Yesterday I started taking apart the replacement door, and the farther along I got the less happy I got. It was in worse shape than I'd thought, the whole bottom channel for the weatherstripping was rusted away, and there was a lot of rust in the door bottom too. Looks like it started under the weatherstrip itself, and worked its way in from there. (Rather than plugged drain holes causing rust to start on the inside and work out.) The window tracks are messed up, which made it bind on the way up, which caused PO to use too much torque on the handle which flexed the door's inner metal panel and cracked it over time. So I'm looking at a serious amount of rust repair and some welding, all for a door that's the wrong color anyway. Ick.
OTOH I could just wait for a better door to come along, if I could get the bent door working better. (I'd planned on this possibility all along, the door itself was cheap enough that if all I got out of it was a handle and the piece of belt trim I'd still be happy.) Figuring I had very little to lose I opened up the damaged door and removed the remains of the ruined door handle, and started hammering the metal back out. I used a chunk of maple firewood that tapered down to about 1/2x1-1/2" or so, yet had a mallet-sized big end which I could hit. The thin tapered end reached through the holes in the door's inner panel, allowing me to direct the force better than a big chunk would. Being wood it's softer than metal and less likely to poke dimples into the panel. I had my son hold the door while I whacked away. I also used a big crowbar to pry and pound at the crease lines in the metalwork (the ones that belong there). I used various small crowbars of my acquaintance to hook through the door handle holes and pull out, trying to restore the correct profile in the area without doing too much further damage. That actually went fairly well. I removed the bottom trim strip and found that most of the damage at the bottom was to the strip itself, which is metal with plastic molded around it. (The strip comes off with one 8mm nut at the trailing edge, behind a snap-in plastic cap, and a hook at the front. I had to break it loose from the plastic retaining clips along the middle and then pull backwards to release the front hook.) I think I'll be able to restore the strip to usability on the anvil. (The replacement door's strip was pried off, breaking off both the hook and the retaining screw.) At this point the door opened and closed well again, you could use a finger to grab the latch release eye and pull the door open. The inner lock mechanism worked fine. It no longer scraped at the front as it opened. Pretty good for a first cut at the problem, I thought. With this it was time to address the door handle itself. The replacement, naturally, had no key and its weather door was long-gone. But it was all there. The original was shattered into pieces, but its key cylinder was untouched. (The actuating rod was bent, however.) I found a bent siding trim nail in the metal recycling bin that looked to be about the same diameter as the roll pin that holds the actuating rod mechanism to the lock cylinder. I straightened that and had my son hold the handle against a makeshift anvil while I drove the roll pin out. (I had to straighten the nail a few times along the way.) Once the pin was out the lock cylinder pulled straight out of the handle. (Make sure the key is in the cylinder while you do this, and don't lose the lock's torsion spring as it comes loose! If you remove the key you could lose all the spring-loaded lock wafers, or at least mix them all up and no longer be able to open the lock.) I then cleaned the lock guts with brake cleaner, removing the dirt and grime. I then re-lubricated the lock wafers with spray graphite lock lube. We then took apart the replacement handle the same way. Its lock was full of dirt and grunge, the missing weather door had obviously been necessary. I tried to straighten the bent operating rod, but it was pot metal and broke, no surprise. The replacement had a differently-shaped end where it engaged the latch, but seemed to work OK nonetheless. I put the good handle back together with the original lock cylinder and the replacement's operating rod, we reversed the anvil/roll pin operation. Once it was together the key operated as it should, and I slipped the handle into position. It worked! I then tightened the three screws. At this point the door was fully operational, but still could use some more cosmetic shaping of the metal, and the trim pieces repaired and replaced. -- Jim _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
