FHC resto nr. 84; Door handles part 3

With Christmas behind us, I was able to spent some time in the shed. In my last post on the restoration earlier this month I already hinted at this job, fitting the door handles and lock mechanisms to the car. But first the lock mechanism had to be connected to the door handles. Of course I didn’t have any proper pictures of how this connects, and I was too lazy to travel to the shed, where I have a complete pair, kept there specifically to be used as a reference. Luckily the door cards from ‘t Kreng were still removed after I swapped the lock cylinders. So I could use those lock mechanisms as a reference. Though I did need the Robsport site to find out which sill link was LH (ZHC417) and which was RH (ZKC418). With that sorted it was a matter of minutes before everything was connected.

With the locks finished the only thing that remained was waiting patiently until Christmas was over. The actual fitting was the proverbial piece of cake. Though I have to admit that I had some practice while swapping the door lock cylinders on ‘t Kreng earlier this month! First (gently😋) feed the sill link through the door handle aperture followed by the lock mechanism. Then manoeuvre the lock mechanism over the side impact protection towards the rear of the door. Finally fit the door handle in its designed position, with the rear end first. It might be necessary to pull the door handle out a bit to let the plastic push rod clear the front edge of the aperture.

I found it easier to fixate the lock mechanism first with two loose bolts, before bolting down the clamp on the inside of the door handle. And with the handle in place, it was a matter of aligning the lock mechanism with the outer latch, and tighten down the screws.

With the driver’s door I paid some extra attention with the position of the outer latch. This to make sure there was enough room for the remanufactured VIN-plate. Hard to believe it is 4 years ago that this plate was finished!

Also used the time in the shed to trial fit the rest of the striping. Turned out that the short part going over the front wing is a little bit too short. Also the curve at the bottom can be made a little bit wider. So this needs some redesigning done to it. But again a few hours well spent in the shed!