I-5. No way that kind of special help can ever be repaid. He was the auto shop teacher at the local high school for years, now retired but with cars of his own he is building. A 66 after market Vett, on all 86 Vett ch***is and a driver now, and a 31 Chev. sedan with a 401 Buick and all new frame, building it with his grandson. He works full time for freightliner truck also. He has been stopping in since mid summer and doing the wiring on my 34 and straightening me out on many little things along the way. We with our wives have breakfast Saturday mornings here close and discuss where we are and where we will go on the following Tuesday when he stops in after putting in 8 hours at Freightliner. He has helped make major decisions also and just jumped right in and helped with or done the work on countless occasions.
I have thanked him a thousand times for his friendship and work and hope he sees it here also. Again a thousand times over THANK YOU JIM.
Couple of items on the car. I have decided it will be black cheery, deep with the cheery part I hope. The Cowell lights with the turn signals are killer and look just as sharp as I knew they would. Shooting to roll it out of the garage on its own by Christmas, but little issues crop up and we may not make that, but when I get back from my snow birding to Arizona in April it will hit the street out front to be sure.
So not much will be done January to April, but we'll have it ready by Goodguys in July I'm hoping.
It will need upholstery, paint, seats installed, trunk install after a little tiny rust repair and fabrication and installation of the rear rolled rear pan.
Update complete, off to Az. and Barrett-Jackson in January.

 

Post some pics of the latches. I am wondering about how to do this on my Model A

 

Belair: I can take some pics of mine tomorrow if you like. They would be pics of the finished product. I load one here but it doesn't show enough. Tim

 

The dovetail was originally needed because the factory type latch could do nothing to aid the up and down position of the door. A bearclaw, on the other hand will not only latch the door but position it as well. You no longer need the dovetails

 

Thank you. I would appreciate it.

 

Belair: Here are a couple of pics of mine installed. I chose to use knobs through the doors rather than a cable or linkage inside the door going to a handle. You can buy kits for outside handles as well. There are kits available for the pins to make them adjustable. Mine are fixed in place. You can run them in or out but not up or down. Up or down would be good to have. If they're adjustable, it takes some brain work out of where to mount the pin. Nice for aligning the belt line on the car also. Tim

 

Tim - thank you very much for your help. This helps me a lot.

 

Belair: Check out the link to this post I did a while ago. Installing Bearclaw latches in a Model A and keeping exterior handles.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/bear-claw-latch-install-in-a-1930-model-a-coupe.777088/

Canuck

 

Thanks Canuck-I need all the help I can get.

 

The latch is fixed mounted, but your striker bolt should have some adjustment so you can fine tune the closing distance and up and down. To make the striker bolts adjustable, the nut has to be able to float, but not turn once you try and tighten it up.

 

Timwhit, don't know what body style Belair is working on, your activation idea would work good in a roadster, the problem with Model A closed cars is the window goes right to the back of the door. No room to go around behind it.

The kit I used was very similar to 38chevy's small latch kit and it worked out great (38chevy wasn't selling them when I bought mine). The latch in the kit I used was a small DUAL arm bear claw mechanism. The dual arms allow a link for the outside door handle and a seperate link for the inside handle. A link to the latches that I used, models 9-400-R and 9-400-L, similar to the 9D-400-UR and 9D-400-UL without the dovetail. http://www.eberhard.com/series/p***enger-restraints The latch pin plate had a captured nut that allowed 2 way adjustment.

Any of the linkage I saw at that time to connect to interior or exterior handles used cables. Exterior handles used a remote that mounted to the door skin. I wanted something a little more positive than cable and something that would not be stressing the door skin when opening or closing the door from outside. Also with the short travel of the arms on the bearclaw latches, wanted some way to get more travel on the exterior and interior handles before the door opened for safety to prevent accidental opening.

Maybe if you wanted a dual arm latch 38chevy could hook you up with some, worth a inquiry.

Canuck

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