Doing final****embly on my 32 Ford Roadster (Brookville body). Noticing things that I didn't notice before I took it all apart to paint. The door handles are not parallel with the body lines just above them - they hang too low in the front when in their at-rest state. Is there any way to adjust this? Thanks~
Is it 90 years of wear-n-tear? If you put your finger under the handle "at rest", can you raise the handle to "parallel with the body lines"? If so, maybe a carb/throttle spring inside the door can take the sloppy lash out like******* in an anniversary cake.
Yes have done that before ,twist the shaft a little. I****ume by brookville all the internals are new also.
It is all new...what do you mean by "twist the shaft" ? There are 2 set screws in the shaft, do they do anything more than hole the trim piece on?
Instead of twisting the shaft to align the drooping handles, I swapped them side to side. They're level now.
That was the first thing I tried - thanks for the suggestion. I think it's the slop in the latch versus misalignment of the handle/shaft.
What they are saying is that you can put a little twist in the square shaft on the end of it where it goes into the square hole of the latch. This will rotate the handle accordingly
Remove the handle with the shaft attached. Slide the square shaft into a vise and tighten it in then turn the handle the opposite way of the droop. (Slightly is the key!)
Thinking if you swapped sides and they still sag, the holes in the latch and/or the shafts must be worn. The shaft holes can be brazed or welded to build them up, then filed back to proper size. Same with the shafts. Might be something to look into. Good luck!
If the shaft was fine splines, you could align to meet your desired angle. Since they are not, you can twist the square shaft to make the handle rest at a pleasing angle. This is a twisted metal bar for decorative iron work, to give you the visual. You do NOT have to twist it this much. I'd also suggest using a wrench to induce twist, not the handle itself.
Maybe the latch pawl isn’t extending out of the latch all the way when the door is closed. That would make the latch think it’s a hair in the open position. Thus the handle is a hair in the open position. Cure: thin the notched strike receiver up a bit? This would be a good example of why it is important to fully****emble a car to test all components before painting anything.
I did have it fully****embled, cant say I noticed the handles sagging. I'm going for the twist...will post my results. Thanks all.
Not without completely disassembling it- which I'm not going to do at this point. There's a little spring in there that keeps the trim tight. Heat will waste that. I'm on operationb "get this thing done and drive it before it gets cold up here in New Hampshire". If the vice and wrench trick doesn't work, I'll save it for this winter.
^^^^ R&R two screws , pull door handle out , Clamp The shaft in vice or something solid , some heat from hand held butane Map gas , box end wrench & tweak .. My original sag a little
Does it droop when the door is open? I've done the twist gig many times, black marker to show where where it stops in the drive boss.
Oh, so you can remove the shaft from the handle? And why are the shafts so long with a threaded hole in the end?
I can not remember if Originals have threaded hole on end , Unless after market use same square shaft with different Handel, On 28-32 ish , shaft is tapped so will not pull out of deck / rumble . On 32 door I have had & worked on ,to removed I just pulled the stanchion / belt line trim screws & pulled handle out .
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