I finally got the doorsas lined as i can get em, thought i had them opening and closing smoothly. Then I tried putting the poppers in, doors won't open. Took em back out and things worked fine so I was like ok, i just won't use em sinc ethe doors open far enough without em. So today I'm getting ready to do alot of wetsanding and washing and stuff so i wanted to start putting in the weatherstripping, put it in for the top of the drivers side (hard top stripping), thinking things were going cool, then the doors won't open. So apparently, if there is any outward pressure on the doors that i put bear claws and solenoids in, the damn door won't open. Anyone else had this issue? I only have until Thursday to get the doors working properly and the car painted, is almost as ready as it can get for paint, but I HAVE to get these doors taken care of.
Factory door atches have the latchpost in an oversize hole with large washers on both sides so you can adjust them up-down, in-out you should copy this feature so you can relax the tension on the latch enough to let it open. The rubber will probably relax/collapse some after a few months and the post need to be tightened up some. I use White lithium grease on latches so they won't stick. It comes in a spray with one of those red tubes (that gets lost the second day you use it and they're all slightly differnet size) so you can aim it at the latch and not the suede paint.
Put all the weatherstrips in, pull the strikers in tight so the doors sit in to far in the opening. Slam the doors so they latch tight and walk away for a day. The weatherstrips will "take a set" overnight. Come back the next day and move the striker out again to get a good gap. This should help with the tension that the weahterstrip is causing on the latch and not allowing it to open good. Did this on my shoebox with Lincoln ****ons and it helped alot. I am amazed how much tension those new rubbers will put on a door.
Think of it this way, A car door is designed to be opened like this: 1)Human actuates door handle THEN 2) Human pulls door open. So, when you have a popper putting outward force on the door and therefore latch, ALL the time, the latch is "loaded" in a manner it wasn't designed for to work smoothly. I gave up, when I wanna get in my truck, I push the door in a little bit with my knee as I push the ****on on the remote... The key to this may be just getting m***ive industrial size solenoids, instead of the feeble POS's the 1-800 places sell for supposedly this purpose. They're great for trunk latches, but door latches on anything bigger than a honda are an entirely different matter. my 2 cents...
I got some 45 pounds solenoids working off a remote entry box. I have to lathe off a little material on the strikers to get things to open and close smoothly like they are now. I'll try the grease thing first, then I'll play with moving things around. I just nee dto get this straight beofre the car has to exposed to the elements, which is less than a week away. I wanna be able to sell this car, so having to push in on the door would be a bit ****ty. Or i could just say it's a "security feature".
Mine don't work when it's cold outside. Apparently they were born in California. After pushing the ****on a bunch of times over about a 3 minute period, it will finally pop, but until then, I just stand there and look retarded. (not a far call from the usual, yeah yeah, I know)
Since usually the stroke of a solenoid is usually never a factor you can build an extended arm for the latch and that increases the leverage the solenoid has working for it. Most latches don't work very well when they have outward pressure against them. Also in my opinion poppers are a waste, if your door pops open when it's triggered it looks cool but how cool is it when the keys in your pocket accidentally hit the ****on while away from your car but still within operating range.
.....and you accidently hit the remote ****on and your door poppers open your door into some jerk-offs 39 Chevvie with stupid graphics. No, It wasn't me. But I got to see it. The lesson learned? Have your hand on the door when you hit the open ****on. The door poppers get it open far enough to let gravity take over if you are parked at a bit of a slope... Good luck. -Abone.
Please don't take this the wrong way,SHAVED, may LOOK cool,but.............. Poppers,solenoids,and non operating doors,do not fit in with the K.I.S.S. principle........... That is why I left the ****ing door handles ON my truck....... $.02
That why i avoided poppers solennoids etc....i just walk up to the car...unlock lock i have on 1/4 vent window and swing open 1/4 vent and pop door from inside...the inside handle sits right below the 1/4 vent...piss easy! All relys on simple lock and nothing to go wrong...! K.I.S.S Maiki
Hey Switch, I had what sounds like the same problem when I shaved the doorhandles on my '50 Plymouth a few years back. I went with the full meal deal with bear claw latches, solenoids, and keyless entry. I never had to use Dorgos or poppers or whatever you want to call them to push the door open. I welded in the latches and got everything lined up. No simple job. If I had it to do again, I'm not sure if I would use bear claw latches. It was a *****! Anyway, I got everything all welded up, got the solenoids in and wired up the keyless entry. Everything was in and working, I thought. As soon as I closed the door, the solenoid just wouldn't work. I reached in and opened the door, and then (with the door open) I closed the latch and hit the ****on on the remote and "click", it unlatched. Tried it again with the door closed and nothing. This drove me crazy for a few days until I finally figured it out. First, grease the hell out of everything like DrJ said. It really does make a difference. You never said what you had running from the soleniod to the latch. I usually use bicycle handbrake cable. Some Japanese cars have this same style of cable in a nice shielded tube that makes life alot easier. You have to make sure there is some slack in the cable. If it is too tight, when there is tension on the door (when it is closed) the solenoid can't pull hard enough to kick the latch. That is why when my door was open, it would work, when it was closed it wouldn't. The cable doesn't have to be super loose, but remember, it's better too loose than too tight, at least in this sitution . It may take alot of adjusting, but hopefully this cures your problem. Also, if you need a Dorgo style popper to get your door to swing open a little bit, the mid 80s Pontiac Grand Ams have a similar gizmo in the door jams. It is in the lower corner directly under where the door striker is. It kinda looks like a pin switch that powers up the dome light when you open the door, only they are made of black plastic. If I remember correctly, they were a little bit of a job to get out, but the guy at the counter at the local Pick-a-part didn't even charge me for them. You have to drill a hole in the corner of your door jamb, but the part has little tabs on it that hold them in so you don't have to drill anymore holes. I've had these on my Buick for going on 5 years and they work really well. You'd think since they are plastic that they'd break easy, but they are pretty tough. Also, they aren't super huge, so most people won't notice them when you have your door(s) open. Hope this all helps you out man, good luck! Layta.......E
A friend of mine installs car alarms and **** like that, He uses 2 aftermarket power door lock actuators turned sideways, one to pull and one to push. Then he takes a valve spring that's cut in half welds a big washer to the back side and screws it in the door jamb, presto door popers. They work great, I had them in my old truck for 6 years and never had one problem.
one door just has some wire from teh solenoid to the latch temporarily, haven't even tried it with the weatherstripping in yet, just noticed it on the drivers side today. The driver's side has a rod kinda linkage i made it's gotta little slack in it though, the latch wanted to stay in the open position wheni had a cable in it, so i made up the rod so it would move it back to it's proper place, and it works good, that is when there is NO pressure on the door at all. At least with that you don't have to worry about drivin drunk, cos you won't be able to get in.
About a year ago someone did a tech post on making door poppers out of carriage bolts--check the search for it.
I'm putting the car in the paint booth on monday, so I'm not stressing over the doors until then. I don't wanna spray that grease and **** before hand cos, I'm scared it'll get somewhere I don't want it and **** up some paint. I'll be back if the grease don't do the trick.
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